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Universal Music Group, producer of music groups such as 50 cent, Nelly, Elton John, Black Eyed Peas, Vince Gill and U2, has filed a lawsuit against MySpace, owned by News Corp (the parent company of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment).

UMG claims that MySpace.com “encourages and participates” in illegal distribution of UMG property to increase site traffic and, in turn, increase ad revenues. The amount of damages UMG is seeking was not indicated, though federal law allows up to $150,000 in statutory damages per recording (insert your own “Cha-Ching!” and “Waoooga!” sound effects and facial expressions here). The complaint does demand that MySpace permanently stop allowing users to repurpose, watch, listen to, edit, e-mail or post logos of UMG artists. Looks like MySpace’s liberal use of the, “We don’t ask if you don’t tell,” posting policy is continuing to bite them in the ass.

Via [Digital Music Weblog] Site [Universal Music Group] Read [Home Media Retailing]

AOL, 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures, Universal Pictures, and Warner Bros. have teamed up to offer consumers downloadable movies through the AOL Video portal. These new partnerships build on AOLs current 17 video partnerships and 45 on-demand channels that AOL Video announced in July. The AOL Video portal is a one-stop destination to find, watch and share millions of free streaming and pay-to-download video content from broadcast and cable television, and movies.

Through AOL Video, popular movie titles - from recent DVD releases to a large selection of movies representing all genres will be available for purchase and download with prices ranging from $9.99 to $19.99 per movie. Once downloaded, movies can be viewed offline as well as on other PCs and compatible portable devices.

As part of AOL Video’s ongoing expansion of its video-on-demand line up, television content from Fox and Sony Pictures will be easily accessible through the AOL Video portal’s online interactive programming guide (IPG). The AOL Video IPG brings together free and download-to-own video content and organizes it into more than 50 video-on-demand channels. Additional AOL Video on-demand channels will launch in the coming months.

AOL Video will feature Fox and Sony content, for paid download within five new on-demand channels: Fox, Fox Classic Television, FX, Speed, Fuel TV, AXN, and FunnyBone.