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Filed under: Video, Web services, Social Software

Universal Music sues Grouper and Bolt.com

Universal Music is the first, but undoubtedly not the last, record company to go after video-sharing sites whose users share their music videos without permission. Yesterday Universal sued Grouper and Bolt.com and is seeking up to $150,000 for each instance of infringement plus court costs. Grouper was acquired by Sony Pictures Entertainment back in August and Bolt.com, whose market share has been rising fast, is privately held. Wwhy Universal didn't go after slightly bigger fish like Metacafe and Dailymotion isn't apparent. YouTube and its new parent Google were spared, of course, because of YouTube's recent deal with Universal and other record labels. This is undoubtedly just the first in many suits by record companies against video-sharing sites, whose uses not only post copyrighted music vidoes but also use copyrighted songs liberally in their own videos.

Filed under: Video, Web services

Grouper bought by Sony Pictures for $65 million

GrouperMarking the first of potentially many such acquisitions, Sony Pictures Entertainment has acquired video sharing start-up Grouper for $65 million in cash. Grouper, which has garnered praise from reviewers, will be used by Sony "to share lower quality Sony videos online, distribute DVD quality video by P2P and allow users to create mashups of select Sony media properties," according to TechCrunch, which has some interesting speculation on the resulting valuation of YouTube. Grouper co-founder and co-president Josh Felser claims the site has 8 million visitors per month, and Nielsen/NetRatings reports that Grouper has 430,000 registered users, though Felser says the Nielsen survey under-counted.

Featured Time Waster

The World's Hardest Game 2.0 - Time Waster

So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do. Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game. The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...

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