Delivering on an earlier promise to do so, Universal Music has issued an infringement lawsuit against MySpace. The lawsuit continues a string of similar suits launched against other sites which allow users to upload and share copyrighted works.

Universal filed the action in the US District Court in Los Angeles late Friday, alleging that MySpace "harbors no illusions" that its destination contains infringing content. The action also asserts that MySpace "knowingly and intentionally operated its business on the fiction that it has obtained the licenses it needs to exist from members that MySpace well knows are not the true copyright owners." Additionally, the label noted that MySpace "encourages, facilitates and participates in the unauthorized reproduction, adaptation, distribution and public performance" of its works. The suit is seeking damages of $150,000 per infringing track, either in audio or video form.

MySpace recently began "fingerprinting" tracks to "proactively" search for infringing works.