archives

o Kazaa File-Sharing Software, Website Sold to Australian Firm
o Report: Microsoft Plans to Eliminate UltimateTV Unit, Cut 168 Jobs
o Amazon.com Settles Music Software Patent Litigation with Intouch Group
o MP3.com Sues Law Firm Over Bad Advice on My.MP3.com Service
o AOL Time Warner Signs 6-Year Pact With NBA
o Video-on-Demand Firm Intertainer Gets $15 Million from Thomson, Microsoft
o Jupiter, NetRatings Agree to Go Ahead with Patent Litigation
o Audio Search Provider Fast-Talk Communications Raises $8.5 Million
o Briefly Noted: Pressplay, Wippit - EdelNet, Digital Bridges - THQ
Wireless, M-Wise - Fox Kids Europe, ESS Technology - Super Audio CD, The
Collective - "Indiana Jones," Yahoo - USAToday.com, NCube - OpenTV, Quova
- Jupiter Media Metrix, Bam Entertainment, Videolocity, ECast, Author
websites
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o Kazaa File-Sharing Software, Website Sold to Australian Firm

New York -- Kazaa, a provider of file-sharing software currently facing
copyright lawsuits from a Dutch performing rights organization in addition
to the RIAA and MPAA, has sold its software and website to an Australian
company called Sharman Networks Limited, according to a Reuters report.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Netherlands-based Kazaa
had stopped distributing its file-sharing software pending a Jan. 31 court
ruling, but the site's new owner on Tuesday resumed downloads of the
program. A note on Kazaa.com said that, "the original brains behind Kazaa
have moved on to develop new innovative software."
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,49894,00.html
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/173801.html
http://www.kazaa.com/en/index.htm
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o Report: Microsoft Plans to Eliminate UltimateTV Unit, Cut 168 Jobs

San Jose, Calif. -- The San Jose Mercury News reported on Tuesday that
Microsoft is planning to eliminate its UltimateTV unit in Silicon Valley,
laying off 168 employees and consolidating the rest of the unit's 500
employees into other Microsoft units. UltimateTV is a service that
provides users with a set-top box that delivers satellite TV programming,
personal video recorder functions, Web browsing and email. The article
quoted sources close to the company as saying that Microsoft will continue
to provide the UltimateTV service, although UltimateTV hardware developers
will now work on Microsoft's Xbox video game console. Other UltimateTV
divisions will also be moved, with television services falling under
Microsoft's MSN TV Services and its television platform group moving under
the Microsoft Television platforms group.
http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/svfront/ms012202.htm
http://www.ultimatetv.com
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o Amazon.com Settles Music Software Patent Litigation with Intouch Group

San Francisco -- Online retailer Amazon.com has settled patent litigation
brought against the company by Intouch Group, a provider of streaming song
samples and music recommendation software, CNET reported on Tuesday. Terms
of the settlement were not disclosed. Amazon.com said in a statement that
the settlement is "reasonable and allows both companies to move forward
with their respective businesses." Other online music firms were also
party to the suit filed by Berkeley-based Intouch Group, including Liquid
Audio, Listen.com, DiscoverMusic and Entertaindom, the now-defunct
entertainment website once operated by AOL Time Warner. "It is our belief
that the proven validity of the patents, coupled with the recent
settlement agreement reached with Amazon.com, will now encourage other
companies to seek reasonable licenses with Intouch," company CEO Joshua
Kaplan told CNET.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-820008.html
http://www.intouchgroup.com
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o MP3.com Sues Law Firm Over Bad Advice on My.MP3.com Service

San Diego -- MP3.com, a provider of online music distribution technology
that was acquired by Vivendi Universal, has filed suit against its former
law firm Cooley Godward asking for hundreds of millions of dollars in
damages over what it claims was bad legal advice, Reuters reported. San
Diego-based launched a service that let users stream music from digital
lockers called My.MP3.com, which prompted copyright lawsuits from all the
major record labels and music publishers, who were awarded large sums in
monetary damages. MP3.com claims that inaccurate and incomplete advice
from Cooley Godward prompted it to go ahead and launch My.MP3.com,
resulting in its myriad copyright suits.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20020118/en/music-mp3_1.html
http://www.cooley.com
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o AOL Time Warner Signs 6-Year Pact With NBA

Dulles, Va. -- AOL Time Warner on Tuesday signed a 6-year deal with the
National Basketball Association that calls for the company to televise
games over TNT and expand its 19-month-old interactive arrangement with
the league. The TV portion of the deal calls for TNT to broadcast
approximately 52 regular-season and 45 playoff games each year, as well as
the All-Star Game. In addition, the company and league will explore the
creation of a jointly owned, national 24-hour cable sports network. Under
the interactive portion of the deal, America Online will become the
official ISP of the NBA, WNBA and the National Basketball Development
League and will offer NBA content, including audio webcasts of games. The
deal also includes several cross-promotional aspects. AOL Time Warner also
holds contracts with the NFL and NASCAR.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020122/222545_1.html
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o Video-on-Demand Firm Intertainer Gets $15 Million from Thomson, Microsoft

Culver City, Calif. -- Intertainer, a provider of Internet-based
video-on-demand content and delivery technology, announced on Tuesday that
it has raised $15 million in the first closing of its Series E round of
financing. New investor Thomson Consumer Electronics led the round, while
previous investor Microsoft increased its existing stake in the company.
Thomson Consumer Electronics parent company Thomson multimedia last week
announced that it will offer Intertainer content on an upcoming
Internet-connected set-top box. Culver City-based Intertainer provides
technology that can deliver video-on-demand services over the public
Internet, as well as a library of over 70,000 hours of content that
includes major studio films, TV shows and music videos. Intertainer plans
to use the funds for working capital.
http://www.intertainer.tv
http://www.thomson-multimedia.com
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o Jupiter, NetRatings Agree to Go Ahead with Patent Litigation

Milpitas, Calif. -- Internet measurement firm NetRatings announced that it
has modified its agreement to acquire Internet analyst and measurement
firm Jupiter Media Metrix to allow patent infringement litigation between
the two companies to proceed. The companies said that pending the
fulfillment of a request for additional information by the FTC, the patent
litigation regarding a method of collecting data from the Internet will go
forward. Milpitas, Calif.-based NetRatings offered $71.2 million to
acquired New York-based Jupiter Media Metrix in October 2001. NetRatings
said that the litigation will terminate once the merger with Jupiter Media
Metrix is finalized, which the company expects to take place before March
31, 2002.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020118/180209_1.html
http://www.netratings.com
http://www.jmm.com
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o Audio Search Provider Fast-Talk Communications Raises $8.5 Million

Atlanta -- Fast-Talk Communications, a developer of audio search
technology, has raised $8.5 million in its second round of venture capital
financing. Boston Millennia Partners led the investment round. New
investors SAIC Venture Capital Corporation, Cordova Ventures and the
Atlanta Technology Angels, as well as previous investor H.I.G. Ventures,
also participated. Atlanta-based Fast-Talk develops search technology
based on recognizing phonemes in human speech -- rather than on
speech-to-text translation -- that allows users to search audio, voice and
video. The company claims its software "identifies and retrieves any word,
proper name, phrase or slang term with up to 98 percent accuracy."
Fast-Talk will use the funds to expand in the government, call center and
digital media markets.
http://www.fast-talk.com/press/18.html
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Larta Panel Session -- Jan. 24 @ USC
"Digital Cinema: Hollywood's Emerging Challenge"

Speakers for this discussion at The Robert Zemeckis Center for Digital
Arts at USC will include Dean Elizabeth Daley of the USC School of Cinema
and Television, Bob Dowling, Publisher of The Hollywood Reporter, Ken
Williams, President, Technicolor Digital Cinema, Michael Karagosian,
Digital Cinema Consultant and other leading executives.

For more information:
http://www.larta.org/Research/HollywoodUnstrung.asp

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o Briefly Noted:

(Los Angeles) Pressplay, a digital music subscription service joint
venture between Sony Music and Universal Music, announced on Tuesday that
its service is now available throughout the U.S. Previously, the service
was only available to several thousand consumers participating in a test
of the service that lets users download and stream songs on their PCs. The
company also announced that the Pressplay service is now available through
distribution partner MP3.com, a division of Vivendi Universal. Pressplay
is also available through Yahoo, Microsoft's MSN and Roxio.
http://www.pressplay.com

(London) Wippit, a provider of secure peer-to-peer music subscription
services, announced on Tuesday that EdelNet, the online distribution arm
of large independent record label Edel Music, has licensed songs from its
catalog for the Wippit service. Music from Edel's catalog will become
available beginning on Feb. 1. London-based Wippit's service currently
offers unlimited downloads of songs and limited downloads of cell phone
ringtones for $30 per year. "We've been actively pursuing moves into the
music download market for a while, with file-sharing becoming increasingly
popular," said Stefan Weikert, Edel Music's general manager of new
business and communication. "Wippit provides a secure solution for P2P
users which is an attractive platform for both consumers and rights
holders."
http://www.wippit.com/press/pr-210102.html

(Edinburgh, Scotland) Digital Bridges, a developer of wireless
entertainment content and delivery technology, announced on Tuesday that
it will provide services to THQ Wireless, the mobile entertainment
division of game developer THQ. Los Angeles-based THQ will use
Scotland-based Digital Bridges' UNITY platform that allows wireless
entertainment content to be delivered to multiple handsets on a range of
networks in multiple languages. Digital Bridges will also provide THQ
Wireless with hosting and distribution services for its wireless games.
http://www.digitalbridges.com/newsite/newsroom/latest.php?id=47
http://www.thq.com

(London) European children's' TV network Fox Kids Europe said on Tuesday
that it has partnered with wireless entertainment developer M-Wise to
develop text-based entertainment for the U.K. market. London-based M-Wise
will provide delivery technology and access to its wireless network
operator partners for Fox Kids Europe's content, which will include
ringtones, logos, contests and games.
http://www.foxkids.co.uk
http://www.m-wise.com

(Fremont, Calif.) ESS Technology, a developer of semiconductors for
digital video and home networks, said on Tuesday that it has licensed
Philips' high-fidelity Super Audio CD format. Fremont, Calif.-based ESS
will incorporate support for playing Super Audio CDs, which are just
beginning to enter the consumer market, into future chips for DVD players.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020118/sff024_1.html
http://www.esstech.com

(San Rafael, Calif.) LucasArts, a game developer and publisher operated by
director George Lucas' Lucasfilm, Ltd., said on Tuesday that Newport
Beach, Calif.-based game developer The Collective has been hired to create
games based on its "Indiana Jones" character. The Collective will create
both PC and console games based on Indiana Jones; the first title is
slated for release in the fall.
http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/f_headline.cgi?day0/220220417&ticker=
http://www.collectivestudios.com
http://www.lucasarts.com

(Sunnyvale, Calif.) Yahoo announced on Tuesday that it has signed a
content distribution agreement with national newspaper website
USAToday.com. Under the agreement, USAToday.com will provide select daily
news coverage, reviews, columns, and features to Sunnyvale-based Yahoo,
which has similar deals with The New York Times, Variety and The Hollywood
Reporter.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020122/dctu025_1.html
http://www.usatoday.com

(San Francisco) NCube, a provider of streaming media services such as
video-on-demand to broadband networks, announced on Tuesday that it has
partnered with interactive TV set-top box software developer OpenTV. The
two companies will collaborate on an end-to-end video-on-demand service
for broadband providers. Under the terms of the agreement, San
Francisco-based NCube's technology will be integrated so that it will work
on set-top boxes running OpenTV's middleware.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020122/220311_1.html
http://www.ncube.com
http://www.opentv.com

(Redwood City, Calif.) Quova, a provider of geographical tracking
services, said on Tuesday that Internet analyst and measurement firm
Jupiter Media Metrix will incorporate its GeoPoint technology so that
clients of its site measurement service will be able to find out the
geographical location of their website visitors. Redwood City-based
Quova's technology provides the location of Web site visitors in detail,
including continent, country, state, DMA and the metro city in which they
are located.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020122/sftu002_1.html
http://www.quova.com
http://www.jmm.com

(San Jose, Calif.) Bam Entertainment, a developer and publisher of video
games for consoles, wireless and the PC, announced on Tuesday that it has
appointed Bernard Stolar as its president and chief operating officer. A
twenty-year veteran of the games industry, Stolar previously served as
executive vice president of Sony Computer Entertainment America, president
of Sega of America, and president of Mattel Interactive.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020122/sftu095_1.html
http://www.bam4fun.com

(Salt Lake City, Utah) Videolocity, a developer of video-on-demand and
other on-demand technologies, announced on Tuesday that its board of
directors has voted to appoint Robert E. Holt as the company's new
president and CEO. Holt replaces Jerry E. Romney, Jr., who resigned as
president for personal reasons. Prior to joining Utah-based Videolocity,
Holt served as COO and CFO for the Greenwood Technology Group.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020122/220078_1.html
http://www.videolocity.com

(San Francisco) ECast, a developer of Internet-connected entertainment
kiosks, announced on Tuesday the appointment of Robbie Vann-Adibe as its
new CEO. Vann-Adibe joined Ecast's board of directors in 1999 and
previously co-founded Viant, a Web services firm.
http://www.ecastinc.com

(San Francisco) Wired News on Tuesday published a feature story on how
some authors are taking advantage of their publishers' disinterest in
maintaining a website for them. According to the article, less than 10
percent of authors' websites are maintained by their publishers. By
creating their own websites, authors can present their books as they see
fit, without any input or interference from publishers.
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,49865,00.html
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