LimeWire Asks Court to Reconsider Guilty Copyright Ruling

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Los Angeles
– File-sharing service LimeWire, which earlier this month was found guilty in
federal court of copyright infringement, has asked the court to reconsider its
decision, arguing that it flawed in its legal analysis of the case, according
to The Hollywood Reporter. The court found both LimeWire, and founder and
majority shareholder Mark Groton guilty of copyright infringement.

LimeWire
argues in its motion for reconsideration that the court "made errors in
its analysis of liability, including whether the company had the ability to supervise
copyright infringement," according to THR’s coverage.

"LimeWire also
says the court reached its conclusions for summary judgment without properly
considering conflicting evidence and giving it the benefit of the doubt, as
required at the summary judgment phase."

In the intervening weeks since
the ruling, LimeWire has been working to apply a filter that would block copyrighted
works, and CEO Zeeshan Zaidi told Wired.com the company has even been talking
to labels about licensing their content for the service.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/wuj0d
(THR)

http://snipurl.com/wuj1x
(Recording Industry vs. The People)

http://snipurl.com/wuj3h
(DMW previous coverage)

http://snipurl.com/wt4qc
(DMW previous coverage)

Facebook, eBay, IAC, Yahoo Back YouTube in Viacom Suit

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

New York
– While Viacom (NYSE:  VIA) has received support from fellow media conglomerates Disney (NYSE:  DIS),
Warner Bros. (NYSE:  TWX) and NBC Universal (NYSE:  GE) in its $1 billion copyright suit against
YouTube (NASD:  GOOG), four Internet giants — eBay (NASD:  EBAY), Facebook, IAC (NASD:  IACI) and Yahoo (NASD:  YHOO) — have now
filed friend of the court briefs in support of YouTube.

The four technology
firms argue in their brief that, should the court side with Viacom and find
YouTube liable for the copyrighted videos posted by its users, "fear of
liability could discourage many Internet service providers from developing
platforms for use by the public at large."

Viacom filed its $1 billion
copyright suit against YouTube in 2007.

In recent weeks, documents from the
discovery portion of the proceedings have begun emerging, providing fascinating
details about the early days of YouTube, acquisition offers, and embarrassing
statements from both sides.

 

Related Links:
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118019881.html

Discovery to Raise $3 Billion in Notes Offering

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Silver Spring,
Md. – Discovery Communications (NASD: DISCA),
the cable programmer behind networks such as the Discovery Channel, TLC and
Animal Planet, said that it plans to raise $3 billion through a massive notes
offering.

The company has priced $850 million of notes due in 2015, $1.3 billion
due in 2020 and another $850 million due in 2040. The sale is expected to close
next Thursday.

The company said that it will use $1.9 billion of the proceeds,
plus cash on hand, to prepay outstanding amounts under a pair of term loans due
in 2014.

It will also use another $1.05 billion to prepay outstanding principal
on senior notes.

Shares of Discovery were up 2% in Thursday’s midday trading on
the Nasdaq.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/wugwt

http://www.discovery.com

Nexon Acquires Control of Korean Game Publisher GameHi

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Seoul, South Korea – Korean online game
publisher Nexon has paid $59.8 million for a controlling stake in local
developer GameHi from the company’s largest shareholder, GunIl Kim, VentureBeat
reported.

Founded in 2000, GameHi has released titles such as "Sudden
Attack," which counts up to 250,000 concurrent players.

The company saw
revenues last year of $33.9 million and a profit of $9.7 million.

Nexon’s
titles include "Dungeon Fighter Online," which counts more than 200
million registered users and is slated to launch in North
America next month.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/wufov
(VentureBeat)

http://gamehi.net

http://www.nexon.net

Saplo Lands $500,000 for Semantic Text Analysis

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Malmo, Sweden – Saplo, a developer of
semantic text analysis technology, has raised $500,000 in seed funding,
TechCrunch reports.

Investors included Goran Grosskopf, chairman of IKEA Group parent
company the Stichting INGKA Foundation, and SOVA retail store chain founder
Martin Liljeberg.

Malmo, Sweden-based Saplo’s offering uses semantic technology
to analyze text on blogs, websites and wikis, and provide related articles or
produce relevant tags for content management.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/wuez4
(TechCrunch)

http://saplo.com

Targeted TV Ad Firm Invidi Gets Investment From Experian

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

New York
– Invidi Technologies, a provider of targeted ad technology for television,
announced on Thursday that it has received an investment from Experian, the
global services information firm.

Financial details were not disclosed.

New
York-based Invidi said it will work with Experian Marketing Services on a
system that will provide advertisers, TV networks and distributors with tools
for analysis.

The company currently has distribution agreements with DISH
Network and DirecTV, and recently completed testing with Comcast and Starcom
MediaVest.

 

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

http://www.invidi.com

Pakistan Alters YouTube Ban to Block Certain Videos

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Islamabad, Pakistan – Pakistan plans to restore access to
Google’s (NASD: GOOG) YouTube, but will continue to block individual videos it deems are offensive
to Muslims, the Associated Press reports. The YouTube block began last week, coming
after the country blocked Facebook due to a page encouraging users to post
drawings of the prophet Muhammad — which many Muslims deem blasphemous. A
court hearing on what to do about Facebook is slated for later this month.


 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/wt5pt
(AP)

Legendary Pictures Acquires Movie Rights to "Mass Effect" Game

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Los Angeles
– Legendary Pictures ("The Dark Knight," "300") has
acquired the motion picture rights to publisher Electronic Arts’ (NASD: ERTS) and developer
Bioware’s popular sci-fi action game "Mass Effect," according to The
Hollywood Reporter. The game first debuted in 2007 and a sequel was released in
January. THR reports Mark Protosevich ("I Am Legend,"
"Thor") is in talks to write the screenplay, while Bioware’s Ray
Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk will be credited as executive producers.


 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/wt795
(THR)

http://masseffect.bioware.com

Wired Magazine Debuts iPad App

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

San Francisco
– Conde Nast’s Wired magazine on Wednesday announced the release of its
$4.99-per-issue iPad application, completely redesigned with the Apple (NASD: AAPL) media
tablet in mind. The iPad edition features interactive images and ads, audio and
video content, and more Web-like navigation. Meanwhile, Wired.com reports that
New Yorker editor David Remnick says he won’t alter the contents of the
magazine to meet Apple’s content standards, which ban most political cartoons. "Quite
frankly, when it comes to the question of, you know, Apple being stern about
what it’s going to put on there, the hell with it," said Remnick.
"We’re going to publish what we’re going to publish."


 

Related Links:
http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/05/mag_editors_letter/

http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/05/new-yorker-apple

VEVO to Offer Global Live Stream of World Cup Concert

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Los Angeles
– In its first foray into global live music streaming, VEVO, the online music
video portal joint venture between Google (NASD: GOOG), Sony (NYSE: SNE) Music and Universal Music
Group, said it plans to webcast the FIFA World Cup Kick-Off Celebration Concert
on June 10. A live stream of the concert, scheduled to include performers
including Alicia Keys, Black Eyed Peas, Shakira and BLK JKS, will be produced
by Control Room and available in all but a small handful of countries, due to
broadcast restrictions.


 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/wt81i

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