Espoo, Finland – Nokia (NYSE: NOK) said on Tuesday that it has filed a
second patent infringement complaint against Apple (NASD: AAPL) with the U.S. International
Trade Commission (USITC), further extending the two-year-old patent fight
between the firms over mobile devices.

The new complaint alleges that Apple is
infringing on Nokia patents covering "multitasking operating systems, data
synchronization, positioning, call quality, and the use of Bluetooth
accessories."

Nokia first sued Apple for patent infringement in U.S.
federal court in 2009; Apple then countersued, followed by Nokia’s first
complaint lodged with the USITC.

Apple later filed its own complaint against
Nokia with USITC, while Nokia has since filed additional patent suits against Apple
in both the U.S. and abroad.

A judge with the USITC last week ruled against
Nokia in its first complaint, stating that Apple has not violated the patents
at issue in that Nokia complaint.

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/4mo6bh8

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20048218-17.html

http://tinyurl.com/38mxs6d
(DMW previous coverage)

http://tinyurl.com/39zsvx2
(DMW previous coverage)

Seattle – Media software and services firm RealNetworks (NASD: RNWK) announced
on Tuesday that Robert Kimball has resigned as president and CEO, just 15
months after replacing founding chief executive Rob Glaser.

During Kimball’s
tenure, the company underwent a restructuring that it said cut $70 million in
operating expenses, and saw layoffs of 10% of employees.

"I took on this
role to lead a restructuring and transformation of RealNetworks into a more
lean, efficient and effective business and we have completed that phase of
RealNetworks’ transformation," said Kimball.

"All this work has set
the stage for Real to embark on its next phase with a clean bill of health and
a strong foundation."

RealNetworks said executive vice president Mike
Lunsford will serve as interim CEO while the board conducts a search for a new
CEO.

Lunsford joined the company in 2008, and previously held a number of
executive roles at Earthlink.

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/4vytso7

Boston – Apperian, a provider of mobile application
development tools, has raised $9.5 million in new round of venture capital
financing.

Investors included North Bridge Venture Partners, Bessemer Venture
Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers’ iFund, CommonAngels and
LaunchCapital.

Founded in 2009, Boston-based Apperian offers a set of
enterprise services, app libraries, and access to cloud services that allow
businesses to create, deploy, and manage mobile apps.

The firm’s customers
include Procter & Gamble, Dupont, AAA, Intuit, The Estee Lauder Companies,
Cisco Systems, Talecris Biotherapeutics, NetApp and The MITRE Corp.

Related Links:
http://www.apperian.com

Newton, Mass. – TechTarget, a technology media company, has
signed an agreement to acquire Computer Weekly and its sister brand MicroScope
from Reed Business Information.

Founded in 1966, Computer Weekly targets U.K.
business managers, directors and CIOs who monitor developments in the
technology industry.

Included in the deal are Computer Weekly’s websites,
product offerings, and events. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The
transaction is expected to close by the end of April, according to an
announcement.

Related Links:
http://www.TechTargetSummit.co.uk

London – The U.K. Court of Appeal has upheld a lower court’s
ruling invalidating three patents held by TV electronic program guide maker
Gemstar (now owned by Rovi), which had sued Virgin Media for patent
infringement, Bloomberg reported.

Gemstar sued Virgin in 2008, and a judge in
2009 ruled that two of the patents in question were invalid; Gemstar did not
appeal over the third patent.

"We have vigorously defended our assertion
that Gemstar’s claim was unfounded and that they should not have brought this
case and the court agrees emphatically," Scott Dresser, general counsel
for Virgin Media, told Bloomberg.

Gemstar was acquired by Macrovision in 2008;
Macrovision later changed its name to Rovi.

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/4bqgr26
(Bloomberg)

http://tinyurl.com/4cygmbq
(DMW previous coverage)

http://www.rovi.com

Los Angeles – A federal judge has ordered BlueBeat.com to
pay nearly $1 million in damages to settle a copyright infringement lawsuit
over its sale of purportedly "psycho-acoustic simulation" versions of
Beatles tracks online for 25 cents each. The company was sued by EMI, Capitol
Records and Virgin Records America in 2009, and in 2010 a judge rejected
BlueBeat’s claim that it had created entirely new — and copyrightable —
versions of Beatles tracks though its psycho-acoustic simulation process.

The
court called that defense "technobabble and doublespeak," and placed
a restraining order against BlueBeat’s unauthorized sale of Beatles tracks —
which at the time were not available to purchase digitally anywhere online.

The
site reportedly sold more than 67,000 Beatles songs before being ordered to
stop by the court.

BlueBeat will pay the record labels $950,000 in damages.

"We basically settled the case for their attorney fees," Archie Robinson,
an attorney for BlueBeat, told said. "I felt that was sort of an
acknowledgement on their part that they don’t have the damages they
claimed."

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/4mhmvk8
(AP)

http://tinyurl.com/464sv7c
(DMW previous coverage)

http://www.bluebeat.com

Seattle – Amazon.com (NASD: AMZN) has introduced a new cloud-based media
storage service, which lets consumers upload and store their music and other
files, and stream them to any Internet-connected device. Customers receive 5GB
of free storage on the Amazon Cloud Drive service, and can upgrade to plans
starting at $20 a year for 20GB; those who purchase a new album via Amazon MP3
will also be upgraded to 20GB of storage.

"Our customers have told us they
don’t want to download music to their work computers or phones because they
find it hard to move music around to different devices," said Bill Carr, vice
president of movies and music at Amazon.

"Now, whether at work, home, or
on the go, customers can buy music from Amazon MP3, store it in the cloud and
play it anywhere."

Once songs are uploaded to the cloud, users can access
them via the Cloud Player for Web, or Cloud Player for Android; Amazon did not
make mention of support for Apple’s iPhone.

Mashable has published details of a
workaround that will allow tunes to be streamed to iOS devices from Amazon
Cloud Drive.

Amazon noted that photos, videos and documents may also be stored
on the service.

Related Links:
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110328006927/en

http://tinyurl.com/4gy9a5f
(Mashable)

http://www.amazon.com/clouddrive

Los Angeles – News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) has held discussions to sell its struggling
Myspace unit to music video portal joint venture Vevo, Reuters reported, citing
a person with knowledge of the talks. The likelihood of a deal is reportedly
"slim," but terms would see News Corp. exchange Myspace for a stake
in Vevo, a joint venture between Universal Music Group, Sony Music and Abu
Dhabi Media.

News Corp was reportedly rebuffed when it offered Vevo the
opportunity to buy Myspace outright. Myspace also owns part of Myspace Music, a
joint venture with the major record labels.

Since News Corp. unveiled a retooled Myspace in October 2010, re-focusing the site as an entertainment hub, traffic has fallen 29%, from 88 million monthly visitors in October to 62.6 million in February, according to comScore data. 

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/4r447mo
(Reuters)

http://tinyurl.com/67csu54
(Bloomberg)