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Veoh sues Universal Music over alleged threats

11 August 2007 5:47 by Rich "vurbal" Fiscus | 2 comments

Veoh, an online video-sharing site, has decided to pre-emptively sue Universal Music Group. The online video site appears to be trying to send a clear message that they won't be intimidated into a royalty deal by the music giant.

Veoh Networks, based in San Diego, filed the federal lawsuit yesterday, asking a judge to declare that the company has no liability to Universal even if individuals upload videos to the Veoh site that may contain music, used without permission, from Universal artists.

The company was appearently sent a letter by Universal stating that they might besued because of Veoh users �massively infringing� its copyrights. According to the suit, Universal hasn't provided any details about specific infringement so they could investigate and take action as appropriate.

"It is unfortunate that U.M.G. prefers to take actions that are designed to stifle innovation, shut down new markets and maintain the status quo instead of working to change and evolve models for today and the future,� Veoh�s chief executive, Steve Mitgang, said in a statement.

There are suspicions that Universal is trying to repeat its success in getting a licensing agreement with YouTube. In that case, Universal threatened to sue, but later backed down when the two sides reached an agreement out of court. .�

Still, threatening lawsuits seems like a strange way to start a dialogue. From the outside it looks more like an attempt to scare Veoh into agreeing to terms that aren't in their best interest, simply to avoid a costly lawsuit.

Source: The New York Times

Permalink to this article

Labels tell artists 'we gave your money to our lawyers' (2 March 2008)

Veoh adds videos from Hulu (16 January 2008)

More Hollywood insiders back Veoh (12 September 2007)

DivX follows Veoh's lead and takes Universal to court (9 September 2007)

Universal Music files infringement suit against Veoh (7 September 2007)

Humans employed to filter YouTube (11 August 2007)

EFF sues Universal over DMCA takedown (25 July 2007)

VeohTV turns web surfing into channel surfing (15 July 2007)

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Discuss this article!
Unfocused (Junior Member) 13 August 2007 21:31
At this rate, why can't they just sue Microsoft? Outlook allows people to email illegal content. Yahoo, Google, Hotmail, etc. all allow for the same illegal activities to continue. They really need to stop all these lawsuits. [ + quote]
borhan9 (AfterDawn Addict) 17 August 2007 18:23
*Originally posted by Unfocused:* At this rate, why can't they just sue Microsoft? Outlook allows people to email illegal content. Yahoo, Google, Hotmail, etc. all allow for the same illegal activities to continue. They really need to stop all these lawsuits. Totally agreed. [ + quote]