Universal Music Group suing Grouper, Bolt video sharing services

Universal Music Group has said in a statement that they have filed lawsuits against online video-sharing sites Grouper and Bolt.com. The charges are related to how these services allow web users to upload videos including the company’s copyrighted material.

Universal is seeking damages worth close to around $150,000 for each incident of copyright infringement, plus costs. They said in a statement: “Grouper and Bolt … cannot reasonably expect to build their business on the backs of our content and the hard work of our artists and songwriters without permission and without compensating the content creators.”

Universal Music Group filed the lawsuits in U.S. District Court, Central District of California, Western Division.

Bolt CEO and co-founder Aaron Cohen responded on this new development: “There’s no question that people upload copyrighted content from time to time and occasionally we receive official notices to remove content and we do.”

Incidentally, both of these services are smaller rivals to the giant YouTube.com, which was recently acquired by Google. Universal reached a licensing deal to deliver videos on YouTube on the day of acquisition.