MySpace sued by Universal Vivendi

Universal Music has started legal proceedings against MySpace for alleged copyright infringement.

It comes only weeks after Google bought the online video service YouTube, and shows the increasing pressure that social networking sites are under over copyright issues.

Copyright violations have long been a potential problem for many social networking sites - YouTube has already been highlighted as a major target for the MPIAA, and it’s believed that $500 million has already been set aside from the purchase to defend against copyright proceedings brought against YouTube.

That MySpace should be the focus of legal action was least expected.

However, that Universal should sue MySpace shouldn’t be a great surprise - the company has a record of very aggressively suing internet providers for alleged infringements of copyright, even where it licences content to the vendors.

For example, Universal previously MP3.com for hosting content already licenced from Universal, because the type of file storage was technically different than agreed.

Overall, the RIAA and MPIAA companies have been aggressively chasing sites that may be suspected of copyright infringements.

But perhaps it’s time that such companies looked more at marketing their products in the 21st century to a 21st century audience, instead of a 20th century mentality that may ultimately alienate consumers.