Universal Music’s legal department sure has been busy! Late last week UMG had a song defending Megaupload removed from YouTube on a false copyright claim. Then on Monday, the company had a news report removed on the same grounds.
UMG’s shameless penchant for serving up free speech-squishing DMCA take down notices apparently knows no bounds. Just days after it had the Megaupload Mega Song taken down from YouTube by claiming that some of the video’s performers were under contract with UMG, the monolithic major label had Monday’s episode of Tech News Today removed for the same reason. TNT ran the Mega Song along with its news report about the incident, which apparently was cause enough for YouTube to take it down when UMG complained. (See above, the missing episode on TNT’s YouTube Channel). Apparently Universal’s disregard for the First Ammendment extends beyond its own artists to journalists, too.
Megaupload filed a lawsuit against UMG in Federal Court yesterday claiming that the Mega Song was wrongfully taken down. Tech News Today should have a case on similar grounds. [The Verge via Boing Boing]