Around September last year, Doug Morris, head of Universal Music said that YouTube and MySpace are “copyright infringers and owe us tens of millions of dollarsâ€. So it was only a matter of time before the court room dramas began and the lawyers got their day.
So yesterday, the BBC reports that MySpace is most definately being sued by Universal Music, claiming the online social network site is encouraging its users to illegally share music and music videos. A quote from the music giant states “Our goal is not to inhibit the creation of these communities, but to ensure that our rights and those of our artists are recognised“.
I wouldn’t say that MySpace is encouraging copyright infringement, but they do definately benefit from having copyright infringed material within their network. The most entertaining videos are entertaining, why? Because they take advantage of music, video, stills from professional sources, which can give any bog standard home creation an air of quality otherwise unachievable.
Social Networks must learn from the actions of Universal, GooTube and MySpace to ensure they mature with the rest of the internet. To guarantee a future away from litigation, they must stay clear, or at least respect, of the dangerous world of copyright protected content.