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SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - Universal Music Group late Friday sued News Corp.'s MySpace unit, alleging the social networking site has allowed its users to post millions of Universal's songs and videos onto the Internet in violation of copyright law.The lawsuit alleges that MySpace encourages copyright infringement by taking proactive measures such as reformatting music to better suit Web browsers and offering means to share the material with others. MySpace "harbors no illusions" that countless users have uploaded bootlegged videos and music to its Web site, the suit alleges. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, seeks damages of $150,000 per song or video posted to the collection of Web sites, and identifies 60 alleged copyright violations. Moreover, UMG estimates there are tens of millions of songs and videos presently on MySpace pages that may infringe its copyrights. Aside from damages, the suit also seeks an injunction to keep MySpace from distributing copyright-infringing material. "Businesses that seek to trade off on our content, and the hard work of our artists and songwriters, shouldn't be free to do so without permission and without fairly compensating the content creators," said UMG spokesman Peter Lofrumento. The UMG litigation highlights the tensions between major entertainment companies and sites like MySpace and YouTube, which Google Inc.recently purchased for $1.65 billion, that allow users to freely-upload content. As a result of the freewheeling upload policies, the sites are usually rife with bootlegged material, as even their owners admit. The litigation comes after months of negotiations between the two sides, and about two weeks after MySpace switched on new technology in order to identify copyright material people try to upload. YouTube is facing a legal claim in France from a documentary film maker whose work appeared briefly on YouTube in July. Yet MySpace, YouTube and other sites believe they are shielded from such legal claims by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which was created to keep Internet service providers from being held responsible for copyright material their subscribers might disseminate. The DMCA has since been adopted as a defense in most major copyright cases involving Internet entities. MySpace called the U.S. District Court lawsuit "unnecessary and meritless" and said it doesn't encourage or condone copyright violation. "We are in full compliance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and have no doubt we will prevail in court," a spokesman for the social networking Web site said in a statement. "Moreover, we proactively take steps to filter unauthorized music sound recordings and have implemented audio fingerprinting technology," the statement said. Universal Music Group, a unit of French media giant Vivendi, is home to artists such as U2, 50 Cent and the Black Eyed Peas. The suit claims that songs from an upcoming album by the rap music artist Jay-Z are "widely available" on MySpace, even though the album is not yet for sale. "Our goal is not to inhibit the creation of these communities, but to ensure that our rights and those of our artists are recognized," Lofrumento said. The named defendants are MySpace and owner News Corp.The suit also listed other, unnamed defendants.
