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Google has been moving swiftly to head off copyright problems as it starts to integrate its new YouTube purchase into its business model: Universal, Sony BMG and Warner have been given a chunk of the equity in YouTube.

This might make feel Google feel more comfortable, but in no way guarantees safety: EMI is still sitting outside the party; there's movies and TV material to be sorted as well and, most importantly, there's no guarantee that music business executives aren't foolish enough to try and sue themselves. After all, when BMG took its stake in Napster, it was having to help subsidise the RIAA lawsuits against itself.

Conspiracy theorists - they don't want to be named, of course - whisper in our ears that it's kind of funny that Universal started to fire off lawsuits against other video sharing services this week; almost as if they knew they were about to have a more direct interest in closing down YouTube competitors. "It could be that Google have found a copper-bottomed way of getting someone else to fund the fight to take out the opposition" said the theorist, but then had to go in for his tea as his Mam was calling him.

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