In what is shaping up to be a delicious bloodbath of corporate fisticuffs, Universal Music has set its sights on YouTube and MySpace over copyright violations.

Finally! Rich irony aside, it looks like copyright litigators have cut their teeth suing the recently deceased and little ol’ grannies with the RIAA, and have now moved on to a real challenge — some of the biggest heavyweights on the ‘net. And the blogosphere has taken notice.

Yes, with YouTube and MySpace on one side, and Universal on the other, this grudgematch currently looks like a handicap match, but will it move on to a battle royale? That is, for all you non-professsional wrestling fans — could this copyright contest look to envelop more music labels or even more web2.0 companies?

I’ve often wondered exactly how YouTube continues to get its free ride. People often wonder at its explosive growth, but its clear a signficant component of it is simply free, ripped and rebroadcast copyright material, be it movies or television shows. I mean, who doesn’t like to watch free episodes of Friends, The Colbert Report, or the Ali G Show, either at work or at school?

With the absolutely rabid intensity with how the RIAA has pursued alleged copyright infringers, it almost makes no sense how YouTube has escaped real litigious attention as long as it has. As opposed to a P2P service, in particular, these videos are actually located on their server; to complain they can’t police all 10 bajillion of them is besides the point.

MySpace is also mentioned in several of the articles; however, since its raison d’etre doesn’t seem to hinge on the question of copyright intellictual property, but the cultivation of communities, I wonder what the scope of the litigation will be towards them.

But back to the question: will it involve other web2.0 companies? How about more music labels?

Well, I see more of the latter than the former. While web2.0 companies are built upon several buzzword, I mean concepts, which allow people collaborate and share information online in new ways, the vast majority of them do not allow them to facilitate, to the same degree, the potential amount of copyright infringmenet YouTube has. Of course, it is always possible to share information more readily — go to this website, try this network, go to this mall, to find the best Stuff — but none of them exist to share it.

Will more music labels? If it looks like Universal’s lawsuit gains any traction, you can bet your proverbial bottom dollar. Litigation law-types must be salivating at the chance to sink their teeth into a corporation as deep-pocketed as News Corporation if the YouTube suit offers any indication.

Now, some have said that perhaps all Universal (and subsequent music labels want) is a way to share in the profit pie. Perhaps this is indeed the case; however, I have a feeling Universal and its upcoming brethren will probably ask for more than a pew pounds of flesh for the privilege; if Newscorp and the investors behind YouTube are not willing to cave, I suspect we’ll have a match bloody enough to make Hell in a Cell look like pillow fight.