UMG Pulls Star-Filled Music Video From YouTube, MegaUpload Promsies Lawsuit
(UPDATED) Hours after file sharing service MegaUpload released an original promotional video featuring Diddy, Will.i.am, Alicia Keys, Kanye West, Snoop Dogg and others singing its praises, Universal Music blocked it claiming copyright infringement. Now, MegaUpload is firing back and promising a lawsuit.
“Let us be clear: Nothing in our song or the video belongs to Universal Music Group. We have signed agreements with all artists endorsing Megaupload,” CEO David Robb told TorrentFreak. “Efforts to reach out to UMG and open a dialog about this abuse of the DMCA process were answered with unfounded and baseless legal threats and demands for an apology.”
This battle comes just as tougher new restrictions on internet content, dubbed SOPA, are working their way through the U.S. Congress, and MegaUpload has now decided to join the fight. "UMG is currently lobbying lawmakers in Washington for legislation that would allow them to not only delete specific content from a website, but to delete entire websites from the Internet. After this demonstration of the abuse of power by UMG, we are certain that such an instrument of Internet censorship should not be put into the hands of corporations,” declared Robb.
MORE: RIAA Slams MegaUpload Even As Will.i.am, Alicia Keys, Snoop & Kanye Sing Its Praises [VIDEO]
MegaUpload clearly doesnt understand that these artists are under an exclusive recording contract with Universal, meaning they can’t legally go out and record for anyone else without permission from Universal. If anyone can sue, its Unversal towards MegaUpload.
artists are beyond dumb.
^ what he said.
Dumb – Now you know why these artists ended up on Universal
Availabe on The Piratebay
http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/6877167/_Mega_Song_2011
I’m going to agree with M.
a breach of contract isn’t the same as a claiming copyright infringement. The artists might have breached their contracts with the label but this new song isn’t infringing on any copyrights and thus the DMCA should hold no authority over the matter.