Get a good seat - this will be quite a fight. On one side we have Google and its new friend YouTube. On the other all of the media companies. Both have plenty of money and legal talent. The issue is copyright. For a taste of the preliminary sparing, check here. Unlike the music download crisis of a few years ago, this is not the big bad music industry versus a bunch of 15 year-olds, but rather big, rich companies with a lot to gain, and a lot to lose. The media types charge that YouTube is making a business from unauthorized use of their copyrighted video and music, and as far as I can tell that is pretty much the case. The only slight speed bump is the fact that the users are the ones actually posting things, but the end result is the same.

So what happens? We are all going to get a lesson in copyright theory and practice in the digital age. Among other things I predict that YouTube will come up with a fingerprinting function that will allow them to spot music and video that they don't have the rights to use so that they can remove it. Then we'll see - will they sign agreements with the media companies, will the content just migrate to the next site?

The reason that this hits home for us, is that we're doing somewhat the same thing for the other huge collection of digital material - software. And it's pretty much the same idea - fingerprints that allow you to keep track of what you're using and if you have the right to do so. Watch carefully, as YouTube and the media companies make peace with each other - whatever they decide will have an impact on the software world.