Word came late last week that the large Hollywood movie studios filed (as reported by Reuters) a second round of lawsuits against computer network operators who use technology that allows people to share films and TV shows on the Internet without permission. These peer-to-peer activities and legal actions are very similar to what we were seeing several years ago in the music industry. And while music lawsuits are not entirely over, we now have evolved to where selling music over the net by firms such as Apple and Real are thriving businesses. And Napster which was once considered "illegitimate" is now very legitimate.

Legitimate services for downloading movies such as MovieLink.com are starting to thrive. The software to run movie downloads is more sophisticed than what music requires, but nonetheless, we are sure to see movie downloads following the same business explosion that happened with music. Perhaps Steve Jobs is about to announce an iMOVIE contraption to go with the iPOD?

The big losers here could be Netflix and Blockbuster. Of course they could both migrate into serving movies online similar to the way Apple and Real are offering music today.

The lesson is that Netflix and Blockbuster had better be ready with such a plan or face "the music" of a fast erosion of their present business model.

Once again the Internet is raising havoc with yet another business model.