A Texas judge has dismissed a lawsuit against MySpace.com that placed blame on the popular Web site for not establishing enough safeguards to protect underage users.

The family of an underage girl sued the site, which is owned by News Corp., last year after she lied about her age on the site and later was sexually assaulted by a man she met on MySpace.

“If anyone had a duty to protect Julie Doe, it was her parents, not MySpace,” U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks wrote in his ruling.

In a statement, MySpace said it applauded the judge’s decision and has been implementing measures to make the social-networking site safer.