Redlasso, the video site that allows bloggers to post clips of television content, has shut down its beta in response to a recently filed lawsuit by Hulu-backers Fox and NBC.
In May, Fox, CBS and NBC issued Cease and Desist notices to Redlasso for copyright violation, which the company largely ignored. In June the company established a “Media Advisory Board” headed by a number of ex-studio execs that they hoped would help smooth things over with the networks.
Since its launch eight months ago, Redlasso has seen exponential growth amongst bloggers, and can be seen on a number of top news, gossip, and political blogs. The site allows users to watch recorded feeds of a number of television shows, and “clip” potions of them for playback on their sites. Among the channels available are ESPN, Fox News, and CNN.
Redlasso records and serves all of this content from its servers, without legal license for any of it. The company has long held to the belief that it is protected by the first amendment, and that the snippets that bloggers distribute qualify for fair use (the embedded clips can only be 10 minutes long). Fair use may apply to the snippets, but the site is still hosting entire episodes, even if they are only available to approved bloggers.
The site will continue to operate for its Bussiness and “Radio to Web” clients.