archives

o Plaintiffs in Napster Case Submit Revised Injunction to Court
o Napster, Bertelsmann's Digital World Services Working on Secure Service
o Online Music Entertainment Network Soundbreak Shuts Down
o Broadband Sports Shuts Down, LaysOff 160 Employees
o Playboy.com to Launch Online Sports Wagering Site
> Note to Readers: Presidents Day Holiday
> Correction: Aimster - L90
o Briefly Noted: The Onion - Miramax Films, NetRadio, Be Here Corporation
- Turner Sports Interactive, Asheron's Call, Digital Entertainment Network
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> Job Postings: Dir./Mgr. of Public Relations, Biz Dev/Sales, Project
Mgr./E-Commerce

> Events/Services: "2001 Wharton Technology & Media Conference,"
WebMessenger

Full Job/Event descriptions listed below "Briefly Noted" section or at
http://www.digitalmediawire.com/postings.html

To Post a Job: http://www.digitalmediawire.com/jobs.html
To Post an Event: http://www.digitalmediawire.com/events.html
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o Plaintiffs in Napster Case Submit Revised Injunction to Court

Washington -- The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has
announced that plaintiffs in the copyright infringement lawsuit against
Napster have filed a revised version of their injunction -- which asked
that Napster remove all copyrighted material from its file-sharing service
-- to the U.S. District Court. The revised injunction follows the
prescriptions offered by Monday's ruling by the Ninth District Court of
Appeals. In a statement, the RIAA said that the revised injunction
prescribes that "the record company and publisher plaintiffs will identify
to Napster their copyrighted music, and under the proposed order, Napster
must prevent infringement of that music on its system. The order would
also require Napster to "patrol" its own system as specifically directed
in the opinion of the Court of Appeals, a remedy especially appropriate
because of Napster’s egregious conduct as recognized by the Court." The
injunction is not yet a public document, and no further information was
provided by the RIAA.
http://www.riaa.org/PR_story.cfm?id=373
http://www.napster.com
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o Napster, Bertelsmann's Digital World Services Working on Secure Service

Redwood City, Calif. -- Napster announced on Friday that it has been
working with Bertelsmann subsidiary Digital World Services to develop
technology needed to secure its planned membership-based service for
digital music file-sharing. The added "protection layer" will be placed on
files as they are downloaded from one user to another, and has the ability
to restrict the subsequent use of downloaded files, such as preventing
users from copying them onto a CD. The companies said that the technology
"will not use any existing multi-purpose DRM but a new security
architecture that is specially tailored to the requirements of
file-sharing ." "Today's announcement underscores one key fact: the real
questions about Napster's future are economic, not technical or legal,
said Hank Barry, CEO of Napster. "Our alliance with Bertelsmann and the
Bertelsmann eCommerce Group was our first important step toward a model
that makes payments to artists, songrwriters and other rightsholders. This
solution is further evidence of the seriousness of our effort to reach an
agreement with the record companies that will keep Napster running,
reliable, and enjoyable." The announcement did not include any details of
when the new service will be launched. Bertelsmann CEO Thomas Middlehoff
has previously said that a secure file-sharing service would be launched
by June or July of this year.
http://www.dwsco.com/about_press15.html
http://www.napster.com
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o Online Music Entertainment Network Soundbreak Shuts Down

West Hollywood, Calif. -- Unable to raise additional funding or establish
advertising revenue, music website Soundbreak has shut down. The company
said it will return its remaining funding to shareholders. "Due to market
conditions, we were unable to monetize the business plan or to raise the
additional capital necessary to sustain the company's long-term growth,"
said Soundbreak CEO Paul Ryan. "We concluded that the prudent business
decision was to close operations and return the remaining capital to
shareholders." The company -- which was majority owned by Acacia Research
-- raised $19 million in private equity financing in March of 2000. West
Hollywood-based Soundbreak offered music and interviews hosted by live DJs
in a studio 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Among its staff were former
MTV personalities Mark Goodman and Dave Kendall. Soundbreak was one of few
webcasters to negotiate a licensing agreement directly with the Recording
Industry Association of America (RIAA) to pay royalties on songs it
broadcasted over the Internet. Terrestrial radio stations do not pay
labels to broadcast music, and have protested new copyright law that says
they must pay royalties for simulcasting their radio broadcasts online.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/010215/ca_acacia_.html
http://www.soundbreak.com
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o Broadband Sports Shuts Down, LaysOff 160 Employees

Los Angeles -- Multimedia sports website Broadband Sports has shut down
and laid off all 160 employees, according to a statement released by the
company. "While we've been able to raise about $20 million since the
market downturn, this was still not enough funding to pursue our ambitious
plans," said Richard Nanula, CEO of Broadband Sports. The Los
Angeles-based company operated several sports sites including
Athletesdirect.com, which offered interviews and online diaries from team
players in a number of different sports; Rotonewsdirect.com, a fantasy
sports news site; Freestyledirect.com, an extreme sports site; and an
archive of sports-related feature stories at Sportswritersdirect.com.
http://www.broadbandsports.com
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o Playboy.com to Launch Online Sports Wagering Site

New York -- Playboy.com has announced a partnership with Ladbrokes eGaming
Limited, whereby the two companies will develop PlayboySportsBook.com, an
online wagering site. Under the agreement, London-based Ladbrokes will
fund all operating costs, providing hardware and software, management and
customer support. Playboy will provide marketing, branding, user
interface, design and content. The site will be licensed and operated out
of Gibraltar, and have safeguards to prevent wagers being taken from U.S.
residents and other places where online sports wagering is illegal.
International users will be able to bet on American sports including
football, basketball, baseball, boxing, tennis and golf and international
sports including soccer and rugby. The site will also offer wagering on
other events, including the Playmate of the Year selection.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/010215/ny_playboy.html
http://www.playboy.com
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> Note to Readers: President's Day Holiday

Digital Media Wire will not be published on Monday in observance of the
Presidents Day holiday. The next edition will be published on Tuesday,
February 20.
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> Correction: Aimster - L90

A story in Wednesday's edition incorrectly described the attributes of
file-sharing service Aimster. Aimster is an encrypted file-sharing
service, which prevents snooping, monitoring and spying of users hard
drives by third parties. As such, marketing firm L90 does not have access
to this information for marketing purposes.
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o Briefly Noted:

(New York) Satirical online and off-line publication The Onion announced
on Friday that it has signed a "first-look" deal with Miramax Films, to
develop scripts and features that will be jointly produced by 3 Arts
Entertainment. New York-based The Onion has also optioned articles to
DreamWorks, including "10th Circle Added to Rapidly Growing Hell" and
"Canadian Girlfriend Unsubstantiated." In a statement, Onion
editor-in-chief Robert Siegel said, "The goal for this Miramax deal is to
create movies that don't suck."
http://www.theonion.com
http://www.miramaxfilms.com

(Minneapolis) NetRadio, an online network with 120 music channels,
announced on Friday that it will begin selling music downloads, VHS and
DVD movies and video games in its online store. The store -- which was
designed by Minnesota-based eSplice --will initially feature 80,000
downloads of singles and full-length albums.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/010216/mn_netradi.html
http://buy.netradio.com/buy/music/
http://www.esplice.com

(Cupertino, Calif.) Be Here Corporation, developer of 360-degree online
video technology, announced on Friday that Turner Sports Interactive will
use the company's technology inside of NASCAR racers' cars. The technology
-- which allows users to pan the perspective of the camera in a complete
circle -- will be implemented into coverage of races on NASCAR.com.
http://www.nascar.com
http://www.behere.com

(San Francisco) Microsoft has fired about 500 volunteers that worked as
online game conduct-enforcers for Asheron's Call, the company's
massively-multiplayer online roleplaying game, Wired News reported on
Friday. The volunteers will be replaced by paid employees, in a move that
could help to prevent a class-action lawsuit against the company by the
volunteers. AOL was sued by a group of current and former chat-room
moderators, rules enforcers and customer-support troubleshooters who are
demanding to be paid for the hours they logged as volunteers. The case --
which is scheduled to go to court in March -- will determine whether or
not for-profit companies can hire unpaid volunteers.
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,41821,00.html
http://zone.msn.com/asheronscall/start.asp

(New York) Inside.com reported on Friday on the ongoing sexual misconduct
allegations facing the founders of the now-defunct Digital Entertainment
Network. Marc Collins-Rector, Chad Shackley and Brock Pierce are
reportedly under surveillance overseas by the FBI, in connection with
allegations of "drugging, molesting, raping and issuing death threats
against both adults and minors." Two months ago, a default judgment of
$4.5 million was levied against the three DEN founders for failing to
respond to a civil suit from former DEN employees -- both 15 at the time
of the incidents -- alleging sexual misconduct.
http://www.inside.com/jcs/Story?article_id=23759&pod_id=13

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Job Postings:
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To Post Jobs: http://www.digitalmediawire.com/jobs.html

> Load Media Network, Director/Manager of Public Relations - Los Angeles

Develop and execute Load Media's PR strategy. Manage relationship
with external PR agency. Implement standard public relations and
communications practices including but not limited to: media tours, events
and trade shows, desk side briefings, media pitching, press release
development, approvals and distribution, and message documents. 4-8 years
marketing/advertising experience. Send resumes to danderson@loadmedia.com
http://www.loadmedia.com
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> everse, Business Development / Sales - Los Angeles

Internet professional services firm seeks star sales person to identify
and drive strategic business to closure. Assist clients in defining
business objectives, goals and budgets. Position requires establishing
and maintaining long-term relationships with client base. Bachelor's
degree, MBA preferred. History of closing web service business or agency-
related. Ability to generate leads through cold-calling. Send resumes to
stevey@everse.com
http://www.everse.com
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> RichFX, Project Manager / E-commerce - New York City

Change the face of on-line shopping by helping to create the world's
first ONE PAGE storefront. This is an opportunity to work on truly
breakthrough, cutting-edge technology. Very competitive salary and equity
in a well-funded mature startup. Professional, but business casual
environment. Comprehensive benefits package.
Send resumes to nyrecruiter@richfx.com
http://www.richfx.com

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Event Postings:
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To Post Events: http://www.digitalmediawire.com/events.html

> 2001 Wharton Technology & Media Conference, Feb. 15-17 - Philadelphia

"Managing in a Converging World" -- Featured Keynote Speakers: George
Conrages, CEO, Akamai Technologies; Joseph P. Nacchio, Chairman and
CEO,Qwest Communications International; Ellen Hancock, Chairman and
CEO, Exodus Communications. Panelists include Hank Barry, Napster,
and Jonathan Sacks, AOL Service. For more info:
soyoung2@wharton.upenn.edu
http://www.whartontechmedia.com
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> WebMessenger: Wireless and Streaming Media Software

WebMessenger does Premium Software Development for Wireless,
Medical, Online Media, and Internet Industries. Competitive Contractor:
California based development and management with oversees support.
Excellent client relationships with perfect referrals. Top-Notch staff:
PhDs and Masters in Computer Science with many years of experience.
Quality Assurance dept. that ensures the highest standards are met.
High-Speed product development cycle: 24-hour global operations. Cost
effective development.
Contact: Aaron Hirsch aaron@webmessenger.com 202-483-5999
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