MySpace Launches Take Down Stay Down Copyright Protection

May 11, 2007; 04:33 AM
MySpace, the world’s leading lifestyle portal, today announced the launch of Take Down Stay Down™, an innovative new feature for copyright holders that prevents users from re-posting video content in the MySpace community after that content has been removed at the request of the copyright owner. MySpace is the first internet company to launch this type of sophisticated content protection feature, which it is offering to all copyright owners free of charge. Take Down Stay Down is the latest addition to the company’s industry leading suite of solutions developed to help copyright owners protect their content on MySpace.com.

"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, EVP and General Counsel for Fox Interactive Media. "MySpace is pleased to be the first website to implement a more effective solution to this challenging problem. This is a ground-breaking and unprecedented benefit for copyright owners that re-enforces MySpace's position as the leader in copyright protection on the internet."

By utilizing Take Down Stay Down, MySpace will be able to even more efficiently and effectively implement its long-standing policy against users uploading third-party copyrighted material without permission. Take Down Stay Down utilizes a number of steps to ensure the content is identified, taken down, and kept out of the MySpace community. When a content owner informs MySpace that a user has improperly posted its content onto MySpace Videos, not only is the video promptly removed by MySpace, but MySpace also creates a digital fingerprint of the video content and adds it to its copyright filter, which is based on industry-leading Audible Magic technology. If any user tries to upload the same content that has been removed, the filter will recognize the digital fingerprint and block the content from being uploaded. This way, when copyright owners remove content from MySpace, they will have greater comfort that it will stay down and not be reposted. MySpace is the first to offer this feature to copyright owners.

The Take Down Stay Down feature is also integrated into MySpace's "Content Take Down Tool," providing copyright owners with a comprehensive solution to identify and remove any unauthorized user-posted content in a manner that is more efficient and effective than any solution previously available to them.

Take Down Stay Down is the latest addition to the company’s industry leading suite of copyright protection tools, which provides unprecedented protection to copyright owners on a website that accepts user-generated content. MySpace's other industry-leading tools include:

• Audio filtering, which screens audio files uploaded by users to hinder any unauthorized music uploads and is offered free to all music copyright owners.

• Video filtering, which screens video files uploaded by users to hinder any unauthorized video uploads. MySpace's launch of video filtering earlier this year made MySpace the largest web video site to offer free video filtering to copyright owners.

• Content Take Down Tool, which is an automated tool that makes it easier and more efficient for copyright owners to request removal of any user-posted content they claim is unauthorized.

About MySpace.com

MySpace, a unit of Fox Interactive Media Inc., is the premier lifestyle portal for connecting with friends, discovering popular culture, and making a positive impact on the world. By integrating web profiles, blogs, instant messaging, e-mail, music streaming, music videos, photo galleries, classified listings, events, groups, college communities, and member forums, MySpace has created a connected community. As the second ranked web domain in terms of page views¹, MySpace is the most widely-used and highly regarded site of its kind and is committed to providing the highest quality member experience. MySpace will continue to innovate with new features that allow its members to express their creativity and share their lives, both online and off. MySpace’s international network includes localized community sites in the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, France, Germany, Australia, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Mexico, Canada, Netherlands, New Zealand, and Latin America.

¹ Among the top 2000 domains comScore Media Metrix, March 2007. For more information on comScore Networks, please go to http://www.comscore.com.