archives

o Xbox Co-Creator Resigns from Microsoft to Launch Game Development Firm
o DVD Copying Software Firm Sues Movie Studios, Calls DMCA Unconstitutional
o DVD Rental Revenues for First Quarter 2002 Surpass Entire Year 2000
o NDS Asks Judge to Dismiss Digital TV Piracy Suit from Rival Canal Plus
o Yahoo Settles Copyright Suit Filed by Trademark Yodeler
o Digital Device Maker Sonicblue Raises $62 Million in Private Placement
o USA Video Interactive to "Aggressively License" Video-on-Demand Patent
> Digital Media Wire Panel: Interactive TV | April 25 | NYC
o Briefly Noted: Midbar Tech, Microsoft - ATI Technologies - Nvidia,
Moviso - Xing, Kazaa - Download.com, Motorola - Helsinki Television, NGame
- development studios, PTN Media - Christina Aguilera, BET Interactive -
Match.com, Joseph Byrd - Marilyn Hall Patel
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o Xbox Co-Creator Resigns from Microsoft to Launch Game Development Firm

Redmond, Wash. -- Seamus Blackley, the co-creator of Microsoft's Xbox
video game console and its most public proponent, has resigned from the
company to pursue a new game development company, Reuters reported.
Microsoft and Blackley said that the departure was not connected to
Microsoft's slashing of the console's price in Europe and announcement of
reduced sales forecasts for the Xbox after weak initial sales in Japan and
Europe. "It just happened to coincide with the other stuff ... it has
nothing to with Xbox," Blackley told Reuters. "Today I just really want
everybody to know Xbox is okay." Before joining Microsoft, Blackley was a
game designer in the video game development unit of SKG DreamWorks.
http://biz.yahoo.com/rt/020422/tech_microsoft_xbox_3.html
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o DVD Copying Software Firm Sues Movie Studios, Calls DMCA Unconstitutional

Berkeley, Calif. -- A software developer whose product enables consumers
to make back-up copies of DVDs they purchase has sued nine major motion
picture studios in a pre-emptive move to have its software declared legal
in a court of law. The suit, filed by 321 Studios in the Northern District
of California, challenges the constitutionality of the Digital Millennium
Copyright Act (DMCA), which the company says "bars consumers from
exercising their right to make backup copies of DVDs they own." The
company sued studios including MGM, Sony, Time Warner, Disney and
Universal after reportedly receiving threats of litigation under the DMCA
if the company distributed its DVD Copy Plus software. "DVDs are
notoriously susceptible to scratches, heat damage, loss and other
problems, and our DVD Copy Plus software enables legal owners of DVD
movies to protect their DVD investments by making legitimate backup or
duplicate copies for their own use," said 321 Studios president Robert
Moore.
http://www.321studios.com/PR_complaint.htm
http://www.321studios.com/complaint.pdf
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o DVD Rental Revenues for First Quarter 2002 Surpass Entire Year 2000

Encino, Calif. -- Consumers rented more DVDs in the first quarter of 2002
than they did in the entire year of 2000, according to figures released on
Tuesday by the Video Software Dealers Association, an industry trade
group. The DVD format accounted for a total of $633.7 million in rental
revenue during the first quarter of 2002, up 126 percent from the $280
million in revenues for the same period last year and surpassing the total
DVD rental revenue of $569.8 million for the entire year of 2000. DVD's
share of the home video market, which includes the VHS format, is now 29.2
percent, up from its 12.4 percent market share in the first quarter of
2001.
http://www.vsda.org
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o NDS Asks Judge to Dismiss Digital TV Piracy Suit from Rival Canal Plus

London -- Digital TV developer NDS Group, a division of News Corp.,
announced on Tuesday that it has asked a U.S. federal judge to dismiss
charges filed against the company by rival Canal Plus, a division of
Vivendi Universal. The lawsuit alleges that NDS pirated Canal Plus'
digital TV security technology and then aided in publishing the company's
proprietary information on the Internet. In a statement, NDS said that,
"Canal Plus designed its complaint to lay the blame for its financial woes
publicly on NDS." NDS claims there is no legal basis for Canal Plus' eight
claims, and argues that they should be dismissed. The company also argued
that if any claim should move forward, the jurisdiction of the case should
move from California's Northern District to its Southern District, where
NDS is located. Both motions will be heard in court on May 30.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020423/232442_1.html
http://www.nds.com/
http://www.cplus.fr/
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o Yahoo Settles Copyright Suit Filed by Trademark Yodeler

Sunnyvale, Calif. -- Yahoo said in a statement that it has settled a $5
million copyright infringement suit filed against the company by Wylie
Gustafson, the singer who provides the trademark yodel audible in Yahoo
advertisements. Terms of the settlement agreement were not disclosed.
Gustafson was originally paid $590 for his yodel performance, with his
understanding that the yodel would be used in only one TV commercial. The
commercial has since been aired hundreds of times in various Yahoo ads,
with Gustafson failing to receive residual payments for his performance.
"I'm very happy with the speed and ease that Yahoo settled with me,"
Gustafson told Reuters. "It was a fair settlement that reflected [the
yodel's] worldwide use."
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-888893.html
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o Digital Device Maker Sonicblue Raises $62 Million in Private Placement

Santa Clara, Calif. -- Sonicblue, a developer of digital devices including
the Rio line of MP3 players and the ReplayTV personal video recorder,
announced on Tuesday that it has completed a private placement of
convertible debentures and warrants with three institutional investors,
resulting in proceeds for the company of $62 million. The company will use
the net proceeds from the private placement for working capital and
general corporate purposes.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020423/230080_1.html
http://www.sonicblue.com
_____________________________________________

o USA Video Interactive to "Aggressively License" Video-on-Demand Patent

Mystic, Conn. -- USA Video Interactive, a developer of digital video
technology, said on Tuesday that it has hired the law firm of Fish and
Richardson to protect its video-on-demand patent. The company said it will
begin "aggressively licensing" its patent to "high-profile companies
engaged in providing video-on-demand services." Connecticut-based USA
Video Interactive was awarded U.S. patent number 5,130,792 in 1992 for
technology that describes "a system or process for electronically
transmitting compressed video programs from a central data facility to a
receiver over switched networks and therefore covers content distribution
processes such as downloads, streaming from cache or edge servers, and
progressive streaming," according to the company. USA Video Interactive
says its technology is cited in 145 other patents. The company did not
specifically say which companies it would be targeting with its licensing
initiative, or whether it planned to file infringement lawsuits if
licensing proves unsuccessful.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020423/232479_1.html
http://www.usvo.com/products_services/patent_license.html
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STREAMING MEDIA WEST 2002: LA Convention Center, CA
Conference: April 23 - 26
Exhibition: April 24 - 26

***EXHIBITION OPENS TOMORROW*** Download your FREE Exhibition Pass at:
http://www.streamingmedia.com/west/registration.asp

Exhibition attendees have full access to both the Streaming Media West and
Internet World Spring Exhibition floors and Keynotes. Visit
www.streamingmedia.com/west for full information.

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VIC@ The Mayan Reunion 2002 in Association with Internet World Spring

Come and rekindle the memories of the past on Thursday, April 25 at
7:30p.m. at the VIC@ The Mayan Reunion 2002, in association with Internet
World Spring.

VIC was the professional association ('95-'01) that brought networking,
education and a sense of community to digital media professionals across
Southern California. So everyone is welcome to share the spirit of the old
VIC community gatherings during Internet World Spring this week. See
further details at:
http://www.tbdweekly.com/vicmayan.htm

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o Briefly Noted:

(Tel Aviv, Israel) Midbar Tech, a developer of CD copy-protection
technology, said on Tuesday that its product has been installed in the
five largest CD manufacturing plants in Japan. Israel-based Midbar
announced last month that its copy-protection technology had been included
on one million CDs released in the Japanese market. The company's
technology makes it difficult for music CDs to be copied onto a computer
and transferred on file-sharing services. Most major record labels are
currently experimenting with adding copy-protection to CDs in an effort to
limit the amount of new material available on file-sharing services.
http://www.midbartech.com

(Redmond, Wash.) Microsoft announced on Tuesday that graphics chip
developers ATI Technologies and Nvidia will support DirectX technology in
the next Windows Media technology, codenamed "Corona," which the company
says will greatly improve video playback on PCs. The new features of
DirectX enable video processing in hardware, alleviating the burden video
places on a PC's central processing unit. Microsoft said the result will
be video resolution of HDTV quality on a PC.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020423/sftu086_1.html
http://www.ati.com/
http://www.nvidia.com

(Los Angeles) Moviso, a wireless entertainment services provider
previously known as Premium Wireless Services and now a division of
Vivendi Univesal Net USA, announced on Tuesday that it has partnered with
Japanese ringtone provider Xing. Under the agreement, Moviso will be able
to provide Xing's Japanese 16-voice polyphonic ringtones to U.S. network
operators for their subscribers with phones capable of downloading the
MIDI files. The companies said they are also collaborating on
high-resolution audio/visual media applications for 2.5G and 3G networks
in Asia Pacific and North America and for forthcoming handset models with
enhanced media capabilities.
http://www.moviso.com/pe03_late_0623_2002.html
http://www.xing.co.jp

(San Francisco) The Kazaa file-sharing program has been re-added to
programs available for download at CNET Networks' Download.com, MSNBC.comr eported. San Francisco-based CNET had removed the program following the discovery of bundled software with the download that violated
Download.com's service agreement. The operators of Kazaa have since
changed the software's user agreement sufficiently to comply with CNET's
policies.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/742287.asp?0dm=C11KT

(Koln, Germany) Motorola's Broadband Communications Sector announced on
Tuesday that Finland's largest cable TV operator, Helsinki Television, has
selected the company's technology for its launch of broadband Internet
services. As part of the agreement, Motorola will provide HTV with routers
and cable modems that the company will offer to those of its 220,000
subscribers who sign up for broadband access.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020423/cgtu010_1.html
http://www.htv.fi 

(Cambridge, U.K.) NGame, a publisher and distributor of wireless
entertainment services to network operators, said on Tuesday that it has
added five development studios to its developer program. U.K.-based
developers Affinity Studios and Video Brains, as well as U.S.-based
studios Bigwheel Creative and GameWorld, and India-based development house
Ruksun will develop games and other wireless entertainment for NGame based
on Sun Microsystems' J2ME wireless platform.
http://www.ngame.com
http://java.sun.com/j2me/

(Plantation, Fla.) PTN Media, a developer of celebrity-branded digital
devices, announced on Tuesday the release of a branded Christina Aguilera
faceplate and battery cover set for Motorola i50sx mobile phones.
Additionally, Florida-based PTN Media announced the launch of "Christina
Everywhere," a subscription-based application that will offer updates
about Christina Aguilera CDs, personal appearances and tour dates. PTN
Media has also created branded Claudia Schiffer and Michael Jordan Palm
handheld devices.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020423/cgtu009_1.html
http://www.christina-a.com
http://www.jordanedition.com

(Dallas) African-American culture and urban music portal BET Interactive
said on Tuesday that it has partnered with online dating service Match.com
to be the exclusive provider of online dating services for BET.com.
Dallas-based Match.com is a subsidiary of Ticketmaster and part of USA
Networks Interactive Group.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020423/latu078_1.html
http://www.bet.com
http://www.match.com

(San Francisco) Online magazine Salon.com on Tuesday featured an article
on Joseph Byrd, an obscure recording artist who wrote a letter to U.S.
District Court Judge Marilyn Hall Patel -- who presides in Napster's case
with the major record labels -- arguing that he is among thousands of
artists who are not properly represented by the labels. In his letter,
Byrd tells Patel that although he recorded two albums for Columbia Records
in the 1960's that continue to sell modestly, he has yet to receive any
artist royalty payments from the label. "The record companies'
representation that they are legitimate agents for their artists is
false," Byrd wrote. "The only payments they make are to those who have the
means to force them to be accountable; to the rest, a vast majority, they
pay nothing. Therefore, allowing them to collect fees in our behalf does
not serve the public interest. I personally would prefer to allow my music
to be freely shared, to the present situation, in which only the
corporations stand to gain."
http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2002/04/23/copyright/index.html
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> DIGITAL MEDIA WIRE PANEL DISCUSSION SERIES:
"iTV: New Interactive Services Fuel Big Expectations
Slow Market Penetration Raises Questions: How Big is iTV Going to Be?"

=========================================================
NEW YORK: Thursday, April 25, 2002, Cornell Club of New York City
=========================================================
Moderator: Art Cohen, SVP, Advertising, ACTV
Patrick Donoghue, VP, Interactive Television, Cablevision
Malia Flynn, Director of Product Management, WorldGate
Christopher S. Lucas, VP & Exec. Producer, Digital Media Group, Showtime
Networks
Rod A. Nenner, Director, TV & Entertainment Solutions Group, America
Online
Carla Sinatra, Vice President of Business Development, NBC
Todd Krieger, Senior Manager, Business Development, Microsoft TV

Sponsored by: WorldGate, iTV Marketer (http://www.itvmarketer.com)
For more information and to register for the New York event:
http://www.digitalmediawire.com/NYCitv2.html

Sponsorships and Inquiries:
Ned Sherman at 323.464.0793 or esherman@digitalmediawire.com
Paul Sherman at psherman@digitalmediawire.com

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