RedLasso, the sometimes buggy but generally reliable embeddable video service, was handed a copyright infringement lawsuit this week by the major TV networks, who want it shut down for distributing their content.

With a huge 24 million unique visitors a month, it's clear RedLasso serves a purpose. But so did Napster, and one industry in particular wasn't pleased with its reach.

So what's RedLasso to do? The company still hasn't responded formally to the lawsuit, but they have said one thing: We've got the blogs on our side!

"We reached out to our blogger partners using the site and urged them to give their take on this," McGowan says. "Some of them are pretty supportive; we hope they continue to use the site."

So who's coming to Al's aid? Well, there's Michael David Smith at AOL's Fancast. "It's an ingenious product," Mr. Smith tells his readers, that has "transformed the blogosphere," and "it would be a shame for Redlasso to disappear." We have yet to hear from the folks at TechCrunch, who last we heard were a bit sour about not hearing about the C&D note themselves.

But enough about the groundswell of blog support. What's Redlasso's case? Well, says Al, they're totally useful to the networks: They increase networks' online distribution by allowing bloggers to easily re-post video. They're open to business models that would allow the networks to insert advertising, giving both the distributor (bloggers) and the tech platform (Redlasso) a cut.

Further, if the networks don't license Redlasso, those bloggers will go ahead and keep using YouTube, and then no one gets paid, right?

Here's the problem: Redlasso hasn't convinced anyone at the networks they need to be in business with them, and Al says they've been trying for two years. Further, none of these arguments help Redlasso in court. [SAI]