Last Month, Universal accused MySpace of infringing its copyrights by allowing its customers to post music videos from artists such as Jay-Z on the site without permission. CEO Doug Morris called Myspace Copyright Infringers. These were the words that kicked off the war and the landmark battle.

This is a big one because this could shape the broader commercial relationship between traditional media companies and a new generation of internet start-ups that rely on them for content.

Both parties believe that the DMCA (the Digital Millenium Act) is on their side. The DMCA was written before social networking sites even existed. This will be a tough one because this battle is philosophical and debeatable. It’s a grey area.

There’s a lot of grey area here,� said Lee Bromberg, a partner at Bromberg & Sunstein, a Boston-based law firm that specialises in intellectual property

Kraig Baker, a partner at Davis, Wright, Tremaine: “It’s part of the continuing struggle between content owners and developers of technology,� he said. “People are trying to find out where the line is.�

“I think there’s a tension between the law as written, and the law as intended,� Mr Liebenson said. “The DMCA was enacted in a very different era.�

Regardless, this is just one of many lawsuits that will plague the future. Lawsuits are typical in these type of technological transitions. Labels will continue to do whatever they can to protect their empire even through the murky results.