• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, May 14, 2007

MySpace said it would implement technology to fight the unauthorized use of copyrighted video content on its site.

The new "Take Down Stay Down" copyright management feature is a content protection measure based on Audible Magic technology, and is intended to ensure that video content that has been pulled from MySpace member profiles at the request of copyright holders cannot be reposted.

Separately, video-sharing site Dailymotion said it would also use Audible Magic technology to filter out all copyright-infringing material.

"We have created this new feature to solve a problem that has long frustrated copyright holders and presented technical challenges to service providers--how to prevent copyrighted content from being re-posted by the same or a different user after it has been taken down by the copyright owner," said Michael Angus, executive vice president and general counsel for Fox Interactive Media, owner of MySpace.

The new feature applies only to videos hosted on MySpace, but not those hosted on media-sharing sites like YouTube, which has been the source of lawsuits over copyrighted content.

Copyright owners have access to the new service free of charge, and if MySpace receives a takedown notice regarding a copyrighted clip, it will take a "digital fingerprint" of the video and add it to a copyright filter that blocks the content from being uploaded again.

MySpace said in February that it would begin Audible Magic's system as a means of preventing users from uploading and sharing copyrighted video. During the test, MySpace blocked the upload of clips copyrighted by Universal--which sued MySpace last year--unless they were authorized promotional materials.

Dailymotion, which recently signed deals with Warner and Universal Music Groups, said Audible Magic's copyrighting and filtering technology will be used globally across Dailymotion's six localized sites.

In addition to MySpace and Dailymotion, other social media sites using Audible Magic technology include Microsoft SoapBox, GoFish, Grouper, Break.com, Eyespot and Viacom's MTVN.