The studio lawsuits against user video sites have begun:

Universal Music has launched the established media industry’s first legal action against rapidly growing user-generated websites by filing copyright suits against start-ups Grouper.com and Bolt.com.

In separate lawsuits, Universal alleged that Grouper and Bolt had built up traffic by encouraging users to share music videos from its artists without their permission.

Apparently, putting lawyers and music industry executives together doesn't give you anything like a peanut butter cup; more like a crap sandwich, I should think.

Let me think - when music videos are put up this way, who exactly is getting hurt? I thought the whole point of such videos was to promote the music (and thus CD or digital sales). Leaving no marketing opportunity unquashed, Universal has pulled out the stupid stick.

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