archives

o MusicCity Asks Court to Affirm Morpheus' Non-Infringing Uses
o Sen. Hollings Schedules Hearing on Web Copy Protection
o Two Members of "DrinkorDie" Piracy Ring Charged
o Credit Suisse First Boston Fined $100 Million for IPO-Related Abuses
o Yahoo Begins Offering Paid Search Engine Service
o Search Engine Firm Northern Light Technology Acquired by Divine Inc.
o Video Networking Systems Firm Artel Video Systems Raises $4.4 Million
o Briefly Noted: Microsoft - OD2 - U.K. subscription service,
UniversalMusicWorld.com, Aimster - Madster, BTopenworld - Classical.com,
Amazon.com - John Grisham, Salon.com, IM Networks - Panasonic, "Oprah,
Bill Gates and the Future of Books," DVD players - upgraded features
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o MusicCity Asks Court to Affirm Morpheus' Non-Infringing Uses

Los Angeles -- Lawyers for file-sharing software provider MusicCity have
filed a brief in Los Angeles federal court, asking for a ruling to the
effect that the company's Morpheus software has substantial non-infringing
uses, and should not be prosecutable for copyright infringement. The
argument relies on the 1984 Sony Betamax decision, where the Supreme Court
ruled that VCRs could not be banned solely because they are capable of
copyright infringement, because the device also enabled substantial,
non-infringing uses. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which is
defending MusicCity against lawsuits from the motion picture and recording
industries, argues in its brief that Morpheus enables the sharing of
"'shareware' programs like the WinZip file compression software, films
from the Prelinger Archive, music videos from Lil'Romeo and others
distributed with permission by J!VE Media Technologies, and live concert
recordings authorized by musicians." Nashville-based MusicCity has
requested a Feb. 25 hearing before U.S. District Court Judge Stephen V.
Wilson for the Central District of California in Los Angeles.
http://www.eff.org/IP/P2P/MGM_v_Grokster/20020122_eff_morpheus_pr.html
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/173841.html
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o Sen. Hollings Schedules Hearing on Web Copy Protection

Washington, D.C. -- Sen. Ernest Hollings (D-S.C.) has tentatively
scheduled a congressional hearing on copyright protection on the Internet
for Feb. 28, sources told The Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday. Disney
chairman Michael Eisner and News Corp. Peter Chernin will reportedly be
invited to testify. Hollings drafted proposed legislation called the
Security Systems Standards Act, backed by several entertainment industry
companies, which would put government-mandated copyright protection
technology on all consumer electronics devices. A copy of one draft of the
proposed legislation is provided through a link below.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hollywoodreporter/convergence/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1276525
http://216.110.42.179/docs/hollings.090701.html
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o Two Members of "DrinkorDie" Piracy Ring Charged

Los Angeles -- Two members of a nationwide, Internet-based software, music
and movie piracy ring called "DrinkorDie" that was raided by U.S. Customs
last month have been charged with copyright infringement, Reuters reported
on Wednesday. Kentaga Kartadinata, 29, allegedly operated an email list
for the piracy ring, which included executives at major software
companies, government officials have said. Twenty-six year-old Mike
Nguyen, meanwhile, is believed to have run some of the servers that
transmitted pirated copies of Hollywood films and software programs over
the Internet. If convicted, the two men face a maximum of five years in
prison and fines of over $250,000. Federal prosecutors told Reuters that
the men plan to accept a plea bargain and plead guilty.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-820938.html?tag=cd_mh
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o Credit Suisse First Boston Fined $100 Million for IPO-Related Abuses

Washington, D.C. -- The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has
charged the investment bank Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB) with abusive
practices related to several tech stock IPOs that it underwrote. CSFB has
agreed to pay $100 million in fines to settle the charges, while not
admitting or denying the charges. The company is alleged to have offered
some investors the chance to invest early in hot stocks in exchange for
excessive commissions on the deals, in some cases over 30 times the firm's
normal fee. Among the IPOs mentioned in the SEC's charges was that of
online music distributor MP3.com, which raised $344 million in a July 1999
IPO. "CSFB improperly took advantage of its position as underwriter by
allocating shares of hot IPOs to customers who agreed to share their IPO
profits by paying excessive commissions," said Stephen M. Cutler, Director
of the SEC's Division of Enforcement.
http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2002-14.txt
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/23/business/23WALL.html
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,49930,00.html
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o Yahoo Begins Offering Paid Search Engine Service

Sunnyvale, Calif. -- Yahoo announced on Wednesday the launch of a paid
search engine service to complement its free Web searches. Through an
agreement with Divine, which recently purchased the assets of search
engine provider Northern Light Technology, Yahoo will provide access to an
online research library of over 70 million pages of full-text content from
more than 7,100 sources. The documents include business, health, science,
and news magazines and trade journals, medical publications and academic
journals, in addition to the archives of 60 U.S. and international
newswires. Consumers will be able to view summaries of the items in the
service for free; full texts can then be purchased either individually or
by paying $4.95 for a subscription that provides access to up to 50
documents per month.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020123/230230_1.html
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-820714.html
http://premium.search.yahoo.com/
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o Search Engine Firm Northern Light Technology Acquired by Divine Inc.

Cambridge, Mass. -- Cambridge-based Northern Light Technology, a privately
held provider of search and content integration software, has sold its key
technology assets to Chicago-based divine inc., a publicly traded provider
of software, in an all-stock transaction. Specific terms of the deal were
not disclosed. The acquired products include an online business research
library of over 70 million pages of full-text documents and an e-commerce
transaction engine that allows payments, subscriptions, coupons, refunds,
and aggregation for monthly billing.
http://www.divine.com/pr/archives/011602.asp
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o Video Networking Systems Firm Artel Video Systems Raises $4.4 Million

Marlborough, Mass. -- Artel Video Systems, a provider of video networking
systems, announced on Wednesday that it has raised an additional $4.4
million in new financing. Investors participating in the round included
Cornerstone Equity Investors, BancBoston Capital, Charles River Ventures,
Commonwealth Capital Ventures, New England Partners, Massachusetts Capital
Resource Co., Liberty Mutual and Boston University's Community Technology
Fund. The company last raised $10.5 million in November of 2000. Artel's
video switching platform technology enables broadcast and interactive TV
over standards-based, multi-service networks. "This additional investment
will enable Artel to complete it's goal of developing the next generation
of video transport solutions that will play a critical role in the
delivery of content-on-demand services that are rolling out today and
build a foundation for the future of interactive TV," said Artel CEO Hal
Charnley.
http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/f_headline.cgi?day0/220232455&ticker=
http://www.artel.com
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Time is Running Out – Nominate Now

Nominations close next Friday, February 1: Make your selections today at
http://www.igda.org/awards

Presented by the International Game Developers Association at the Game
Developers Conference, the Game Developers Choice Awards celebrate games
for their innovations and artistic merit. Recognition is given to
individuals and teams responsible for groundbreaking endeavors in game
development.

All qualified game developers are eligible to make nominations by Friday,
February 1 at http://www.igda.org/awards

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o Briefly Noted:

(Cannes, France) Microsoft announced on Wednesday the launch of a
U.K.-based digital music subscription service on its MSN.co.uk Web portal,
offering selections from the catalogs of EMI, Warner Music, Telstar, Edel
Music and The Association of Independent Music. The service was created in
conjunction with Bristol, England-based OD2, a provider of digital music
distribution services. Consumers will be able to stream as well as
download tracks and burn them onto CD or transfer them to portable music
players. Subscriptions to particular genre offerings will be available,
such as world music provided through WOMAD, at a rate of 40 new tracks for
just over $7 per month.
http://www.ondemanddistribution.com/eng/press/pressdetails.asp?id=164

(New York) Universal Music Group on Wednesday announced the launch of
UniversalMusicWorld.com, a website that offers streaming audio samples
from every song in the entire catalog of Universal Music -- over 50,000
songs from 3,500 albums. The site was developed by UM3, a division of
Universal Music International, and offers streams in both Real Audio and
Windows Media Audio formats.
http://www.universalmusicworld.com

(New York) The file-sharing service formerly known as Aimster has changed
its name and Web address to Madster.com, after arbitration proceedings
initiated by AOL forced the company to relinquish its name. Aimster
founder Johnny Deep claimed the name was a nod to his daughter Madeline's
nickname, "Aimee;" the software was also touted for its ability to
"piggyback" on AOL's Instant Messenger (AIM) to search for files.
http://www.madster.com

(London) U.K.-based Internet service provider BTopenworld announced on
Wednesday the launch of its classical music subscription service, a joint
venture with Classical.com. The service offers access to around 6,000
classical tracks for unlimited listening, plus the ability to download 10
tracks each month that can be both burned onto CD and transferred to MP3
players. Subscribers can also create and purchase custom CDs composed of
tracks available on the service, which is available for just under $12 per
month.
http://www.btopenworld.com/classical

(Seattle) Online retailer Amazon.com said on Wednesday that it will give
readers who pre-order author John Grisham's new novel "The Summons" before
its Feb. 5 release date an instant download of the first two chapters of
the book. "We've had tremendous success offering advance digital downloads
for new CD releases, and extending that experience to books is a huge win
for both customers and publishers," said Steve Kessel, general manager of
Amazon.com's Books, Music, Video and DVD business. The download will be
sent to users in Adobe's portable document format (PDF).
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020123/230169_1.html
http://www.amazon.com/summons

(San Francisco) Online magazine Salon.com said on Wednesday that it has
surpassed 35,000 paying subscribers to its premium service. The company
now derives 30 percent of its total revenue from subscriptions, which
start at $6 per month or $30 per year.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020123/sfw059_1.html
http://www.salon.com

(Mountain View, Calif.) IM Networks, a provider of Internet radio device
technology, announced on Wednesday that consumer electronics manufacturer
Panasonic has licensed its technology. Panasonic will implement Mountain
View-based IM Networks' embedded software tuner that accesses online audio
streams in its Broadband Set Top Box, a product that will be released in
Japan in the fall. Philips recently released a home stereo that also uses
IM Networks technology.
http://www.imnetworks.com

(New York) The current issue of Newsweek magazine features an article
entitled "Oprah, Bill Gates and the Future of Books," which explores the
potential of e-books as a distribution medium. The article points out that
the necessity of purchasing a "book player" such as those made by Gemstar
or Microsoft, is a foreign idea to the same consumers who were accustomed
to purchasing portable players for music like cassette players and CD
Walkmans when MP3 players were introduced.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/692265.asp?0dm=C12OT

(San Francisco) CNET reported on Wednesday on a growing trend among
consumer electronics device manufacturers to add other functionality to
their DVD players, such as digital video recorders, VCRs, home networking
kits and the ability to view digital pictures. Companies including Moxi
Digital, Panasonic and Sonicblue are offering this new line of products.
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-820169.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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> Digital Media Wire Directory Launched

Digital Media Wire just launched the Digital Media Directory, an online
directory and RFP engine that facilitates the search and negotiation
process between buyers and sellers.

Register as a provider in the Digital Media Directory at
http://digitalmediawire.newmediary.com/dmw111301nl
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