UMG SUES MYSPACE

There he goes again. Doug Morris is on the warpath. And it’s not as if he didn’t issue a warning first.

Universal Music Group and its publishing companies have filed suit in the Central District of California against MySpace and parent company News Corp. for copyright infringement, inducement of infringement and violations of California business and professions code. News Corp. acquired the popular networking site in July 2005 for $580 million in cash after it had been launched less than two years earlier.

Among the transgressions claimed by UMG are MySpace making songs from Jay-Z’s unreleased album Kingdom Come “widely available for streaming and downloading on MySpace.”

A statement released by UMG read: “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. Our music and videos play a key role in building the communities that have created hundreds of millions of dollars of value for the owners of MySpace. Our goal is not to inhibit the creation of these communities, but to ensure that our rights and those of our artists are recognized.”

MySpace responded: “MySpace provides an extraordinary promotion platform for artists, from major labels to independent acts,while respecting their copyrights. We have been keeping UMG closely apprised of our industry-leading efforts to protect creators' rights, and it’s unfortunate they decided to file this unnecessary and meritless litigation. We provide users with tools to share their own work; we do not induce, encourage, or condone copyright violation in any way.

“We are in full compliance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and have no doubt we will prevail in court. Moreover, we proactively take steps to filter unauthorized music sound recordings and have implemented audio fingerprinting technology. We will continue working to be the gold standard in protecting creators' rights as well as the world's leading lifestyle portal.”

In fact, MySpace just announced this morning the introduction of a new tool for copyright holders that makes it even easier and faster to remove content they allege is unauthorized. The tool is being tested with Fox and MLB Advanced Media and will be expanded to include other verified copyright holders.

According to sources, UMG claims that the site not only allows users to upload videos illegally, but has also taken part in inducing the infringement by re-formatting the videos for users to play back and send to others, the latter point preventing them from falling under the DMCA safe-harbor provision.

In the suit, UMG is asking for maximum statutory damages in the amount of $150k per each work infringed, as well as attorneys fees and full costs.

The case is being litigated for UMG by Steven Marenberg, Elliot Brown and Gregory Fayer at Irell & Manella LLP of L.A.