San Jose, Calif. – Apple (NASD: AAPL) has asked a federal judge to
dismiss an antitrust lawsuit against the company over its tying of iPod devices
to its iTunes Store, Bloomberg reports. The facts of the case date back to
2004, when Apple’s FairPlay digital rights management (DRM) system prevented
songs purchased from rival stores like RealNetworks from playing on its iPods.

The company eventually abandoned the practice in 2009, when it began selling
DRM-free music downloads.

However, in its motion Apple argues that its motive
at the time in excluding competitors was that, "iPods work better when
consumers use the iTunes jukebox rather than third party software that can
cause corruption or other problems."

The company also cited 58 consumer
complaints of problems with third-party downloads for its decision to exclude
them.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs was deposed by plaintiffs’ attorneys for the case on
April 12.

U.S. District Judge James Ware is expected to rule on Apple’s motion
to dismiss by May, Bloomberg reported.

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/3gz4kqr
(Bloomberg)

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

San Francisco – Online social network Tagged has acquired
dotSyntax, the developer of the Digsby instant messaging service, for an
undisclosed sum, TechCrunch reports.

New York-based dotSyntax was founded in
2006, and raised $500,000 in venture capital financing for its Digsby product,
which counts some 3 million registered users.

San Francisco-based Tagged will
maintain Digsby as a standalone product, and plans to integrate features into
its own service.

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/42ejbwx
(TechCrunch)

http://www.tagged.com

http://www.digsby.com

Los Angeles – Live Nation’s (NYSE: LYV) Ticketmaster on Tuesday
announced a partnership with MarketShare to develop dynamic pricing tools that
will allow artists, sports teams, promoters and venues to adjust ticket prices
for their events based on demand. The tools will allow for higher prices to be
set for the best seats early in the ticket sales process — in theory, reducing
the market for scalpers — while less desirable seats may be priced more
cheaply to increase sales.

MarketShare will provide predictive analysis tools to Ticketmaster’s
LiveAnalytics unit, which will offer the dynamic pricing tools to Ticketmaster
clients.

The tools will utilize data including historical ticket sales, search,
video activity, and social media data.

Ticketmaster said it has been working
with four pro sports teams to develop the tools, and plans to roll out dynamic
pricing tool for the MLB, NBA, NHL and concert tours this year.

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/42xupqr
(PDF: Ticketmaster release)

http://tinyurl.com/3ur9f3r
(AP)

San Francisco – JamLegend, a 2008 graduate of D.C.’s
LaunchBox Digital incubator that relocated to San Francisco, said it is
shutting down its music gaming service to "move on to new ventures,"
according to a note on the company’s blog.

"As of April 18th 2011, new
registrations, JamCash deposits, and VIP subscriptions/extensions will cease,
and on April 29th, 2011 we will close the service completely," the company
wrote.

Founded in 2008 by Andrew Lee, Arjun Lall, and Ryan Wilson, JamLegend
allowed users to challenge others to online musical jam sessions using guitars
and drums, similar to games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band.

The company worked
with all four major music labels and grew its user base to approximately 2
million.

Related Links:
http://blog.jamlegend.com/jamlegend-is-shutting-down

http://www.jamlegend.com

New York – Adaptly, the provider of a social network
advertising service, said on Tuesday that it has secured $2.7 million in new
funding.

Investors included First Round Capital, Kirschenbaum Bond Senecal
& Partners, Charles River Ventures and Lerer Ventures.

New York-based
Adaptly says its platform that lets advertisers run campaigns across Facebook,
Twitter, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon and other social media sites with a single buy.

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

Milan – Buongiorno, an Italy-based mobile entertainment
publisher, announced on Tuesday that it will acquire Dada.net for around $40.6
million.

Dada.net operates in 16 countries, offering services including
Play.me, a streaming music and download service launched in early 2010.

Buongiorno
said the deal will increase its market share in the business-to-consumer
segment in several markets, particularly in North America.

"Dada.net is an
acquisition of great importance, since it is not only complementary in terms of
products and geographical footprint, but it also brings to Buongiorno the
excellent skills of innovative product primarily in the Internet mobile market,
and enables us to win the competition in a highly challenging environment at a
global level," said Buongiorno CEO Andrea Casalini.

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/3d5vpzj

http://www.buongiorno.com

http://www.data.net

Scotts Valley, Calif. – Seagate Technology announced on
Tuesday that it will acquire the hard drive manufacturing unit of Korean
electronics firm Samsung, in a deal valued at $1.375 billion.

The deal will see
Samsung retain a 9.6% stake in Seagate, and provide flash memory products to
Seagate, while Seagate will supply hard drives for Samsung’s PCs, notebooks and
consumer electronics.

The companies will also collaborate to co-develop
enterprise storage solutions.

"We are pleased to strengthen our strategic
relationship with Samsung in a way that better aligns both companies around
technologies and products," said Steve Luczo, Seagate’s chairman,
president and CEO.

"With these agreements, we expect to achieve greater scale
and deliver a broader range of innovative storage products and solutions to our
customers, while facilitating our long-term relationship with Samsung."

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/3nqlrex

Seattle – Decide.com, a start-up working on a "consumer
electronics shopping service," has raised $6 million in its second round of
funding, led by Maveron and Madrona Venture Group.

Angel investors Ram Shriram
and Erik Blanchford also participated.

Seattle-based Decide.com was founded by
Internet search pioneer Oren Etzioni, who sold his previous company Farecase to
Microsoft.

The company says it plans to bring "unprecedented transparency
to consumer electronics shopping.

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/3bd7p5z

http://www.decide.com

San Francisco – MindJolt, a cross-platform game developer
and publisher, announced on Tuesday that it has acquired social mobile game
developer SGN and Hallpass Media, a free online games network.

Financial terms
of the transactions were not disclosed.

San Francisco-based MindJolt was
acquired in March 2010 by MySpace co-founder and former CEO Chris DeWolfe,
along with several other members of the MySpace team, in partnership with
Austin Ventures.

MindJolt said SGN counts more than 30 million downloads of its
mobile games, while Hallpass adds over four million gamers and some 1,500 new
game titles to the MindJolt platform.

Related Links:
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110419005609/en

http://www.mindjolt.com

San Francisco – Ticketfly, the provider of a
"social" online ticketing service, announced on Tuesday that it has
raised $12 million in its second round of funding, led by Mohr Davidow
Ventures.

Previous backers High Peaks Venture Partners, Contour Venture
Partners and angel investors Roger Ehrenberg and Howard Lindzon also
participated in the round.

San Francisco-based Ticketfly provides ticketing,
social marketing, website management and mobile tools to live entertainment
venues and promoters.

Clients include Austin City Limits Live, Knitting Factory
Entertainment, D.C.’s 9:30 Club and Los Angeles’ Troubadour.

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/422654r

http://www.ticketfly.com