London – U.K. ISP and telco BT is in the planning stages for
a new digital music download service, the Guardian reported.

The service would
reportedly be made available to 5.5 million broadband subscribers in the U.K.
— for free for the first six to nine months, before a subscription model is
introduced.

BT is said to be in talks with major labels EMI and Universal
Music, according to a document obtained by the Guardian.

Fellow U.K. service
provider BSkyB recently shuttered its Sky Songs service, after a year of
operations.

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/4qymm89
(Guardian)

Los Angeles – Adult video distributor Liberty Media has
taken an unique approach in its most recent lawsuit against file-swappers,
filing suit against a "swarm" of BitTorrent users sharing one of its
works, TorrentFreak reported.

The company began pursuing alleged file-swappers
of its work earlier this year, offering settlement deals to avoid potential
litigation before filing suit against thousands of individuals.

In the new
lawsuit, "the defendants are a group of BitTorrent users or peers whose
computers are collectively interconnected for the sharing of a unique file,
otherwise known as a ‘swarm’," Liberty Media said.

"The torrent swarm
in this case is not an actual entity, but is rather made up of at least 95
individuals, acting in concert with each other, to achieve the common goal of
infringing upon the Plaintiff’s copyright both by illegally duplicating the
Plaintiff’s Motion Picture and illegally distributing the Plaintiff’s Motion
Picture."

TorrentFreak notes that the new tactic of filing suit against a
"swarm" of file-swappers could be an end-run around legal obstacles that
have emerged from joining hundreds or thousands of alleged file-swappers into a
single lawsuit.

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/5rgbhfy
(TorrentFreak)

Los Angeles – A group representing independent U.S. record
labels has taken issue with what it believes are digital music service
Rhapsody’s move to seek lower royalty payments for streaming music, Billboard
reported.

"From what we’re hearing, Rhapsody is seeking the webcaster
‘pureplay’ royalty rates rather than using the standard Copyright Royalty Board
(‘CRB’) rates (set by a government tribunal)," A2IM wrote in a blog post
to members, adding that Rhapsody would receive a 40% discount on existing rates
if successful.

A2IM notes that webcasters who receive ‘pureplay’ status make
"certain important concessions," but Rhapsody appears to be pushing
against those concessions — for instance, by seeking to increase the number of
times a particular artist’s songs may be played over a three-hour period.

"We
are constantly exploring new deals with our partners as we build our service
and add new product innovations," a Rhapsody spokesperson told Billboard.

"Radio is an area of focus for us, so we are exploring a multitude of
methods to bring radio to our subscribers."

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/47s4o8h
(Billboard)

http://tinyurl.com/4mv2ny9
(A2IM blog)

Beijing – Top Chinese search engine Baidu (NASD: BIDU) has removed 2.8
million written works from its online library, after receiving complaints from
authors that they had not been authorized for distribution, the Associated
Press reported.

On March 15, a group of Chinese authors posted a petition
demanding Baidu remove the unauthorized works from its website.

Baidu CEO Robin
Li said publicly shortly thereafter that the company would shutter the service
if it could not resolve the matter with authors, and plans to launch a filter
to block the uploading of copyrighted works to Baidu Library in May.

"We
really hope our actions will go far to assuage [authors] and will form a
foundation for us to have fruitful talks about ways to cooperate," Baidu
spokesman Kaiser Kuo told AP.

With the 2.8 million works removed, Baidu Library
is left with about 1,000 works that were properly licensed.

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/4lcp8qs
(AP)

New York – New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has
announced that he will "undertake a thorough review" of AT&T’s (NYSE: T)
proposed $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile USA. Schneiderman noted that
"the proposed merger could start a process of consolidation that would
lead to two firms — AT&T and Verizon — controlling nearly 80% of wireless
subscribers and dominating the U.S. wireless business."

"Cell phones
are no longer a luxury for a few among us, but a basic necessity. The last
thing New Yorkers need during these difficult economic times is to see cell
phone prices rise," Schneiderman said in a statement.

"Affordable
wireless service and technology, including smart phones and next generation
handheld devices, are the bridge to the digital broadband future. We want to
ensure all New Yorkers benefit from these important innovations that improve
lives."

The U.S. Justice Dept. and Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
are also looking into potential antitrust issues raised by the deal.

Related Links:
http://www.ag.ny.gov/media_center/2011/mar/mar29a_11.html

http://news.cnet.com/8301-30686_3-20048407-266.html

Washington – Technology giant Google (NASD: GOOG) on Wednesday agreed to
settle charges with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that it used deceptive
tactics and violated its own privacy promises to consumers when it launched the
Google Buzz social network last year. The proposed settlement bars the company
from future privacy misrepresentations, requires it to implement a
comprehensive privacy program and calls for regular, independent privacy audits
for the next 20 years.

"When companies make privacy pledges, they need to
honor them," said Jon Leibowitz, chairman of the FTC.

"This is a
tough settlement that ensures that Google will honor its commitments to
consumers and build strong privacy protections into all of its
operations."

According to the complaint, Google launched Buzz through its
Gmail web-based email service, and led users to believe they had an option
about whether to join.

Users were given two options: "Sweet! Check out
Buzz," and "Nah, go to my inbox."

However, the FTC alleged that
some users who clicked on "Nah…" were nonetheless enrolled in the
social network, and users who clicked on "Sweet!" weren’t adequately
informed that the identity of individuals they emailed most frequently would be
made public by default.

Related Links:
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2011/03/google.shtm

http://tinyurl.com/4mnan9y
(PDF: FTC Order)

Mumbai – Games2Win, an India-based online game developer,
has raised $6 million in a second round of financing, from Clearstone Venture
Partners and Silicon Valley Bank.

Founded in 2007, Games2win has created more
than 400 games played by over 20 million users monthly.

The firm’s titles have
been licensed by publishers including Yahoo, Viacom Kids and Discovery Channel.

Games2Win has now raised a total of $11 million in funding to date.

Related Links:
http://www.games2win.com

Culver City, Calif. – Sony (NYSE: SNE) Pictures’ Crackle online video
network on Tuesday announced it has expanded availability of its slate of
ad-supported, full-length movies and TV series to the PlayStation 3, Sony
Blu-ray players, Bravia TVs, and the Roku player. The company said the move
makes Crackle the only site to offer free, ad-supported movies and TV series on
these platforms.

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/4te6sjo

http://www.crackle.com

Seoul, South Korea – The South Korean government’s Ministry
of Culture has shut down 19 "die-hard" cyberlocker file-hosting
services that were allegedly offering unauthorized music files, TorrentFreak
reported. The sites in question — which allegedly served between 2 million and
4 million users — were taken offline, and 1,000 TB of data has so far been
seized. Prosecutors are reportedly now working to identify the heaviest
uploaders. South Korea has a "three-strikes" law in place that can
lead to Internet suspensions for repeat copyright infringers.

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/4lyuzrn
(TorrentFreak)

Mountain View, Calif. – Google (NASD: GOOG) has added "instant
search" features to its Commerce Search product, used by third-party
retail and e-commerce sites. The company has also added a number of other new
features to Commerce Search, including local product availability and search
recommendations.

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/4np2pnm