Software which protects music copyright
Gracenote (www.gracenote.com) is pioneering the way forward in digital rights management (DRM) with software which is capable (it is said) of detecting signatures in copyrighted music and flagging a potential infringement.
MySpace.com is said to be about to install the new technologyto stop its 120m users from posting unauthorised copyrighted music on their myspace pages, and will ban frequent offenders. This move comes after pressure from the music industry heavyweights. MySpace said it is also trying to find technology that would check and block copyright infringing videos on its site.
Legally UGC and social networking sites claim they need only remove infringing material when asked to do so by copyright owners, this puts an enourmous (and possibly unmanagable) burden on copyright owners.
A number of other websites are pursuing similar plans, last week Bolt.com announced it would try to install filtering technology after it was sued for copyright infringement by Universal Music.
YouTube is also said to be rolling out a similar system, and Guba already has one up and running.