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DIGITAL MEDIA WIRE -- April 9, 2003
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o Internet Piracy, CD Copying Blamed For 7% Drop In Worldwide Music Sales
o RosettaBooks, Random House Settle E-Book Publishing Rights Litigation
o Internet Cafe Chain Pays to Settle Music Copyright Infringement Suit
o News Corp. Said to Be Close to Gaining Control of DirecTV
o AOL Repurchases Stake in Europe Unit for $812.5 Million
o Tecmo's "Dead or Alive" Video Game to Become Feature Film
o Cell Phone Camera Chipmaker TransChip Raises $5.5 Million
> DMW Publications: March Law and Policy Report
> Featured Section: HP Workstation for a PC Price
o Briefly Noted: Sony Music - "Digital Download Day," Widespread Panic -
Altnet, Windows CE .NET - set-top boxes, Sony - Gamer Advisory Panel,
RealNetworks - war coverage - Live365, Activision - "X2 Wolverine's
Revenge," Cognima - Beatnik Audio, Interplay - "Run Like Hell," Atari -
"Kya: Dark Lineage," VU Games - "Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis," JC
Entertainment - "Priest," MusicMatch, Konrad Hilbers
_____________________________________________
> Events: L.A. HIPAA Security and Privacy Conference, Games & Mobile
Forum: April 28 | NYC
> Marketplace: Discreet cleaner XL, TechSpotter, Game Industry Report,
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o Internet Piracy, CD Copying Blamed For 7% Drop In Worldwide Music Sales
London -- Worldwide music sales dropped by 7 percent last year after a 5
percent dip in 2001, the International Federation of the Phonographic
Industry said on Wednesday. The group blamed the decline on what it called
Internet piracy and the "massive proliferation" of CD copying. In the
U.S., the IFPI said album unit sales were down 10 percent on the year. The
IFPI said that piracy has jeopardized the jobs of 600,000 people in the
industry. Other factors in the slump were economic uncertainty and
competition from DVDs and video games. "This year's figures hold no
surprises," said IFPI chairman Jay Berman. "Widespread use of illegal
sites, made easier with the growth of broadband access in the major
markets, is affecting an industry that is also having to compete with
increased sales of other entertainment formats such as DVD films and new
video game consoles."
http://www.ifpi.org/site-content/press/20030409.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/2931589.stm
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o RosettaBooks, Random House Settle E-Book Publishing Rights Litigation
New York -- E-book publisher RosettaBooks announced on Wednesday that it
has settled outstanding litigation with publisher Random House, over its
sales of e-book versions of titles from Random House authors. The
settlement calls for no payments from either side; instead, the two
parties said they will partner to expand the e-book market. Random House
will grant RosettaBooks exclusive licenses to publish 51 e-book titles,
from authors including Kurt Vonnegut and William Styron. In 2001, Random
House sued RosettaBooks, arguing that its contracts with its authors
covered rights to e-book versions of their works. "We are very glad to be
able to put our differences behind us and to now work co1laboratively
rather than combatively to enhance RosettaBooks' and our commitment to
electronic publishing," said Katherine J. Trager, senior vice president
and general counsel for Random House.
http://www.rosettabooks.com/pages/RB_RH_Release.html
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o Internet Cafe Chain Pays to Settle Music Copyright Infringement Suit
London -- A Greek Internet cafe chain has agreed to pay the British
Phonographic Industry (BPI) over $400,000 in damages to settle a lawsuit
that found it infringed copyrights by letting its patrons download songs
from the Internet and burn them onto CDs. The British High Court ruled in
January that the service, which charged users to burn CDs of downloaded
song, infringed copyrights. The settlement calls for EasyInternet Cafe to
pay the BPI $125,000 in damages, as well as the organization's legal fees,
totaling $326,700.
http://www.bpi.co.uk/news/displayNews.asp?id=418
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=internetNews&storyID=2535394
_____________________________________________
o News Corp. Said to Be Close to Gaining Control of DirecTV
New York -- Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. is reportedly close to gaining
control of satellite TV group Hughes Electronics -- which operates DirecTV
-- in a deal that could be worth as much as $7 billion. Sources close to
the situation said that News Corp. is expected to acquire a 35 percent
stake in Hughes at a premium to its current market price. The deal,
expected to be announced later this week, is still subject to approval by
both News Corp. and General Motors, the company that currently controls
the satellite group.
http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-directv9apr09,1,7014688.story?
coll=la%2Dheadlines%2Dtechnology
http://www.newscorp.com
http://www.hughes.com
_____________________________________________
o AOL Repurchases Stake in Europe Unit for $812.5 Million
Dulles, Va. -- AOL Time Warner said on Wednesday that it has repurchased
its stake in AOL Europe, a unit of America Online, from Vivendi Universal
for $812.5 million in cash. While the majority of Wall Street analysts
expected AOL to pay the French telecommunications giant with cash, many
speculated that AOL might negotiate a deal in stock in order to preserve
its balance sheet, currently straddled with more than $27 billion in debt.
"We believe that repurchasing this interest in AOL Europe with cash,
rather than equity, is the right decision for our shareholders, given the
current trading price of our stock," said Dick Parsons, the chairman-elect
and CEO of AOL Time Warner. AOL Time Warner executives have subsequently
warned investors that the company's debt could increase to as much as $29
billion this year.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?K15A22624
_____________________________________________
o Tecmo's "Dead or Alive" Video Game to Become Feature Film
Los Angeles -- Game developer Tecmo's "Dead or Alive" martial arts
fighting title has been optioned by Impact Pictures and Constantin Films,
which will produce a movie based on the game for theatrical release in the
fall of 2004, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Impact's Paul W.S.
Anderson and Jeremy Bolt -- who also made "Resident Evil" -- will produce
the film, from a script written by J.F. Lawton; no director has yet been
named for the "DOA" project. The producers said they would include female
characters from the video game and some volleyball scenes, in a nod to the
successful off-shoot game title "Dead or Alive: Xtreme Beach Volleyball."
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hollywoodreporter/convergence/brief_
display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1859424
http://www.tecmoinc.com/games/doa3.asp
_____________________________________________
o Cell Phone Camera Chipmaker TransChip Raises $5.5 Million
Ramat Gan, Israel -- TransChip, a developer of single microchip camera
solutions for mobile phones and other multimedia-enabled devices,
announced on Wednesday that it has raised $5.5 million in its third round
of venture capital financing. Mission Ventures led the investment round;
Cadence Inc., and previous TransChip investors Ray Stata and Dr. Andrew
Viterbi also participated. The company points out that 20 million camera
handsets were sold in 2002, and market reports that indicate that by the
end of 2003, nearly 50 percent of all phones in production will be
camera-equipped. The new funding will support Israel-based TransChip's
product development, marketing and sales initiatives.
http://www.transchip.com
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DMW Publications: March Law & Policy Report
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media. Thirty-two pages of case summaries, news and analysis, policy
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Published monthly. March issue on sale now!
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FEATURED SECTION
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Briefly Noted:
(London) Sony Music on Wednesday joined its rivals in agreeing to release
selected songs by some of its top artists for a European Internet download
promotion called "Digital Download Day." Major record labels have been
pushing subscription music download services in Europe as a means of
fighting illegal online song-swapping, but as of yet have had little
success in their battle against piracy.
http://www.digitaldownloadday.com
(Los Angeles) Independent record label Sanctuary Records Group announced
on Wednesday that its band Widespread Panic will debut a song from their
upcoming album "Ball" on Altnet, a secure file-sharing service that
piggybacks on the Kazaa file-sharing network. The song, "Nebulous," will
come up in Kazaa user searches for the band's music, and will be available
for download for free from Altnet.
http://www.sanctuaryrecordsgroup.com
http://www.altnet.com
(Las Vegas) Microsoft announced on Wednesday that its Windows CE .NET
operating system is currently being deployed in a number of set-top boxes
used to deliver digital video over high-speed DSL lines. CosTron, Humax,
NEC and Tcom&DTVro are currently building set-top boxes powered by Windows
CE .NET; additionally, Microsoft said chipmakers STMicroelectronics and
VIA Technologies, and set-top vendors IMagicTV and Stellar One will
"optimize" their products for the Windows CE .NET operating system.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/030408/sftu053_1.html
(Foster City, Calif.) Sony Computer Entertainment America on Wednesday
announced the formation of a Gamer Advisory Panel, a group of "thousands"
of PlayStation enthusiasts invited to enable a two-way dialog between its
members and the company. Comprised mainly of users of the company's
official PlayStation Underground online community, members of the Panel
will receive members-only privileges in exchange for their help in
"shaping the future of gaming."
http://us.playstation.com/news/gap
(Las Vegas) Media delivery technology provider RealNetworks said on
Wednesday it has created a continuously-updated guide to free and paid
broadcast coverage from around the world of the war in Iraq. The service
is available from the "News" tab within the company's RealOne Player.
Separately, Seattle-based RealNetworks announced that online radio
programming provider Live365 has made its technology the preferred media
player for its service. The deal will see cross-promotion as well as 100
of Live365's streams added to stations available on RealOne Radio.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/030409/sfw032_1.html
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/030409/sfw031_1.html
http://www.live365.com
http://www.real.com
(Santa Monica, Calif.) Game developer Activision said on Wednesday that
its "X2 Wolverine's Revenge" title will figure in a nationwide promotion
for the upcoming "X2" motion picture. The game, along with free Xbox video
game consoles from Microsoft, will be awarded to some participants in a
nationwide radio contest in which winners will be flown to Hollywood for
the premiere of the 20th Century Fox film.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/030409/law033_1.html
http://www.wolverinesrevenge.com/contest
(London) Cognima, a provider of mobile data replication technology, said
on Wednesday that it has integrated its technology with Beatnik Audio, a
provider of polyphonic ringtones to wireless network operators. The
partnership will allow consumers to easily preview, select and pay for
high fidelity musical ringtones directly from their mobile phone's menu.
London-based Cognima said the technology will work with Beatnik-enabled
mobile phones from Motorola, Nokia, Siemens and SonyEricsson.
http://www.beatnik.com
http://www.cognima.com
(Los Angeles) Game developer Interplay Entertainment and Vivendi Universal
Games on Wednesday announced they have shipped "Run Like Hell" for
Microsoft Xbox to retailers. The title features extra content downloadable
through Microsoft's Xbox Live online gaming service, as well as support
for Dolby Digital 5.1 and High-definition (HDTV) output.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/030408/latu094_1.html
http://www.interplay.com/rlh
(Beverly, Mass.) Video game publisher Atari, a unit of French publisher
Infogrames, announced on Wednesday that it will release "Kya: Dark
Lineage" in the fall for PlayStation 2. The game is currently being
developed by Infogrames' New York-based Eden Studios.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/030409/95291_1.html
http://www.edenstudios.net
(Los Angeles) Vivendi Universal Games on Wednesday announced that it has
shipped "Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis," for all major consoles and the
PC, to retailers. The game was "inspired by" Universal Pictures' and
Amblin Entertainment's Jurassic Park film franchise, and developed by
Melbourne, Australia-based Blue Tongue Software.
http://www.vugames.com
http://www.bluetongue.com
(Seoul) Korean game developer JC Entertainment said on Wednesday that it
plans to release a version of its massively multiplayer online roleplaying
game "Priest" for the North American market. JC said an English version of
the game is due to be released in the second half of 2003
http://www.gamepriest.com
(Orlando, Fla.) MusicMatch, a developer of music jukebox software and
provider of digital music subscription services, on Wednesday announced it
is expanding into the Orlando, Florida area. San Diego-based MusicMatch
said it is currently hiring senior-level engineers for the new offices,
which will work to ensure that MusicMatch's software is compatible with
its partners' products.
http://www.musicmatch.com
(St. Petersburg, Fla.) Former Napster CEO Konrad Hilbers, named to the
company's top spot during the company's legal battle with the recording
industry, has been named CEO of TV shopping network Home Shopping Europe
AG.
http://www.hsn.com
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