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December 12, 2003 --
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Main Stories
o
Canada Declares P2P Downloading Legal, Levies
Tariff on MP3 Players
o
Sony, Bertelsmann Will Merge Music Divisions
o
New Zealand Bans Rockstar Games' Violent Video
Game "Manhunt"
o
Webcasters Challenge Bill That
Would Loosen Record Label Antitrust Laws
o
Interactive TV Firm YooMedia to Acquire
Columbia Pictures' GoPlay TV
o
Asset Management Firm Schroders Takes 20%
Stake in Eidos
o
Former EUniverse CEO Resigns from Board, Files
Suit Against Company
o
Bertelsmann Found Liable Over Sale of AOL
Europe
> DMW Announcements: DMW Publications
--Digital Media Law Report - November Report Available Now!
--Game
Industry Quarterly > Featured
Advertisement:
--Complete Information for Department of Homeland Security
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o
Briefly Noted: Columbia
Pictures - "Spider-Man 2" trailer, Google - Bangalore, Fred Meyer,
Electronic Arts - "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" - Roy
Jones Jr., DivXNetworks - ArcSoft, Capcom USA - new president, Video
game consoles - convergence "uberdevices"
>
Job/Event/Marketplace Classifieds:
--MIDEMNET
--Director of Engineering
--OPS Consulting - Project/Technical Manager Positions
--Senior Business Development Manager
--Manager of Sales and Marketing Support
--Media Director - Greater Boston
--See it first at COMNET - January 26-29, 2004
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o Canada Declares P2P Downloading
Legal, Levies Tariff on MP3 Players
Ottawa, Canada -- In a surprise move, the Canadian Copyright
Board has ruled that under current Canadian copyright law,
downloading music over peer-to-peer file-sharing services like Kazaa
is legal. The board said that downloading was legal if the acquired
file was used as a "personal copy;" uploading files to such
services, however, was not declared to be legal. Additionally, the
board voted to freeze the tariffs that Canadians pay on recordable
media like blank CDs -- fees that go into a fund that compensates
artists and copyright holders -- at their current rates until the
end of 2004. The decision ignored recording industry requests for an
increase on the tariffs, as well as its desire to add recordable
DVDs and computer hard drives to the list of taxed devices. However,
consumers will now pay $2 per GB on hard drive-based MP3 players,
with a maximum tariff of $25 for MP3 players with capacities over
10GB. The Copyright Board did not rule out a future tariff on
computer hard drives, but decided in the mean time to rule in favor
of the consumer.
http://www.cb-cda.gc.ca/new-e.html
http://makeashorterlink.com/?E2D631BC6
http://news.com.com/2100-1025_3-5121479.html
_____________________________________________
o Sony,
Bertelsmann Will Merge Music Divisions
Frankfurt -- Sony and Bertelsmann on Friday announced that they
will merge their music divisions in a move designed to cut costs in
the shrinking global music industry. The new company, known as Sony
BMG, will be the world's second largest music group behind Universal
Music. BMG Chairman Rolf Schmidt-Holtz will be chairman of the
company and Sony Music Chairman Andrew Lack will be CEO. "This
agreement represents a bold move to reinvent and revitalize the
music business in the 21st century," said Sony Corporation of
America chairman and CEO Howard Stringer. "It is a marriage of
well-suited partners, who appreciate the different cultural,
creative and business sensibilities around the world." The merger
follows last month's agreement by a group of investors led by Edgar
Bronfman Jr. to buy Time Warner's music division for $2.6 billion.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?Y2A665AC6
_____________________________________________
o New Zealand
Bans Rockstar Games' Violent Video Game "Manhunt"
Wellington, New Zealand -- The country of New Zealand has banned
video game publisher Rockstar Games' ultra-violent PlayStation 2
title "Manhunt," calling the game "injurious to the public good."
Similar attempts to ban the sale of violent video games in the U.S.
have run afoul of First Amendment free speech protections. The game,
developed at Edinburgh, Scotland-based Rockstar North, is the first
video game to be outright banned in New Zealand. "It's a game where
the only thing you do is kill everybody you see," said Bill
Hastings, chief censor for New Zealand's Office of Film and
Literature Classification, which imposed the countrywide ban. "The
only way you can accommodate the game's images is by an attitudinal
shift… You have to at least acquiesce in these murders and possibly
tolerate, or even move towards enjoying them, which is injurious to
the public good." Controversy is not new to the company, as earlier
this week it announced it would remove the line, "Kill all the
Haitians" from its "Grand Theft Auto" title after complaints from
Haitian groups and New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?O2F962BC6
http://gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?section_name=ret&aid=2707
http://www.take2games.com
http://www.rockstargames.com/manhunt
____________________________________________
o Webcasters
Challenge Bill That Would Loosen Record Label Antitrust Laws
Washington -- The Webcaster Alliance, a trade group made up of
Internet broadcasters, announced on Friday that it has filed a legal
complaint against the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)
and the five major record labels, opposing a recent bill introduced
by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) that would relax antitrust regulations
for the recording industry. The "Enhancing Federal Obscenity
Reporting and Copyright Enforcement Act of 2003" (the EnFORCE Act),
the group says, would expand the existing antitrust exemption
enjoyed by the recording industry to cover all compulsory mechanical
licenses under section 115 of the Copyright Act. "A Federal Judge
recently approved a $143 million settlement in the CD price-fixing
case that was brought against the RIAA's Big 5 record label
members," said Webcaster Alliance president Ann Gabriel. "Yet here
they are attaching additional language to expand their antitrust
exemptions to a bill they know most legislators would have a hard
time opposing, since it deals with the exploitation of children.
This is so typical of the RIAA and their manipulative, smoke and
mirrors tactics." The Webcaster Alliance is asking the U.S. District
Court for the Northern District of California to rule the record
labels in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act, as well as for a
declaratory judgment that the labels have engaged in misuse of their
copyrights.
http://www.webcasteralliance.com/modules/news/index.php?storytopic=5
http://www.webcasteralliance.com/docs/WA_complaint.pdf
____________________________________________
o Interactive TV Firm YooMedia to
Acquire Columbia Pictures' GoPlay TV
London -- YooMedia, a developer of interactive TV and wireless
applications, said on Friday that it will acquire GoPlay TV, an
interactive games channel, from Columbia Pictures for $11.2 million.
GoPlay owns and operates an interactive games channel available on
the first page of the interactive main menu on Sky Digital. The deal
establishes U.K.-based YooMedia as a leading interactive content
provider across all digital TV platforms in the U.K., including
games, chat, dating and gaming.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?Z57811AC6
http://www.yoomedia.com
http://www.goplaytv.co.uk
____________________________________________
o Asset Management Firm Schroders
Takes 20% Stake in U.K. Games Firm Eidos
London -- Asset management firm Schroders has purchased a 19.1%
stake in U.K.-based video game developer Eidos, GamesIndustry.biz
reported. The investment, valued at around $61 million, makes
Schroders the single largest shareholder in the company, with more
than ten times the share of Eidos creative director Ian Livingstone.
Eidos is responsible for creating game franchises including "Lara
Croft Tomb Raider," "Hitman" and "Deus Ex." "If [Schroders] have
made an investment of this size, they must think it is a good
industry to be in, and if you adopt that view, then within the U.K.
Eidos is one of the best ways to be involved in the games sector,"
analyst firm Novell Consultancy's Nicholas Lovell told
GamesIndustry.biz.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?section_name=pub&aid=2699=
http://www.eidos.com
____________________________________________
o Former
EUniverse CEO Resigns from Board, Files Suit Against Company
Los Angeles -- Brad Greenspan, the recently departed CEO of
EUniverse, a provider of entertainment-related websites and
newsletters, announced on Friday his resignation from the company's
board of directors, as well as the filing of a lawsuit against the
company, its board and a venture capital firm that invested in the
company. In the lawsuit, Greenspan alleges that "certain directors
of the Board have embarked upon a scheme to entrench themselves in
office… breach[ing] their fiduciary duties to the company."
Greenspan also alleges that the terms of San Bruno, Calif.-based
VantagePoint Venture Partners' recent $8 million investment in
EUniverse "may have a material adverse impact on the company's
ability to relist its common stock on The Nasdaq SmallCap Market."
http://biz.yahoo.com/pz/031212/49649.html
http://www.vpvp.com
http://www.euniverse.com
____________________________________________
o Bertelsmann
Found Liable Over Sale of AOL Europe
Gutesloh, Germany -- Bertelsmann on Friday said that a verdict
handed out on Thursday by a California jury in the lawsuit brought
against the company by former AOL Europe executives Jan Henric
Buettner and Andreas von Blottnitz was "incomprehensible."
Bertelsmann, Germany's largest media company, may have to pay
damages of 250 million dollars after the jury said the company was
liable for not giving the two former managers a share of the
proceeds from the sale of Bertelsmann's half of AOL Europe. During
the trial, Bertelsmann argued that von Blottnitz and Buettner
misinterpreted their contracts.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?Z29615AC6
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> DMW Publications:
> Digital
Media Law Report
Must-read publication on legal and policy matters related to
digital media. Law Report includes case summaries, news and
analysis, policy updates, court filings, and exclusive interviews
with legal counsel and business leaders. Published monthly.
Subscriptions
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Order
Available Now - November Law Report - 32 pages
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>
Game
Industry Quarterly
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The Game Industry Quarterly features news about key business,
legal and finance developments impacting the game industry. Each
issue includes sections on current industry research, financings,
law and policy matters, game releases, business deals and other
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Available Now - Q3 Game Industry Quartertly - 105 pages -
Order
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> Featured Advertisement:
> Making Your Way thru the Homeland Security Maze
Small businesses wanting to do business with the government face unique
challenges when entering the federal marketplace. The 2003- 2004 Directory
of Homeland Security includes a detailed list of procurement information
and small business government contacts for the various federal departments
and agencies. Contact names, titles, phone and fax numbers and
descriptions are included in the listings. The Department of Homeland
Security portion of the directory has entire section titled, "Doing
Business with the Department of Homeland Security." To order the 2003-2004
edition, go to:
http://www.tech-directories.com/dmw.htm
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o Briefly Noted: (Culver City,
Calif.) Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios announced on Friday
that they will premiere the first theatrical teaser trailer for
"Spider-Man 2" worldwide on Monday, Dec. 15, exclusively on Yahoo.
The trailer will premiere simultaneously on Yahoo sites in the U.S.,
Mexico, Canada, Brazil, the U.K., Ireland, France, Spain, Italy,
Germany, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.
http://www.sony.com/spider-man
(London) Search engine firm Google said that it plans to open its
first offshore research and development center early next year in
Bangalore, India. Google is the latest in a long line of Western
technology firms to set up shop in India, which has a large number
of educated workers who are paid much less than their counterparts
in the Europe and the U.S.
http://www.rediff.com/money/2003/dec/12google.htm
(Portland, Ore.) Consumer electronics and media retailer Fred Meyer
announced on Friday that it has launched an online store to sell its
stock of over 300,000 movies, music, video games and accessories at
its fredmeyer.com website.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/031211/sfth066_1.html
http://www.fredmeyer.com
(Redwood City, Calif.) Video game developer Electronic Arts
announced on Friday the release of its "Harry Potter and the
Sorcerer's Stone" title for PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube.
Developed by EA's U.K. studio, the title based on the J.K. Rowling
novel was previously only available for the PC, Game Boy Advance and
original PlayStation. Redwood City, Calif.-based Electronic Arts
also announced that it has reached an agreement with boxing
heavyweight champion Roy Jones, Jr., who will serve as cover athlete
and spokesman for its new boxing game, "EA Sports Fight Night 2004."
The game is scheduled for release in the spring of 2004.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/031212/125105_1.html
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/031211/115021_1.html
http://www.ea.com
(San Diego) DivXNetworks, a developer of video compression
technology, announced on Friday that Fremont, Calif.-based digital
imaging software firm ArcSoft has licensed its DivX codec, and will
include support for the format in its ArcSoft VideoImpression video
editing software.
http://www.arcsoft.com
http://www.divxnetworks.com
(Osaka, Japan) Japanese video game publisher Capcom announced that
it has named Hiroshi Tobisawa as president of its Sunnyvale,
Calif.-based Capcom USA and CE Europe game publishing divisions.
Tobisawa will be responsible for the overall management of the
company's North American and European business operations. http://www.capcom.co.jp/ir/english/news/index.html
(San Francisco) CNET News.com this week published a three-part
special report on the video game industry's efforts to develop
convergence "uberdevices" that fold the functionality of other
entertainment devices like DVD players, digital video recorders and
MP3 players into their next-generation game consoles. The report
also explores the effect that such devices will have on traditional
media firms like the broadcast networks, who are now seeing their
audiences dwindle as consumers begin spending more of their free
time with other forms of entertainment.
http://news.com.com/2009-1043_3-5113175.html
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>
Classifieds:
___________________
> Director of Engineering
Clareos is seeking a Director of Engineering to
lead our software product development group in the development of
new products to fuel the company's expansion and growth with
Fortune 500 customers. This person's objective will be to expand
the engineering organization and accelerate development of our
innovative data analysis platform. Send resumes to
dsteinhoff@clareos.com
Visit http://www.clareos.com
___________________
> OPS Consulting - Project/Technical Manager
Positions
OPS Consulting, a software engineering consulting
firm, is looking for qualified Software Project Managers (SPM)
with 15 yrs exp. in large-scale application projects,
Configuration Managers (CM) with 15+ yrs exp. in the use of
configuration mgmt tools (5 yrs in Clearcase/ClearQuest), CMMI,
software quality assurance and Requirements Managers (RM) with
15+ years exp. in CMMI/IEEE standards, object-oriented modeling
tools, software testing and software engineering. A TS/SCI
Security clearance is reqd. for all positions. For more info,
visit
http://www.opsconsulting.com Send resume and salary
requirements to
hr@opsconsulting.com
___________________
> Senior Business Development Manager
AQUENT’s Washington DC office is seeking a Senior Business
Development Manager to focus and lead sales efforts of AQUENT’s
services to Fortune 1000, mid-size companies and emerging markets
in the Association, Non-profit and Federal sectors. Business
impact goals are challenging. First 12 month expectations are to
exceed $1,000,000 revenue. Send resumes to
dcsales@aquent.com
Visit http://www.aquent.com
___________________
> Manager of Sales and Marketing Support
DC based Govt. Affairs and Sales Consulting firm is seeking an
experienced business professional to help lead, support and
manage the firm’s marketing and sales efforts. Min. 5-7 yrs exp.
Require strong writing skills, proven ability to successfully
manage multiple projects and tasks. Responsibilities: Development
and creation of marketing and sales collateral, creation and
maintenance of various databases, providing assistance with lead
generation efforts; monitoring and tracking the firm’s sales
process and direct interaction with senior business and govt.
professionals. Please email your resume to marketgov@yahoo.com
___________________
> Media Director - Greater Boston
Our client is a full service Advertising Agency looking for a
Media Director. This person will ensure proper maintenance and
quality control for media planning and buying over multiple
accounts as well as establish procedures and standards for media
personnel. Proven management expertise and presentation skills
required. Minimum of 8 years experience leading media teams. For
consideration, please email your resume to dhorvath@pilenet.com
Please put "Media Director" in the subject line when applying.
Compensation: $75,000
____________________
> See it first at COMNET - January 26-29, 2004
COMNET '04 previews technologies impacting your network -
security, wireless, VoIP, WAN, the data center. New conference
format, new programs for 2004. Young companies, pitch your
business in the new COMNET First: Venture Summit and Network.
http://www.comnetexpo.com/comnetexpo/V40/index.cvn?id=10257&p_navID=174
Space is limited! VCs assess up-and-comers in the Venture Summit.
Register today for COMNET using priority code MPOT at the new
Washington Convention Center.
http://www.comnetexpo.com/comnetexpo/V40/index.cvn?ID=10017
See http://www.comnetexpo.com
for more information.
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Digital Media Wire, Inc. is a news organization, publisher and
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