archives

o RIAA Files CD Piracy Suit Against Thomson Unit Technicolor
o Judge Orders Video Pipeline to Stop Streaming Disney, Miramax Previews
o Fourth "DrinkorDie" Piracy Ring Member Pleads Guilty to Federal Charges
o Shareholders File Class Action Suits Against Gemstar-TV Guide
o Game Developer THQ Acquires Outrage Entertainment, Opens Seattle Studio
o Yahoo Launches Paid Online Games Service
o NaviSite's Streaming Business Sold to Streaming Media Corp.
> Digital Media Wire Panel Series: Interactive Television | L.A., S.F., NYC
o Briefly Noted: Wired News, Liquid Audio, Philips - Yahoo - FIFA, Loudeye
- Bonneville International Corp., On2 - Texas Instruments, PoGo Products -
Flipster, Brilliant Digital - CEO interview, Chinese pop stars -
anti-piracy protest
_____________________________________________

o RIAA Files CD Piracy Suit Against Thomson Unit Technicolor

Washington -- The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has
filed an illegal CD copying claim in Los Angeles court against
Technicolor, a subsidiary of French electronics giant Thomson multimedia
that manufactures and distributes CDs and DVDs. The suit alleges that
Technicolor has knowingly copied and distributed pirated CDs from artists
such as N'Sync, Backstreet Boys and Lauryn Hill. "The physical evidence
connecting the Technicolor plant to these CDs is crystal clear, so our
case is strong," said Matt Oppenheim, senior vice president of business
and legal affairs for the RIAA. Paris-based Thomson responded to the suit
in a statement saying that the claim relates to "a very small number of
replication orders completed by Technicolor prior to its acquisition by
Thomson," and that Technicolor denies and will "vigorously contest" the
claim. Thomson added that the RIAA "is not addressing the root cause of
piracy and instead is targeting a legitimate replicator with longstanding
relationships of trust with major content owners."
http://www.riaa.org/PR_story.cfm?id=500
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020404/42419_1.html
_____________________________________________

o Judge Orders Video Pipeline to Stop Streaming Disney, Miramax Previews

Haddonfield, N.J. -- A federal judge in New Jersey has granted a
preliminary injunction against Video Pipeline, a provider of movie
previews to video rental stores and online retailers, prohibiting the
company from streaming video of previews from Disney and Miramax. The
injunction will stand pending the outcome of ongoing litigation between
the two parties. New Jersey-based Video Pipeline maintains a network that
serves video previews to online movie retail sites. Buena Vista Home
Entertainment (BVHE), a subsidiary of Disney, sued the company for
copyright infringement after Video Pipeline began making copies of BVHE
trailers and streaming them to its retail customers. In his ruling, U.S.
District Court Judge Jerome Simandle said that Video Pipeline "is not a
retailer who has lawfully purchased copies of BVHE's product and therefore
entitled to the protection afforded by the First Sale Doctrine." Judge
Simandle also stated that the streaming previews were not a "fair use" of
BVHE's copyrighted content. In a statement, Video Pipeline CEO Jed
Horowitz said that the company is considering an appeal of the ruling.
http://www.videopipeline.com
http://www.videobusiness.com/news/040202_disney_pipeline.asp
_____________________________________________

o Fourth "DrinkorDie" Piracy Ring Member Pleads Guilty to Federal Charges

Washington -- Federal prosecutors said that a fourth member of
"DrinkorDie," a software piracy ring that cracked security codes and
traded copyrighted software, movies and music over the Internet, has
pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to commit copyright
infringement, Reuters reported. U.S. Customs officials targeted the
DrinkorDie group in a December raid in 27 cities during which computers
were seized and a number of suspects were questioned, with four arrests
made. Nathan Hunt, a 21-year-old Pennsylvania native, agreed with
prosecutors that his providing the group with 120 software titles resulted
in damages between $2.5 million and $5 million. Hunt faces penalties of up
to five years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines. He will be sentenced
on June 21.
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,51523,00.html
_____________________________________________

o Shareholders File Class Action Suits Against Gemstar-TV Guide

Pasadena, Calif. -- Several groups of shareholders have filed class action
lawsuits against Gemstar-TV Guide International, alleging the company
violated securities laws relating to its SEC reports and other public
announcements that resulted in an inflated stock price. Pasadena-based
Gemstar, a provider of interactive program guides for digital and
interactive television, said in a statement that the company "believes it
is in full compliance with such laws and intends to vigorously defend the
actions and any other related actions that may be filed."
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020403/30440_1.html
http://biz.yahoo.com/pz/020404/25753.html
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020404/30456_1.html
http://www.gemstartvguide.com
_____________________________________________

o Game Developer THQ Acquires Outrage Entertainment, Opens Seattle Studio

Calabasas Hills, Calif. -- THQ, a developer and publisher of video games,
announced on Thursday that it has acquired Michigan-based Outrage
Entertainment, creator of the PC game "Descent." Financial terms of the
transaction were not disclosed. Outrage is currently developing an action
game for PlayStation 2 and Xbox that THQ will release at the Electronic
Entertainment Expo trade show in May. Calabasas Hills-based THQ also
announced the opening of a game development studio in Seattle, Washington.
Dubbed Cranky Pants Games, the studio is currently working on a Nintendo
GameCube title due for release in 2003.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020404/40113_1.html
http://www.outrage.com
http://www.thq.com
_____________________________________________

o Yahoo Launches Paid Online Games Service

Sunnyvale, Calif. -- Yahoo on Thursday announced the launch of its first
paid online games service. The service will allow users to run their own
private game rooms and includes tools to create and manage tournaments and
league play for its Yahoo Games, a free service offering over 80
Java-based online board, card and word games. The paid service will also
feautre voice chat among game players. The Yahoo Games All-Star service
will cost subscribers $7.95 for one month, $19.95 for three months and
$59.95 for one year of service. Rival portal provider Terra Lycos recently
launched its own paid games service.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020404/40137_1.html
http://games.yahoo.com
_____________________________________________

o NaviSite's Streaming Business Sold to Streaming Media Corp.

Englewood Cliffs, N.J. -- Streaming Media Corporation, a provider of
streaming media technology and services to businesses, announced on
Thursday that it has acquired the streaming media business of
Massachusetts-based NaviSite. Financial terms of the transaction were not
disclosed. Included in the sale were NaviSite's StreamOS technology, which
manages and delivers streaming media, as well as the company's streaming
media sales, client services, technology and management teams.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020404/42155_1.html
http://www.smc.net
http://www.navisite.com
_____________________________________________

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______________________

o Briefly Noted:

(San Francisco) CNET reported on Thursday that Wired News editor in chief
George Shirk will resign from his position to pursue "personal interests."
Managing editor Alison Macondray will serve in the position on an interim
basis. The departure comes just days after German media conglomerate
Bertelsmann announced it would cut back on a previously announced $1
billion advertising agreement with Terra Lycos, which operates Wired News.
A Terra Lycos representative told CNET that Shirk's leaving and
Bertlesmann's announcement were not related.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-876145.html?tag=cd_mh
http://www.wired.com

(Redwood City, Calif.) Liquid Audio, a provider of digital music
distribution services, announced on Thursday that it has been granted a
new patent for its copy protection technology used with consumer devices,
such as portable music players. The technology allows for authorized
playback of digital content on either internal or external memory and
sharing of content between authorized playback systems. It also prevents
unauthorized tampering of content metadata and manages the relocation and
renewal of security keys on a device. Redwood City-based Liquid Audio said
that AIWA, Cirrus Logic, Hitachi, Palm and TDK have already licensed the
newly patented technology.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020404/sfth070_1.html
http://www.liquidaudio.com

(Amsterdam) Royal Philps Electronics said on Thursday that it has
partnered with Yahoo and FIFA to create Philips MatchCast, a
graphics-based, real-time service that will provide updates on this year's
World Cup soccer tournament. The service will include a running game
clock, continuous play-by-play, match scoring, penalties and statistics
for all matches. Philips MatchCast will be advertised on Yahoo, which is
producing the official website for the 2002 World Cup.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020404/40064_1.html
http://www.philips.com
http://www.fifaworldcup.com

(Seattle) Loudeye Technologies, a provider of webcasting and streaming
services, announced on Thursday that it will provide audio streaming
services for four of terrestrial broadcaster Bonneville International
Corporation's Web radio stations. The stations include wtopnews.com,
Classical1035.com, TheZ.com and Internet-only station
FederalNewsRadio.com. Seattle-based Loudeye recently laid off 12 percent
of its staff due to cut costs created by its acquisition of webcasting
services provider Activate.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020404/sfth038_1.html
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020308/sff012_1.html
http://www.loudeye.com

(New York) On2 Corporation, a developer of video compression technology,
said on Thursday that electronics firm Texas Instruments is using its VP4
video codec on two of its digital signal processors. The chips may be used
in devices such as video-on-demand systems, advanced IP set-top boxes and
consumer digital media centers that receive streaming media via Ethernet
from a DSL modem.
http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/f_headline.cgi?day0/220942207&ticker=ont
http://www.on2.com

(Brea, Calif.) PoGo Products, a developer of digital media consumer
electronics devices, announced on Thursday its Flipster device, which
allows users to play MPEG-4 video and MP3 audio, view digital pictures,
record audio and play games. The Flipster features a full-color LCD
display, 128MB or 64MB of memory, a USB port for connecting to a PC, and
Microsoft's Windows Media Player. Brea, Calif.-based PoGo said that
Flipster will be available for $399 by mid-April.
http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/f_headline.cgi?day0/220940166&ticker=
http://www.pogoproducts.com

(San Francisco) CNET on Thursday featured an interview with Brilliant
Digital CEO Kevin Bermeister. The company recently formed a venture with
popular file-sharing service Kazaa to create a new network among Kazaa
users that third parties could use to serve their own protected content,
or to harness Kazaa users' computers in tandem for distributed computing
of complex tasks. In the interview, Bermeister addresses the controversial
method by which the Altnet software is distributed -- by compelling users
to install it if they wish to download Kazaa -- as well as the "opt-in"
nature of the Altnet network venture.
http://news.com.com/2008-1082-875620.html

(Taipei) Reuters on Thursday reported on a protest organized by Chinese
pop music stars against the rampant piracy of CDs that exists in the
region. Protesters called upon the Taiwanese government to set up a police
task force and hand out stiffer sentences for convicted pirates. Pirated
CDs are freely available in Taiwan's street markets, selling for as little
as $1.40. "You should start worrying about your career if you don't find
yourself, your works, available in pirated form. At the same time, you are
pissed off as well," said Hong Kong singer Karen Mok, who participated in
the protest with other artists including Chinese American singer CoCo Lee.
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,51552,00.html
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>DIGITAL MEDIA WIRE PANEL DISCUSSION SERIES:
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Slow Market Penetration Raises Questions: How Big is iTV Going to Be?"

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========================================================
LOS ANGELES: Tuesday, April 16, 2002, Four Seasons Hotel, Beverly Hills
========================================================
Moderator: Ken Rutkowski, Founder and CEO, KenRadio.com
Stephen Condon, SVP and CMO, Intertainer
K.C. Hildreth, COO, GoldPocket Interactive
Steve Hoffman, CEO, Spiderdance
Mark Kapczynski, Principal, Media & Entertainment Solutions Group,
Microsoft
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SAN FRANCISCO: Wednesday, April 17, 2002, City Club of San Francisco
========================================================
Moderator: Sean Badding, VP and Senior Analyst, The Carmel Group
Martijn Lopes Cardozo, VP of Product Management, GoldPocket Interactive
Mitchell Linden, Head of Operations - North America, BBC Technology
Bill Niemeyer, Founder, Centrimedia (former Director, Strategic Dev.,
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NEW YORK: Thursday, April 25, 2002, Cornell Club of New York City
=========================================================
Moderator: Art Cohen, SVP, Advertising, ACTV
Patrick Donoghue, VP, Interactive Television, Cablevision
Gerard Kunkel, President, WorldGate
Christopher S. Lucas, VP & Exec. Producer, Digital Media Group, Showtime
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