San Diego - DivX, a developer of video compression and video distribution technologies, announced on Friday that it has filed a preemptive lawsuit against Universal Music Group, asking a judge to declare that the label's claims of copyright infringement against its Stage6 video-sharing site are without merit.

San Diego, Calif.-based DivX claims that the site is protected by the safe harbor provision in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which protects ISPs and other entities from liability for claims of copyright infringement committed by their users.

Under the law, content producers are required to submit takedown notices when they see their content on such sites; DivX claims it has complied with all such notices.

The same preemptive lawsuit tactic was recently employed against Universal Music Group by fellow video-sharing site Veoh; this week, Universal followed through on threats and sued Veoh for copyright infringement.

"We are taking this legal step to protect Stage6 from groundless claims and unreasonable threats brought by UMG," said David Richter, executive vice president of corporate development and legal for DivX.

"UMG's pattern of attacking innovative online service providers is discouraging and will ultimately hinder innovation and the development of new technologies."

Update: Universal Music Group senior vice president Peter LoFrumento provided the following statement:

"Universal Music Group has been in negotiations with DivX and recently offered them a deal that would address the rampant copyright infringement occurring on their service and fairly compensate our artists and songwriters for the use of their audiovisual works. Universal is committed to supporting innovative new digital services, as evidenced by our deals with YouTube and others...  DivX's purpose is to build traffic and sell advertising off of unlicensed content that is clearly illegal."

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/245j3d

http://tinyurl.com/2dg924 (Ars Technica)

http://www.umusic.com

http://www.divx.com