San Francisco - Microsoft has temporarily closed its new Soapbox video-sharing site off to new users, while it implements stronger copyright filtering technology, CNET News.com reported on Friday.

"If you don't have a Soapbox account, we'll be opening the doors again very soon with some cool new stuff to try. Thanks for your patience as we continue to build the best place to 'make your statement' on the web," reads a note on the Soapbox website.

Since Soapbox launched last month, the site has seen a wealth of copyrighted clips posted by users.

The company announced a partnership on Thursday with NBC and News Corp., to distribute licensed content from major studios and networks via Soapbox and MSN.

Microsoft has licensed copyright filtering technology from Audible Magic that it will implement on Soapbox.

"We feel this is the right time to make these changes and stand up to do the right thing," Adam Sohn, a director in Microsoft's online-services group, told News.com.

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/27yhlk (CNET)

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/070322/sfth040.html?.v=97

http://soapbox.msn.com