The results of two recent court cases in the U.K. suggest that linking to but not hosting copyrighted content isn’t illegal, at least in Europe. Both TV-Links and the music-oriented OiNK have been cleared in the last month of the charges brought against them.

Linking Vs. Hosting

Hosting copyrighted content is illegal. That is an accepted part of the legal system. However, things get a little murkier and confused when a site is acting as a third-party, a go-between matching those hosting the content and those seeking it.

This has been tested in court a number of times, and the results have been mixed to say the least. In the U.S. it would appear linking is illegal, and sites such as Google only get away with it because of their Web directory nature, and even they have to remove links if asked to.

However, in the U.K., and potentially all countries in the European Union, linking to copyrighted material is not illegal.

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Music videos are a massively popular and successful part of online video culture. Which is clearly why everyone seems to want a piece of the action.

MySpace Music is now carrying music videos from all its partners – the big four major record labels and a host of independents. This is setting up a mighty bloodbath between MySpace and Vevo, the YouTube-backed music video-only site launching soon.

Music Video War

To say music videos are a popular part of the Web is an understatement. The chance to choose which videos to watch and when, rather than being beholden to MTV and other music channels, their playlists, and their “lifestyle” programming, is clearly appealing.

YouTube has realized music videos are such a big part of online video that it’s backing Vevo, the Hulu-for-music due to launch soon. There is also Muzu.tv, Vidzone on the PS3, and a number of other music video ventures in the mix.

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Online video is changing, becoming more in tune with old media. One of the ways this change is being demonstrated is how professional video is being targeted by advertising, even if the video has been uploaded by someone other than the original owner.

Internet video took off very quickly, with everyone seeming to want to upload clips either of their own production or of something not owned by themselves.

DMCA Takedowns and Lawsuits

The ability to share video is unfortunately limited by copyright laws and the desire of owners to keep control of their content, so DMCA take down notices and legal challenges became the norm.

However, few would deny that this method hasn’t worked, with Internet users uploading just as much copyrighted material now as ever before.

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The growing popularity of Internet television isn’t good news for everyone, as businesses are finding to their cost, with falling productivity and rising bandwidth levels.

Sites such as YouTube are gaining users every day, while newly launched services such as Joost and Hulu are enabling people to watch television anywhere they want, including at their place of work.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Carriage Services Inc., a funeral-services company based in Houston, recently found out to their cost that 70% of its 125-person workforce watched videos on YouTube and MySpace for up to an hour a day.

Quarterlife made its network television début last night, and unfortunately for NBC and show creators Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz it bombed in the ratings.

Quarterlife is the show about a bunch of twenty somethings, hence the title, being roughly a quarter of the way through their lives, which was made for the web.

The show initially aired on MySpace TV, making its debut in November to a swathe of positive reviews. It was then shown via its own website, and has now made its way to network television.

MySpace seem to be getting increasingly more adventurous in their aims to produce professionally made, high budget drama series.

In spring, or Q2 to be more precise, of this year, we all saw the debut of MySpaceTV’s first serial drama, called “Prom Queen”, which was broken into 90-second-episode snippets and ran for just over a month.

Then just over a week ago, the social network announced the launch of its second episodic production, “Roommates”, an ongoing, scripted, viewer-influenced drama occurring over the course of 45 weekdays.

Now, MySpace has made known its intentions to go even further into the realm of top quality film making. 

Another multi episode show has today been announced as a MySpace exclusive. 

Following in the wake of Quarterlife, which we spoke about here on WebTVWire last month, Roommates is the newest show to be shown on MySpaceTV, News Corp’s answer to YouTube.

It will share the series out to the social network’s multi-million-strong viewership over the course of some 45 days (weekdays only) in brief three-minute snippets. 

Each new episode will be shown on MySpaceTV starting at 4pm EST, Monday through Friday.