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Just An Online Minute... YouTube-Warner Ceasefire

YouTube might be facing the threat of litigation from Universal, but another record label, Warner Music, has forged an agreement with the video sharing site.

The deal calls for YouTube to deploy a new technology to flag videos running on the site that are owned by Warner Music, and then pay Warner a cut of any ad revenue for ads displayed in conjunction with those videos.

With the agreement, the companies appear to have forestalled a thorny copyright battle; the deal allows both YouTube and Warner to profit from the videos, while not depriving fans of access.

Of course, so far Warner has been a major brand supporter of YouTube, so it makes sense that Warner's invested in seeing the video sharing site succeed. Last month Warner became one of the first record companies to use a new YouTube ad platform to promote an upcoming album--"Paris," the debut effort from the socialite-singer Paris Hilton. Additionally, another major brand, Walt Disney, this summer promoted "Pirates of the Caribbean" on YouTube, becoming the first major brand advertiser to run display ads on the site.* The agreement with Warner comes as Universal has been threatening to sue YouTube and MySpace for "tens of millions" of dollars for copyright infringement.

Universal remains in talks with the site, but the state of negotiations remains unknown. In fact, Universal's gripes with YouTube seem broader than most copyright complaints. Universal is concerned that YouTube is using Universal's content to build its own brand name.

But this conclusion is debatable at best. In fact, it appears far more likely that the opposite is true: Content owners are using YouTube to build their own brands.

The most recent example happened last week, when the creators of Web soap opera "LonelyGirl15"--which built a devoted following on YouTube--said they were taking their show to YouTube rival Revver, where they stand to get a 50 percent cut of all ad revenue. Before Universal concludes that it's being harmed by copyrighted material on YouTube, it should reconsider who's really benefiting from exposure on the site.

*This article has been corrected. The original version incorrectly stated that "Pirates of the Caribbean" was a Warner Bros. movie.

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