Vivendi Universal has been suing "vast virtual warehouse" MySpace.com for copyright piracy.

The suit also states the News Corporation, which "comes as the recording industry contends with how to exploit its copyrighted material online. The issue has taken on more importance as services built around user-generated content become popular and generate advertising revenue," says The New York Times.

Two other similar cases were filed against Grouper owned by Sony and independent video website Bolt.com.

Vivendi's Universal Music Group is "seeking damages of $150,000 for each unauthorized music video or song posted on MySpace, [alleging] that MySpace not only is aware of the infringement but also makes money selling advertising to the millions of users attracted by the lure of free access to copyrighted works," says The Los Angeles Times.

Vivendi said in their statement, "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."

Apparently, MySpace and Vivendi have different opinions about complying with the requirements of federal law. In a statement from MySpace, the company denied any allegations against them claiming that the company had kept Universal closely apprised of their “industry-leading efforts to protect creators' rights, and it's unfortunate they decided to file this unnecessary and meritless litigation'."

MySpace also announced that they implemented a new feature to let copyright holders flag videos posted without permission and that they would definitely take down any videos identified as such.

MS NEWS