Universal Music sues MySpace for copyright infringement

The warnings have been coming for months. Now, the Universal Music Group, one of the world’s largest music companies, has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against MySpace.

The popular social networking Web site, owned by the News Corp., allows its users to upload and download songs and music videos — which has caused concern among content owners.

The suit, filed in a Los Angeles federal court, will test a federal law that provides legal protection to Internet companies that follow certain procedures to filter out copyrighted works. The law requires sites to remove such content after being notified by the copyright holder.

According to “The New York Times,” if Universal can win the case in court, it is likely to gain leverage in negotiating licensing terms with user-driven services similar to MySpace.