Silicon Valley: An American mother has sued Universal Music Group, the former record label of pop star Prince, after it ordered the removal of a YouTube video in which her young son is dancing to the singer's tune "Let's Go Crazy".

Although only family and friends had viewed the clip, Stephanie Lenz of Pennsylvania said she received an e-mail from YouTube in June informing her that her video had been removed at the request of Universal Music Publishing Group. It warned her that future copyright infringements on her part could force the web site to cancel her account.

"All of my (YouTube) videos are home videos, so I thought it was some kind of scam," Lenz told ABC News. When she realized YouTube had actually taken her video down, she said she was shocked.

"At first it frightened me, because I saw who had filed the takedown notice," Lenz said adding that she was afraid the company might come after her but later her fear turned to anger.

Attorney Corynne McSherry, who is representing Lenz, said the music on the clip is barely audible and that Lenz had posted the video for non-commercial uses.

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act enables owners of intellectual property to demand that unauthorized copies of their work be removed from websites. But there are also safeguards in law to prevent copyright owners from making misrepresentations.

However, Universal said it was simply acting at the behest of one of its top artists.

Source : PTI