archives

o MP3.com Pays $53.4 Million To End Lawsuit With Universal
o CenterSpan To Bid Against Listen.com For Acquisition Of Scour
o Seeking To Cut Losses, CMGI To Sell Entertainment Site ICast
o Webcasting Provider CastPro.com Acquires Prime Time Sports Television
o Amazon.com Opens Online Store For E-Books
o Briefly Noted: Liberate Technologies - nCube, EMusic.com - Qualiton
Imports, GroovePort - London-Sire Records, NDS Group, HitHive - Compaq,
Litraweb, "Kung Fu 3D," CantaMetrix
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o MP3.com Pays $53.4 Million To End Lawsuit With Universal

New York -- MP3.com has agreed to pay major record label Universal Music
Group $53.4 million to settle the lawsuit Universal filed against the
company for copyright infringement, CNET reported on Tuesday. The
settlement was approved by a judge just minutes before the two companies
were to go back into court so a judge could assess damages for the
"willful" copyright infringement of MP3.com's My.MP3.com service. Under
the agreement, MP3.com will have the right to use Universal's songs in its
"digital locker" service, which allows consumers to stream music from CDs
they have already purchased to PCs or portable devices. Universal will
also receive an approximate 20 percent stake of the company, according to
an Inside.com report. Seagram's Universal Music Group was the last company
to abandon its lawsuit with MP3.com, which was sued by all of the major
record labels for copyright infringement.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-3681102.html
http://www.inside.com/story/Story_Cached/0,2770,14899_9_12_1,00.html
http://www.mp3.com
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o CenterSpan To Bid Against Listen.com For Acquisition Of Scour

Hillsboro, Ore. -- CenterSpan, a developer of peer-to-peer file sharing
technology, announced on Tuesday its intention to submit a bid to acquire
litigation-ridden file sharing exchange Scour, Inc. Scour was sued for
alleged copyright infringement by both the Recording Industry Association
of America and the Motion Picture Association of America, and has since
filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Los Angeles. CenterSpan is
expected to give notice on Tuesday in bankruptcy court in Los Angeles that
it will participate in the Court's "over-bid" procedures to acquire Scour.
Last week, San Francisco-based music entertainment site Listen.com bid $5
million in cash and over 500,000 shares of its stock in Court to acquire
Scour. CenterSpan said that if it is the winning bidder, it plans to
immediately shut down Scour Exchange and re-launch it in the first quarter
of 2001 as a secure and legal digital distribution channel, based on
CenterSpan's technology. "While our bid will be structured as an asset
acquisition to avoid contingent liabilities, internally we view Scour as
very strategic and want the Scour founders and employees to join our
team," said CenterSpan CEO Frank G. Hausmann. "We have been working with
peer-to-peer architecture for over two years and believe our new secure
and legal solution will be the technology platform of choice for major
content owners."
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/001114/or_centers.html
http://www.centerspan.com
http://www.listen.com
http://www.scour.com
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o Seeking To Cut Losses, CMGI To Sell Entertainment Site ICast

New York -- Internet incubator CMGI said on Tuesday that due to poor
market conditions, it will "exit" its relationship with entertainment site
iCast by the end of CMGI's second quarter, The Wall Street Journal
reported. Massachusetts-based CMGI invests in and helps foster the
development of 70 Internet-related companies in various sectors, including
the AltaVista search engine. Due to lower than expected revenue and a
falling stock price, the company announced that it would end its
incubation of iCast, and also sell another company, free Internet access
provider 1stUp.com. The decision to end ties with iCast stemmed from the
company's recent announcement of an "extended timeline to profitability,"
as well as CMGI's inability to locate a strategic partner for the company.
Massachusetts-based iCast provides entertainment on its site which
includes streaming music and music news, movie news and trailers, TV
coverage and comedy.
http://www.cmgi.com
http://www.icast.com
_____________________________________________

o Webcasting Provider CastPro.com Acquires Prime Time Sports Television

Los Angeles -- CastPro.com, a provider of live webcasting services,
announced on Tuesday that it has acquired San Luis Obispo-based Prime Time
Sports Television, an advertising placement and consulting company.
CastPro.com acquired the company for $3 million in stock, and said it
expects the transaction to result in $24 million in added revenues this
year for CastPro.com. Los Angeles-based CastPro.com provides companies
with live and on-demand streaming of sporting events, shareholder
meetings, concerts, press conferences, tradeshows and corporate training
sessions. "The combination of CastPro's live event production and
distribution network, coupled with PTS's marketing and media expertise and
extensive client list will be significant for the shareholders of
CastPro.com," said Jim Ocon, vice president of operations for CastPro.com.
http://www.castpro.com
http://www.ptstv.net/
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o Amazon.com Opens Online Store For E-Books

Seattle -- Online retailer Amazon.com announced on Tuesday that it has
opened an online store to sell books in electronic format. Microsoft
created a custom version of its Microsoft Reader software for the store,
which allows customers to download e-books to their PCs or other portable
devices. Amazon said the store will feature content that has never before
been available in print, along with exclusive e-book-only titles and
downloadable digital audio titles from Audible, Inc. Titles at the online
store not available in print include "In Fidelity," by M.J. Rose (Pocket
Books), and "Turtle Island Dreaming," by Thompson Sayer Crockett
(ipublish.com). The company will initially offer 1,000 e-book titles, 30
of which will be offered free for consumers to download.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/001114/wa_amazon_.html
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/497642/ref=b_bh_l_d_eb/106-1023811-9545242
http://www.audible.com
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o Briefly Noted:

(San Carlos, Calif.) Liberate Technologies, a developer of interactive
television software, announced on Tuesday that it has partnered with
nCube, a streaming media technology developer. The partnership will
integrate nCube's video-on-demand software into the software Liberate is
developing for interactive television. San Carlos-based Liberate said that
the partnership will accelerate the deployment of interactive television
to network operators.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/001114/ca_liberat.html
http://www.liberate.com
http://www.ncube.com

(Redwood City, Calif.) EMusic.com, a provider of downloadable music for
sale, announced on Tuesday an exclusive distribution agreement with
independent classical music distributor Qualiton Imports, Ltd. Under the
deal, EMusic.com will make 500 albums available to download on its site
from Qualiton labels including Tuxedo, SayDisc, Amon Ra, Doron, Memoir,
Telos and Avid.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/001114/ca_emusic_.html
http://www.emusic.com
http://www.qualiton.com

(Atlanta) GroovePort, a streaming music technology provider, announced on
Tuesday that it has licensed music from Warner Music's London-Sire Records
for a subscription-based, on-demand streaming music service. The companies
did not say how much they would charge for the subscription service.
London-Sire's artists include DJ Paul Oakenfold and 80's pop group The Pet
Shop Boys.
http://www.grooveport.com
http://www.london-sire.com

(Bangalore, India) NDS Group, a division of News Corp. that develops
digital pay-TV technology, announced on Tuesday that it will invest in a
new media technology research and development center in Bangalore, India.
London-based NDS said the facility will focus on developing interactive TV
applications and broadband technologies. "Investment in Bangalore is
booming, with over 120 foreign software companies located in what is known
as India's Silicon Valley," said Dr. Jasjit Saini, vice president consumer
devices, NDS Group. "These new research facilities will expand our
intellectual capital with the aim of increasing innovations in digital
broadcasting and growing our portfolio of offerings for the large Indian
marketplace."
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/001114/nds_group_.html
http://www.nds.com

(Seattle) HitHive, a provider of custom-designed digital music networks to
companies, announced on Tuesday a partnership with computer manufacturer
Compaq. Under the deal, Compaq will provide technology to HitHive that
will make content delivery faster and more efficient. The technology will
make it easier for consumers to access digital music on sites created by
HitHive for its clients.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/001114/tx_wa_comp_2.html
http://www.hithive.com
http://www.compaq.com

(New York) Litraweb, an e-book publishing site for foreign publishers,
announced on Tuesday that it has launched e-book stores for titles written
in Spanish, French and German. The stores will offer a combined 300
e-books for sale; the company will add 500 additional titles in coming
months.
http://www.litraweb.com

(Burbank, Calif.) Warner Bros.' entertainment site Entertaindom.com
announced on Tuesday that it has created an interactive, animated 3D
version of the classic 1970's "Kung Fu" television series. The series,
which features the voice of original character David Carradine, will be
available starting Wednesday on Burbank-based Entertaindom's web site.
http://www.entertaindom.com
http://www.kungfu3d.com

(Bellevue, Wash.) CantaMetrix, a business-to-business technology provider
to the music industry, announced on Tuesday that it has named William
Koenig as the company's new president and CEO. Koenig will fill the post
held since the company's launch by co-founder John Castle.
Washington-based CantaMetrix develops technology that identifies songs
based on "psycho-acoustic" characteristics of the songs, rather than their
titles and artists' names, so their download and playing uses can be
tracked.
http://www.cantametrix.com
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