September 10, 2007 -- (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- Video hosting service provider DivX (divx.com) has filed a pre-emptive federal lawsuit against Universal Music Group (umusic.com) asking the court to put an end to the "spectre of litigation" relating to its service.

Universal has accused video hosting services of copyright infringement, including newcomer Veoh Networks and DivX's Stage6 video hosting service. The Stage6 service requires the DivX codec instead of Flash - the format commonly found on YouTube videos.

According to the report filed with the court, Universal has already corresponded with DivX, explaining that the site is "knowingly involved in the infringement of Universal Music Group's copyrighted materials, and exploits that widespread infringement for its own commercial gain".

However, DivX says it complies with the US government's copyright and media piracy law, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, citing a condition in the DMCA that specifies that a copyright holder can request that a video service take down any material that is being improperly hosted.

The company claims that Universal has instead "chosen to posture and threaten DivX in the hopes of extracting an unwarranted windfall." DivX says it complies with every DMCA takedown request it receives, as well as uses file hashes to prevent repeated uploads of any infringing content. According to reports, Universal Music Group was surprised by the pre-emptive lawsuit, but it will challenge its point in court.

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