One day your competitior starts signing? deals with major labels like Universal Music. The next day they get bought by Google. Then on the third day, Universal turns around sues you for doing what YouTube was doing three days earlier. It’s gonna be a tough battle for anyone using copyrighted material to increase profits.
Congratulations? YouTube! You’ve pulled off a deal that would excite any M&A professional. But Universal going after the competition seems kinda premature. Does this mean that? the rising tides of video are no longer lifting all boats?? Don’t think for a second that the music business isn’t vicious. You already know they? use? the RIAA to sue kids that listen and swap their artist’s music.
So how do you survive if you want to show video on your site? You make sure there isn’t anything copyrighted by someone else in it. So that means no one else’s work if they created it in the last seven years in the U.S.
According to Universal, “Grouper and Bolt cannot reasonably expect to build their business on the backs of our content.”
Grouper.com
http://grouper.com/
Bolt.com
http://www.bolt.com/
Universal Music files suit against Grouper, Bolt.com
Universal Music Sues Two Video Sharing Sites? : Tech2.0? India
http://www.tech2.com/india/news/internet/universal-music-sues-two-video-sharing-sites/2386/0
Universal Music sues video sites : BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6061974.stm
Universal sues two video sites : The Inquirer
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=35173
Bolt and Grouper Sued by Universal Music Group: Is YouTube Next? : Blogcritics
http://blogcritics.org/archives/2006/10/19/083620.php
Search Google Blogs for stories relating to Video Regulation and the E.U.
http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=EU+video&btnG=Search+Blogs
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The Longtail Take on Universal? : Universal’s Long Tail music experiment
http://www.longtail.com/the_long_tail/2006/10/universals_long.html
EU Considering Regulating Video Bloggers
http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/06/10/17/2341204.shtml
“EU to regulate video blogs?” : from Overlawyered.com
http://www.overlawyered.com/2006/10/eu_to_regulate_video_blogs.html
EU Directive Might Regulate Video Bloggers : from the Information Policy blog
http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/6487615