archives

o DVD Anti-Piracy Code-Cracking Case Back in Court
o EMI and Bertelsmann End Merger Discussions
o Online News Site LocalBusiness.com Shuts Down, Lays Off Staff
o $10.5 Billion Video Game Industry Generated 220,000 Jobs in 2000
o Digital Music Distributor Liquid Audio Lays Off 40% of Staff
o Technology Business Publication Red Herring Raises $15 Million
o Motorola, ReplayTV to Develop Set-Tops with Digital Video Recorders
o Digital Rights Management Firm InterTrust Lays Off 15% of Staff
> Digital Media Wire Seminar: The Future of Digital Entertainment - D.C.
o Briefly Noted: ClickRadio - Motown Records, Hollywood Syndicate, America
Online - Warner Bros. - Mixed Signals Technologies - Telepictures
Productions, Microsoft, DVisions
_____________________________________________

> Job Postings: Director of Technology, Marketing Associate

> Events/Services: "E-Publishing: The Promise of a New Book"

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
_____________________________________________

o DVD Anti-Piracy Code-Cracking Case Back in Court

New York -- A federal appeals court in New York heard arguments on Tuesday
in a case that pits the Motion Picture Association of America against a
journalist who published computer code and also linked to the code that
can crack the encryption security on DVDs. The MPAA won an injunction
against the hacker magazine 2600, barring it from publishing the code,
called DeCSS. Free speech and technology advocates the Electronic Frontier
Foundation took up the appeal on behalf of the journalist, Eric Corley,
and Stanford Law School Dean Kathleen Sullivan argued for him in court on
Tuesday. The MPAA's supporters in the case include the NFL, Screen Actors
Guild and the U.S. government, which exercised its ability to intervene on
an appeal of a federal court ruling. The case is the first challenge to a
portion of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that makes it illegal to
circumvent encryption technology on copyrighted works, and will also test
the broader issue of whether or not people can be prohibited from
hyperlinking to Web pages that contain "illegal" content. CNET provides
coverage of today's testimony. The two sides have until May 10 to submit
answers to questions posed to them by the court during today's testimony.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-5786678.html?tag=mn_hd
_____________________________________________

o EMI and Bertelsmann End Merger Discussions

London -- Major recording company EMI Group announced on Tuesday that it
has ended merger discussions with German media company Bertelsmann's BMG
Entertainment record label. The companies had been negotiating for the
past five months about a possible combination, but both sides agreed that
it would not be possible to come to an agreement that would be valuable to
shareholders while gaining antitrust regulatory approval in both the U.S.
and Europe. The merger would have further consolidated the recording
industry, trimming the number of major record labels from five to four.
http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/f_headline.cgi?day0/211212256&ticker=
http://www.emigroup.com
_____________________________________________

o Online News Site LocalBusiness.com Shuts Down, Lays Off Staff

Fort Lauderdale, Fla. -- LocalBusiness.com, an online news organization
that covered local Internet economy news in major U.S. cities, has ceased
operations and laid off all employees save a skeleton crew to wind down
operations, according to published reports. The last stories to be
published to the site were posted on Friday. Florida-based
LocalBusiness.com was unable to raise additional funding. The company laid
off 34 employees in December.
http://www.localbusiness.com
_____________________________________________

o $10.5 Billion Video Game Industry Generated 220,000 Jobs in 2000

Washington -- The computer and video game industry generated $10.5 billion
in sales of computer and video game software in 2000, in addition to
providing $9 billion in wages for some 220,000 industry workers, according
to a study published Tuesday by the Interactive Digital Software
Association (IDSA). "With the introduction of new advanced game machines,
surging demand for video game software, and an expanding base of dedicated
and casual game players, it's clear that the industry will be a major
force in the American economy for years to come," said IDSA president Doug
Lowenstein. The IDSA said that these job and wage growth figures outpace
those for the motion picture, computer manufacturing, consumer electronics
and computer storage industries.
http://www.idsa.com/EISreleasefinal.html
_____________________________________________

o Digital Music Distributor Liquid Audio Lays Off 40% of Staff

Redwood City, Calif. -- Digital music distributor Liquid Audio announced
on Tuesday that it will lay off 40 percent of its staff across all
departments as part of a corporate restructuring. The company will also
consolidate its three Redwood City locations into one facility. A $3.5 -
$4 million charge will be taken in the second quarter to account for the
restructuring. "To preserve our strong cash position while focusing on the
emerging digital subscription business, we will be leveraging our core
competencies to enable our retail and channel partners to enter into this
new music arena," said Liquid Audio CEO Gerry Kearby. Liquid Audio has
partnerships with record labels to distribute their artists' songs
digitally in the company's proprietary format to its network of online
retail affiliates.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/010501/sftu067.html
http://www.liquidaudio.com
_____________________________________________

o Technology Business Publication Red Herring Raises $15 Million

San Francisco -- Red Herring Communications, publisher of technology
business publication Red Herring and the website RedHerring.com, has
raised $15 million from previous investor Broadview Capital Partners,
according to VentureWire. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier that
the company was actively seeking a buyer and had spoken with both Ziff
Davis Media and Time, Inc. San Francisco-based Red Herring bills itself as
"a network of media offerings dedicated to providing a first look at the
companies, technologies and visionaries shaping the future of business."
http://www.redherring.com
_____________________________________________

o Motorola, ReplayTV to Develop Set-Tops with Digital Video Recorders

Mountain View, Calif. -- Consumer electronics maker Motorola announced on
Tuesday that it has signed a long-term licensing agreement with ReplayTV,
a developer of software for digital video recording devices. Under the
agreement, Mountain View-based ReplayTV's recording software -- which lets
consumers record TV shows to a hard disk and pause live television -- will
be integrated into Motorola set-top boxes for digital television. Digital
media consumer electronics device maker Sonicblue recently announced that
it would acquire struggling ReplayTV, whose software had lost ground to
competitors in the market such as TiVo and Microsoft's UltimateTV. The
Motorola set-tops with ReplayTV are expected to be released in the fourth
quarter of 2001.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/010501/0204.html
http://www.replaytv.com
_____________________________________________

o Digital Rights Management Firm InterTrust Lays Off 15% of Staff

Santa Clara, Calif. -- InterTrust, a provider of digital rights management
technologies, said that it will lay off 15 percent of its staff, or 52
employees, in response to sluggish revenue, the current economy and
redundancies created as a result of recent acquisitions. Santa Clara-based
InterTrust develops technology that helps protect music, film and e-book
digital media files from piracy. The company recently announced a patent
infringement claim against Microsoft that claims the digital rights
management technology contained in the latest release of its Windows Media
Player software infringes on InterTrust patents.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/010430/sfm124.html
http://www.intertrust.com
_____________________________________________

> Digital Media Wire Seminar: The Future of Digital Entertainment - D.C.

"The Future of Digital Entertainment: What's Next After Napster?"

Washington, D.C. | Sponsored by Katten Muchin Zavis
Wednesday, May 9th at The University Club

For more information and to register:
http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=13850&Referrer_id=4074

MODERATOR:
- David Halberstadter, Attorney, Katten Muchin Zavis

PANELISTS:
- Fritz Attaway, Executive Vice President & Washington General Counsel,
Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA)
- Russell Frackman, Attorney, Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp LLP,
Lead counsel for the RIAA in their litigation vs. Napster
- Declan McCullagh, Washington Bureau Chief, Wired News
- Marybeth Peters, Register of Copyrights, U.S. Copyright Office
- Jonathan Potter, Executive Director, Digital Media Association (DiMA)
- Jenny Toomey, Executive Director, Coalition for the Future of Music
_____________________________________________

o Briefly Noted:

(New York) Internet-delivered digital radio service ClickRadio announced
on Tuesday that Universal Music Group's Motown Records has launched a
custom channel on ClickRadio.com that features songs from the Motown
catalog. Artists on the channel include Diana Ross & The Supremes, Michael
Jackson, Stevie Wonder and Erykah Badu. New York-based ClickRadio's
service downloads encrypted songs to a user's hard drive so that music may
be listened to off-line.
http://www.clickradio.com/press/motown.htm
http://www.motown.com

(Dulles, Va.) America Online has partnered with Warner Bros. New Media,
interactive television developer Mixed Signals Technologies and
Telepictures Productions to create an interactive television version of
game show "Street Smarts." Consumers with the AOLTV interactive television
service can play along with the show, where contestants win points by
estimating the intelligence of people filmed while being asked questions
on the street.
http://media.aoltimewarner.com/media/press_view.cfm?release_num=55251884
http://www.aoltv.com

(Los Angeles) Hollywood Syndicate, a provider of online and off-line
licensing, syndication and branding services for the music industry on
Tuesday announced its launch. The company -- whose first client is noted
jazz pianist Herbie Hancock's Transparent Music -- is a division of Los
Angeles-based music PR firm Hal Bringman Public Relations. Hollywood
Syndicate hopes to leverage its parent company's existing relationships
with the major labels and many online music companies, including MP3.com.
http://www.hollywoodsyndicate.com
http://www.hbpr.com

(San Francisco) Wired News on Tuesday reported on a new audio watermark
technology being developed by Microsoft to convey copyright information in
digital music files. A demonstration of the watermark showed that it
"remains intact even if a jazz song is played aloud on speakers in a noisy
room and then re-recorded."
http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,43389,00.html

(Houston) iTVr, Inc., a developer of interactive television devices and
infrastructure technologies, announced on Tuesday that the company has
changed its name to DVisions. Houston-based DVisions is also developing
technology that converts standard analog television transmissions into
HDTV format.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/010501/datu034.html
http://www.dvisions.tv

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

> <kpe>, Director of Technology - Los Angeles

KPE is seeking a Director of Technology for its Los Angeles office who
will develop and implement relevant, cost-effective technology solutions
for its clients in the media and entertainment industries. Given the
typical solution requirement of entertainment firms, KPE seeks an
individual with depth of experience in implementing content management
systems (CMS) and customer relationship management (CRM) solutions.
Send resumes to lajobs@kpe.com
http://www.kpe.com
______________________

> idealab!, Marketing Associate - Los Angeles

Looking for a motivated, talented & creative individual to join the
fast-growing marketing department for New.net, a leading domain name
registry. Duties include providing support for online advertising
campaigns, affiliate programs, banner production, as well as assisting
with other marketing programs & projects. Previous online marketing
experience is a plus.
Please submit resume to idealabmonster@hiresystems.com
http://www.idealab.com

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

> E-Publishing: The Promise Of A New Book, May 29 - New York City

According to a December 2000 report by Forrester Research, "Digital
delivery of custom-printed books, textbooks and e-books will account for
revenues of $7.8 billion -- 17.5 percent of publishing industry revenues
-- in five years." Such a mighty prospect has the publishing industry
scrambling to create partnerships, invent innovative marketing campaigns
for writers and battle the compatibility problems inherent in varying
"reader" technologies. This Digital Media Wire panel of industry veterans
will discuss the marriage between traditional and e-publishing, with a
focus on fiction and non-fiction.
http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=14290&Referrer_id=4074
______________________

To subscribe, go to:
http://www.digitalmediawire.com

Questions or comments? Send email to:
mark@digitalmediawire.com

News tips, press releases. Send email to:
editorial@digitalmediawire.com