Universal Music Publicly Threatens To Sue YouTube, MySpace

from the let's-try-this-again dept

Thu, Sep 14th 2006 6:28pm — Mike Masnick

It's most likely that this is a negotiating tactic, since YouTube has indicated that it's been in negotiation with all of the major record labels recently, but Universal Music's CEO was quoted today saying that he believed both YouTube and MySpace were copyright infringers. This shows a willful misunderstanding of the law -- and it's a shame that no one seems to be calling him on this. He knows as well as anyone that neither YouTube nor MySpace are the direct infringers, and that it's only the people who upload copyrighted materials to those sites who are infringing. There are two ways that the companies might be guilty of some form of infringement, but that's not what Doug Morris seemed to be indicating. If they were alerted to unauthorized content on the site and were slow to remove it, they could get in some trouble. Alternatively, Universal could claim they were failing the "inducement" test set out by the Supreme Court -- which seems like a difficult argument to make.

However, from the quote, it sounds like he's accusing both companies of direct infringement themselves, which seems like a tough case to prove, unless there are additional details not yet public. This wouldn't be the first lawsuit against YouTube for copyright infringement (that happened a few months ago). But that was by a small company. This would be the first by a major entertainment company. However, if it's true that Universal has actually been negotiating with YouTube (and, perhaps MySpace) on business deals, then it seems likely that this is just a sleazy hardball negotiating tactic to drive the pricing in their favor. If it does actually turn into lawsuits, then it's just yet another example of the record labels destroying their own business by attacking two of the best promotional vehicles they've had in years for copyright infringement they didn't even do.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

9 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

XCetron, 14 Sep 2006 @ 7:15pm

I blame all the safety instructions on things, if it werent for those things, the world would have a lot less dumb people by now.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
wayne, 14 Sep 2006 @ 7:17pm

oh please
i mean why cant these companies leave them alone, i mean dont get me wrong i guess in a sense they all have "rights" to the materials but its the future folks, people just need to chill out and realize that one day every thing and anything can be and WILL be downloaded. uploaded, listened to, watched, and played online, and more then likely free, i mean the internet is such a common way to share videos, stories, and music as is walking to a freinds house and doing it there, every one riaa included needs to stfu and just think of differnt ways to make money
[ link to this | view in thread ]
norm, 14 Sep 2006 @ 7:49pm

mp3.com
Sounds like they just want to sue then buy out those
sites. Just like they did with mp3.com. A bunch of RIAA
companies sued mp3.com over a technicality, which
caused the site's company to go under, then I think it
was Universal who bought them out.

However, you guys didn't mention this was a meeting
in front of investers. The wired article makes it sound
much like the SCO-IBM-Linux scandal, except Universal
may have a chance to win the case. I don't think it is
right, but crazier cases have won...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Solipsist, 15 Sep 2006 @ 1:19am

Criminals?
Q. What do these 3 industries have in common:
1. Airlines.
2. Record Companies
3. Movie production and distribution.

A. They all treat their customers like criminals, and are either in bankruptcy, or struggling financially.

(The airlines, of course, were forced into their situation.)
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Sohrab, 15 Sep 2006 @ 3:13am

record and film industrys are near bankrupt? Damn. Somebody failed to mention this to me at work...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
MikeR, 15 Sep 2006 @ 8:06am

Go to the source
The music/film industry should stop messing around with these bit players like YouTube et al. and go right to the source of the problem: ARPA (now DARPA). They're the ones who came up with the technology and therefore should be the ones held responsible. My fee for this suggestion is only 1% of any settlement.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Jake, 15 Sep 2006 @ 9:44am

Nothing new for UMG...
This is nothing new for Universal. Back in early 2005, they sent out email warnings to websites who were linking to their videos -- links that UMG's own publicists had sent to the websites -- and told them to remove the links!

Universal Music Group Video Policy, March 3, 2005.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Music Pirate, 15 Sep 2006 @ 12:34pm

Greed Greed Greed! Oh noes, someone uploaded a home video and used our music! We must sue!

Universal, if you are reading this, kiss my white ass.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
fdfs, 25 Sep 2007 @ 5:53pm

I wanna sue utube too
[ link to this | view in thread ]