It's a funny old world when big corporations are launching social/networking websites like barbiegirls.com and schools are completely banning social networking sites like myspace. What do we want? kids chaperoned and kid-gloved by brands, or kids supported by teachers and parents if things get a bit tricky?
What have the FA and Sony got in common? They own content. Content which people want. And both are aggresively defending it. The days of everything being on YouTube are gone, but not forgotten as Sony recently did a deal with Sky (giving them online distribution rights) and the FA recently joined the courtroom clamour to sue Google (not that you'd find anything about it on their site...
Apparently, “Defendants, which own and operate the site YouTube.com, have knowingly misappropriated and exploited this valuable property for their own gain without payment or license to the owners of the intellectual property”
Rights holders do hold all the aces... the trick for them is to exploit them as profitably as possible. Or give them away and win oodles of friends.
