The MPAA is bringing their wrath on two young companies, seeking to stop them from allowing people to stream "unlicensed" content. YouTVPC and Peekvid both attempt to remain within the boundaries of the law by not hosting any content themselves, instead allowing people to stream material from other areas around the world. Unfortunately for them, the MPAA sees this as a violation and is taking them both to court.

The suit claims that they should not be allowed to profit from streaming "illicit" material, even if they do not host it and it comes from areas outside the U.S. Since they are both U.S. based companies, the MPAA might have some very powerful legal legs to stand on. Peekvid, of course, claims they are doing nothing wrong, and would like to "help" the situation:

In a notice on its site, Peekvid says that it "does not contain any content on its site, but is merely an index of available links on the Internet. Peekvid is committed to an industry solution that will provide a mechanism to compensate artists that create the work you enjoy watching. Peekvid would like to be part of the long-term solution."
Likely those words will fall on deaf ears, however. I am interesting in seeing how these cases progress, though I find it hard to believe that the MPAA can lose in this situation.