Here's Why News Corp. Won't Sue Google

And many thought the copyright lawsuits would be targeted at YouTube first...

Late Friday, Universal Music Group sued News Corp's (NWS) MySpace for copyright infringement, the first copyright suit received by the popular social network. MySpace is standing behind the Digital Millennium Copyright Act [DMCA] -- a safe harbor protection congress introduced in 1998 that says that even though companies are infringing they get a free pass.

Companies, in this case MySpace, just need to comply with requests to take down copyright material. News Corp said it has been compliant. Assuming MySpace was prompt, it should have a strong defense against the suit.

But this lawsuit just underscores the reason argued in my Net Sense Oct. 19 column of why traditional media - especially News Corp - would be challenged to sue Google. At the time, Google (GOOG) bought YouTube, raising questions about whether traditional media would start suing deep-pocketed Google for copyright infringement on YouTube. In that column, Fred von Lohmann, senior intellectual property attorney at Electronic Frontier Foundation, said that News Corp's MySpace has a significant amount of copyright material too. So the company might be setting a precedent that would adversely affect them if they were to sue Google.

Certainly it seems they wouldn't sue now. After all, News Corp is counting on the strength of the DMCA, which is the same defense that YouTube would most certainly use. Google vs. the media cartel

Here's News Corp's statement in response to the UMG lawsuit:

MySpace provides an extraordinary promotion platform for artists – from major labels to independent acts – while respecting their copyrights. We have been keeping UMG closely apprised of our industry-leading efforts to protect creators' rights, and it’s unfortunate they decided to file this unnecessary and meritless litigation. We provide users with tools to share their own work – we do not induce, encourage, or condone copyright violation in any way.

We are in full compliance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and have no doubt we will prevail in court. Moreover, we proactively take steps to filter unauthorized music sound recordings and have implemented audio fingerprinting technology. We will continue working to be the gold standard in protecting creators' rights as well as the world's leading lifestyle portal.