"Hurt Locker" Producers to Sue Downloaders for Infringement

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
1

Los Angeles
– Voltage Pictures, which produced the Oscar-winning film "Hurt
Locker," has retained the services of U.S. Copyright Group and plans to
sue individuals who downloaded the movie on file-sharing services for copyright
infringement, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

They plan to use IP address
data culled from BitTorrent to subpoena the identities of suspected downloaders
of the film, and then send letters offering to settle for an unspecified amount
or else face litigation.

A screener copy of "The Hurt Locker" appeared
on file-sharing networks months before the film’s official release.

The movie
was downloaded around 7 million times before its Oscar win, and has racked up 3
million more downloads since, according to TorrentFreak, while generating
relatively meager U.S.
box office revenues of $16.4 million to date.

U.S. Copyright Group previously
used the same tactic to file copyright lawsuits against file-swappers over a
number of other films, including "Far Cry" and "Uncross the
Stars."

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/w6k2o
(Hollywood Reporter)

http://snipurl.com/w6k1j
(TorrentFreak)

http://snipurl.com/w6kc8
(DMW previous coverage)

Arrington, Calcanis Dissolve TechCrunch50; Plan Separate Events

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

San Francisco
– TechCrunch50, the three-year-old event co-organized by TechCrunch blog
founder Michael Arrington and Mahalo CEO Jason Calcanis, has been cancelled and
the partnership disbanded, according to blog posts from its principals.

"Sometimes,
having more than one bull in the china shop can get a little messy,"
Arrington wrote, while Calcanis noted that he and Arrington "are both
strong personalities and we had a different vision of where to take the
conferences (and how to split the not insignificant profits)."

Arrington
plans instead to launch TechCrunch Disrupt, a new thrice-yearly conference highlighting
start-ups, that will kick off in New
York on May 24-26, and feature Calcanis as a speaker.

Meanwhie, Calcanis also announced plans for another event, The Launch
Conference, at which Arrington is expected to appear as well when it is held in
early 2011.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/w6jsn
(Arrington statement)

http://thelaunchconference.com/2010/05/11/hello-world
(Calcanis statement)

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20004752-93.html

Viral Content Aggregator BuzzFeed Gets $8 Million

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
1

New York
– BuzzFeed, the publisher of a site that aggregates viral Web content, has
raised $8 million in its second round of funding, led by RRE Ventures, TechCrunch
reported.

Other backers included previous backers Hearst, Softbank and Ken Lerer,
and new individual investors Ron Conway and Chris Dixon.

Founded in 2008, New
York-based BuzzFeed also operates a viral analytics platform, in addition to
aggregating content.

The company told TechCrunch it plans to use the new funds
to create a self-service product enabling publishers to manage their own viral
content campaigns.

 

Related Links:
http://techcrunch.com/2010/05/12/buzzfeed-8-million/

http://www.buzzfeed.com

Warner, Universal Settle Project Playlist Copyright Suits

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Los Angeles
– Project Playlist, the operator of a site that lets users create playlists
from streaming songs available online, has settled copyright infringement lawsuits
with major record labels Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group (NYSE:  WMG), CNET
News.com reported. The labels had been unhappy with the fact that Playlist.com
let users aggregate streaming songs from unauthorized as well as licensed
sources.

"While it was unfortunate that legal action was necessary, we are
pleased to have resolved this litigation in an amicable manner," a
Universal spokesman told CNET.

While financial terms of the settlements were
not disclosed, Universal has reportedly agreed to license its songs for
streaming on Playlist.com.

The site already has deals in place with Sony Music
and EMI, the latter of which also sued but eventually settled with Project
Playlist.

 

Related Links:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-20004738-261.html

http://snipurl.com/w6j2u
(DMW previous coverage)

http://www.playlist.com

HTC

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

HTC Countersues Apple Over Patents, Seeks iPhone Import Ban

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Los Angeles
– Taiwanese manufacturer HTC has responded to patent infringement claims filed
against the company by Apple (NASD:  AAPL) two months ago in the form of a countersuit, in
which it states that Apple is violating five HTC patents. The company is asking
the U.S. International Trade Commission to block the import and sale of all
iPhone, iPod and iPad devices in the U.S.

The patents in question that
HTC alleges Apple is violating relate to power management and personalized
phone dialers, according to Gizmodo.

For its part, Apple’s earlier patent suit
against HTC alleged infringement of 20 patents.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/w6iq0
(Gizmodo)

http://snipurl.com/w6ito
(DMW previous coverage)

http://www.usitc.gov

Another iPhone 4G Prototype Surfaces in Vietnam

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Los Angeles – Another prototype iPhone 4G has been spotted
in the wild, this time in Vietnam, where bloggers have posted photos and video of
a device it reportedly paid $4,000 to obtain, according to published reports.

The
iPhone obtained in Vietnam
appears to be slightly different than the one that an Apple (NASD: AAPL) employee left in a
bar last month, which the blog Gizmodo posted photos of and is now the subject
of ongoing criminal investigation.

A teardown of the Vietnamese iPhone reveals
that it features Apple’s own A4 processor, also being used in the iPad.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/w6ib3
(Engadget)

http://snipurl.com/w6ie2
(MacRumors)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AAnUHePbe4

Report: Verizon Wireless, Google Working on Android Tablet

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

New York
– Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ) and Google (NASD: GOOG) are collaborating on the development of an
Android-powered tablet computer, The Wall Street Journal reported.

"We’re
looking at all the things Google has in its archives that we could put on a
tablet to make it a great experience," Verizon Wireless CEO Lowell McAdam
told The Journal.

Both companies declined to comment on the project, or provide
details on timing or a manufacturing partner for the device.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/w6hp6
(WSJ)

Pirate Bay Appeal Judges Cleared of Bias Charges

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Stockholm,
Sweden –
Several judges with ties to copyright lobby groups have been cleared of bias
charges and approved to preside over the appeal of convictions for operators of
file-sharing hub The Pirate Bay, Wired.com reported, citing local Swedish
radio.

Complaints were lodged after it emerged that Judges Ulrika Ihrfelt and
Kristina Boutz were members of local Swedish pro-copyright organizations, but Sweden’s
Supreme Court has found no conflict of interest and cleared them to hear the
trial.

The operators of The Pirate Bay were found guilty of copyright
infringement in April 2009, and sentenced to a year in prison and combined
fines of $3.9 million.

The appeal of their convictions is now expected to be
heard some time in the fall.

 

Related Links:
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/05/piratebay-judicial-bias

http://snipurl.com/w6gsk
(DMW previous coverage)

Lionsgate Shareholders Adopt Poison Pill to Block Icahn

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Santa Monica,
Calif. – Film studio Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF)
announced on Wednesday that a majority (70.4%) of its shareholders voted to
adopt a shareholder rights plan intended to make it more difficult for activist
investor Carl Icahn to wrest control of the company.

"Today’s outcome
demonstrates that Lionsgate shareholders are serious about protecting the value
of their investment in the Company from financially inadequate, opportunistic
and coercive offers such as the one made by the Icahn Group," the company
said.

However, a Canadian court recently ruled that the company’s "poison
pill" provision was invalid; Lionsgate stated it "continues to
evaluate all of its alternatives" in the matter.

The company also
reiterated its plea to shareholders to reject the Icahn Group’s offer to
acquire control of the company.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/w6fa7

http://snipurl.com/w6fe9
(DMW previous coverage)

http://www.lionsgate.com

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