Universal Music Sues Grouper and Bolt.com; $150K Per Infringement

So no, Universal Music Group’s threats against YouTube did not seem to pan out (as it tied up with the company last week prior to the Google acquisition)…now it has sued video sharing sites Grouper and Bolt.com for allowing users to swap pirated versions of its musicians’ videos….it is seeking damages of as much as $150,000 for each incident of copyright infringement, plus costs. It estimated that thousands of music videos were being viewed on both sites….Grouper is now owned by Sony (it was bought for $65 million last month).”Grouper and Bolt … cannot reasonably expect to build their business on the backs of our content and the hard work of our artists and songwriters without permission and without compensating the content creators,” a Universal spokesman said in this story.
I would not be surprised that lawsuit against YouTube would follow, despite the earlier tie-up.
WSJ: The suits mark the first time a major media company has tried to use the courts to narrowly interpret “safe harbor” protections provided by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 so it would exclude video-sharing sites. The DMCA provides protection from liability for copyright infringement to Internet companies if they meet certain criteria and follow so-called takedown procedures. Under the procedures outlined in the DMCA, sites have to remove any infringing copyright when notified specifically by the copyright holder… Universal had discussed licensing agreements with those companies, but said the talks never progressed.
Related:
UMG CEO: Time To Deal With Infringers Like YouTube, MySpace

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