Report: Wal-Mart to Acquire Vudu Online Movie Service

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
3

San Francisco
– Retail giant Wal-Mart (NYSE:  WMT) has agreed to acquire online movie service Vudu, The
New York Times reported, citing two people briefed on the deal. Founded in
2004, Santa Clara, Calif.-based Vudu offers a
Web-based movie and TV episode distribution service, which can connect directly
with televisions via set-tops and other devices.

The company has raised a total
of $21 million in funding to date, from backers including Benchmark Capital and
Greylock Partners.

The Times reports that Wal-Mart and Vudu "began
informing Hollywood studios and television
manufacturers of the deal on Monday."

Vudu has already secured deals to
embed its service in devices made by Samsung, Sanyo, Sharp, Toshiba, LG, Vizio
and Mitsubishi.

Wal-Mart’s previous foray into online movie downloads, a
partnership with HP, was shuttered a year after its launch in 2007.

 

Related Links:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/23/technology/23video.html

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

http://www.vudu.com

Missouri Man Gets Two Years for Camcording "The Dark Knight"

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Los Angeles – A Missouri man accused of
camcording "The Dark Knight" in a movie theater and then trafficking
in counterfeit DVDs has been found guilty and sentenced to two years in prison.

Robert Henderson, of Grandview,
Missouri, was also ordered to pay
$24,738 in fines. Henderson
pleaded guilty to criminal copyright infringement charges after he was
apprehended in 2008 as part of an investigation by the Motion Picture
Association of America (MPAA).

"This is an appropriate sentence for a very
serious crime, and we hope it will serve as a warning to would-be movie thieves
that they will face severe consequences for engaging in these activities,"
said Mike Robinson, senior vice president of content protection, and chief of operations
for the MPAA.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/ugwz3
(PDF: MPAA statement)

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

http://snipurl.com/ugx0k
(DMW previous coverage)

U.S. Intl. Trade Commission to Probe Nokia on Apple Patents

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Washington
– The U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) has launched an investigation
into whether Finland-based Nokia (NYSE: NOK) has infringed upon 13 of Apple’s (NASD: AAPL) patents on
mobile phone technology.

Apple alleges that Nokia has not given Apple fair
licensing terms on patents that are included on essential smartphone
technologies like Wi-Fi.

The USITC previously announced an investigation of
Apple, prompted by a complaint from Nokia, into whether Apple is infringing ten
Nokia patents.

Both companies are asking the USITC to ban imports of cell
phones that contain the allegedly infringing technologies.

Both companies have
also separately filed patent infringement lawsuits against one another in
federal court in Delaware.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/ugwh3
(All Things D)

http://snipurl.com/ugwi1
(DMW previous coverage)

http://snipurl.com/ugwi5
(DMW previous coverage)

http://www.usitc.gov

On2

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Google Completes $124.6 Million Acquisition of On2

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Mountain View,
Calif. – Google (NASD:  GOOG) has announced the
completion of its $124.6 million acquisition of video encoding firm On2
Technologies, following a vote by On2’s shareholders to approve the deal. Google
said that it plans to repurchase an equal number of shares on the open market
that it issued as part of the transaction, to be funded from available working
capital.

"Through rapid innovation in browsers and web standards, the
Internet is becoming the leading platform for development," said Sundar
Pichai, vice president of Product Management at Google.

"We believe On2’s
engineering talent and technology will be an incredible asset for us as we work
to improve this platform."

 

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

http://www.on2.com

Guinness World Records Acquires Bragster.com

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

London
– Guinness World Records (GWR) announced on Monday that it has acquired
Bragster.com, a site that lets users upload videos of their dares and bragging
feats.

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Founded in 2006, London-based
Bragster counts 70,000 content generators, whose videos are viewed up to 7
million times monthly.

GWR said that Bragster.com will remain a completely
separate entity, and maintain its own brand and target audience.

The company intends to
encourage Bragster users to post videos of Guinness record attempts and messages about
their record feats.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/ugw0j

http://www.bragster.com

Social Marketing Firm Dukky Raises New Funding

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

New Orleans
– Dukky, a provider of direct response marketing services that utilize social
sharing technology, announced on Monday that it has closed a second round of
funding, and has now raised a total of $3 million to date.

The latest round was
led by LongueVue Capital.

New Orleans-based Dukky recently launched the
commercial version of the software platform, which adds social sharing elements
to traditional marketing mediums like direct mail.

The company will use the
funds to advance sales and marketing activities.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/ugvy4

http://www.dukky.com

YouTube Streams Tiger Woods' Public Apology Live

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

San Bruno,
Calif. – Tiger Woods on Friday
made his first public statement since a sex scandal compelled him to seek
treatment and take a leave of absence from the PGA Tour, and Google’s YouTube
was one of several outlets to offer a live video stream of the event. Speaking
from the headquarters of the U.S. PGA Tour in Florida, Woods was apologetic and said he
plans to return to the game — perhaps as early as this year.


 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/ufg93
(Wired.com)

Pandora Made $50 Million in 2009; Paid $30 Million in Royalties

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

San Francisco
– Streaming music service Pandora now counts more than 40 million users, and
took in $50 million in revenue last year, founder and CEO Tim Westergren told
CNNMoney.com. Of this sum, Westergren said Pandora paid out $30 million in
royalties to copyright holders. Pandora is also now adding 35,000 new
subscribers to its iPhone application each day.


 

Related Links:
http://money.cnn.com/2010/02/18/technology/pandora/

http://www.pandora.com

Public Enemy Falls Short of Sellaband Fundraising Goal

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Los Angeles
– Veteran hip-hop act Public Enemy has raised $67,400 of the $250,000 it aimed
to generate from supporters by the end of 2009 on fan-financed recordings
service Sellaband, Billboard reports. The sum is actually down about $4,000
from the $71,000 that fans had pledged to invest as of December. Billboard
cited a lack of adequate incentives for investors provided by the group, and the
limited marketing potential of Sellaband as possible explanations.


 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/ufhds
(Billboard)

http://www.sellaband.com/projects/publicenemy/incentives

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