Seattle - The investigations being conducted by copyright holders on file-sharing networks to discover instances of infringement are flawed, and can mistakenly identify innocent parties, according to a new study from researchers at the University of Washington. The researchers monitored file-sharing activity on the BitTorrent network last year, and in the course of their study received 206 complaints of infringement under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) -- even though their machines transferred no illegal files.

Mountain View, Calif. - Google (NASD: GOOG) has asserted that media conglomerate Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit against the company "threatens the way hundreds of millions of people legitimately exchange information, news, entertainment and political and artistic expression," according to claims made by the company's lawyers in federal court in Manhattan, the Associated Press reported. Google maintains that YouTube should not be held liable for what its users post, and should be protected under the same "safe harbor" provision of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) that applies to ISPs.

Los Angeles - The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) yesterday filed a federal copyright infringement suit against Pullmylink.com, saying the site "contributes to and profits from massive copyright infringement by identifying, posting, organizing and indexing links to infringing content found on the Internet." The site does not host content, but provides links in pop-up windows to third-party video sites where users have posted movies and TV shows.

New York - Major record label Warner Music Group (NYSE: WMG) has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Seeqpod, an online music service that provides links to streaming music files hosted on third-party sites, Silicon Alley Insider reports. Warner claims the service links to sites with unauthorized files.

New York - The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Usenet.com, a company that redistributes traffic from the Usenet global message-board network.

Stanford, Calif. - The Fair Use Project, part of Stanford Law School's Center for Internet & Society, announced on Friday that it has filed a counterclaim in the case of a filmmaker accused of copyright and trademark infringement over a documentary about Count Dante, a martial arts expert who founded Chicago's Black Dragon Fighting Society in the 1960s.

Santa Clara, Calif. - Purchasers of Apple's iPhone who used software to unlock them for use on networks other than AT&T, and later found their phones broken after downloading a software update from Apple, can now join a class action lawsuit against the company.

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.

Los Angeles - Major record label Universal Music Group has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against video-sharing site Veoh Networks, Bloomberg reported.

San Francisco - An independent filmmaker who posted some of his work on YouTube, which was then used without permission by Viacom on a TV show, has seen his posting of Viacom's use of his work removed from YouTube by the media conglomerate, CNET News.com reported.

San Francisco - Digital civil liberties advocates the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and a San Francisco law firm have filed suit against Universal Music Group, on behalf of an eBay seller sued by the label group for offering promotional CDs for sale.

Washington - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced that it conducted raids on businesses, storefronts and residences on Wednesday in 16 states, related to an investigation into the alleged sale and distribution of illegal video game console mod chips and disc copyright circumvention devices.

Lawrence, Kan. - The University of Kansas is refusing to forward pre-litigation settlement letters from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) to its students, claiming the action could constitute a breach of student privacy, The University Daily Kansan reported.

San Francisco - Digital civil liberties group the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has sued Universal Music Publishing Group, after the company ordered a home video removed from YouTube that showed a baby dancing to a clip of Prince's song "Let's Go Crazy."

New York - AOL and Time Warner's celebrity gossip blog TMZ.com has received a takedown notice from a trustee overseeing the bankruptcy case of O.J. Simpson, after the website yesterday published a link to the notorious unpublished manuscript "If I Did It," Wired News reported.

Redmond, Wash. - Microsoft has begun to lock out owners of illegally modified Xbox 360 consoles -- which can play pirated games -- from its Xbox Live online game service. "This is an important part of our efforts to try and maintain a fair gaming environment for the large majority of gamers that play by the rules," the company said on its Gamerscore blog. "These users will not have their account automatically banned from LIVE, but they will no longer be able to access the service from the console they modified."

San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) reports that Universal Music Group has dropped efforts to have a video critical of its hip-hop artist Akon posted by conservative pundit Michelle Malkin removed from YouTube. UMG sent YouTube a takedown notice on the video, in which Malkin uses snippets of Akon's act to criticize him as a "misogynist." With assistance from the EFF, Malkin then sent a counter-notice to YouTube, claiming her video made fair use of UMG content; the video is now once again available on the site.

San Francisco - Conservative commentator Michelle Malkin, with the legal backing of digital civil liberties group the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), has contested an attempt by major label Universal Music Group to have her podcast criticizing one of its artists removed from YouTube under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

San Francisco - Digital civil liberties group the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has filed suit against self-proclaimed psychic Uri Geller, on behalf of a skeptic whose video on YouTube debunking Geller's claims was removed after what the EFF says was a bogus copyright claim.