Copyright Axe To Fall On YouTube?

theoddball writes "In what should come as no great surprise, Universal Music Group is preparing to file suit against YouTube for copyright infringement, the AP reports. Discussions with the site's owners have broken down (although talks are apparently still progressing with Myspace / News Corp over similar issues). From the article: 'We believe these new businesses are copyright infringers and owe us tens of millions of dollars,' Universal Music CEO Doug Morris told investors Wednesday at a conference in Pasadena. This development follows last month's announcement that YouTube is negotiating with labels to legally host videos. While the primary complaint is against music videos, one cannot help but wonder if this will also impact the many, many homemade videos using copyrighted UMG songs as a soundtrack (or — *shudder* — a lipsync.)"

Comments

Re:When will these people get it??

[plasmacutter]

If Microsoft (or International Chess University) stole GPL code, would you be saying the same thing?

No, and with good reason, the GPL specifically allows redistribution so long as it's done without financial gain. Thus, if someone were to give away copies of gpl'd software it would not raise any ire.

Now if you want to actually make the analogy work by making it a violation of the GPL.. well then you have to alter the circumstances.

Violation of the GPL and "stealing" of code would have to involve financial gain without the contribution of the new extensions you added to the source.

Until then, your analogy does not hold.

Maybe Universal is being an asshole here, but it's their right to do so.

i guess this assertion can be filed in the same junk drawer with that constitutional clause of slaves counting as two thirds of a person,gilded age before the labor and women's movements, and the phrase "the only good indian is a dead indian" in the US.

Apparently some fat old rich guys decided that "all men are created equal" means "old rich guys were created more equally than everyone else".