Online TV/Music
30 March 2007
Napster lawsuits near resolution Los Angeles Times
Bertelsmann Monday that it had settled the last lawsuit filed by a record company over the German media conglomerate's role in funding the original Napster electronic file-swapping service that was once the scourge of the music industry.
The impact of the Grokster decision on file sharing Internet Business Law Services
How will providers of file-sharing software operate after the United States Supreme Court decision in Grokster? What is the precedent set in the decision and has the file-sharing technology been rendered illegal? And what about Israel?
23 March 2007
Can filesharers be made to pay? The Guardian
The music industry is beginning to understand that lawsuits don't deter pirates and that it must find ways to make money from P2P sharing
21 March 2007
Digital lock's rights and wrongs BBC
In the 80s, according to record companies, home taping was killing music. Fast forward some 20 years and the devices we use to listen to music may have changed, but the recording industry is still claiming that the illegal copying of their product harms future production.
13 March 2007
Europe continues push for iTunes interoperability IT Wire
European pressure on DRM schemes that restrict the use of purchased music to particular types of player (think iTunes and iPod) has stepped up a notch.
02 March 2007
Internet renegades go by the book International Herald Tribune
The renegade Internet entrepreneurs who started the file-sharing service Kazaa and the online phone service Skype have started a Web video venture that is doing everything by the book.
30 January 2007
us: Study: Most don't see downloading movies as 'very serious' CNet
Most Americans know where to draw the line when it comes to leaving a store without paying for a DVD, but downloading copyright movies is a different matter, according to a new study.
us: Fox takes on YouTube in case that pits network against net The Guardian
YouTube has been subpoenaed by Twentieth Century Fox following the posting of what were at the time unbroadcast episodes of the hit TV series 24 and The Simpsons on the video-sharing website. The subpoena, filed in a California court on January 18, demands that YouTube provide information identifying the subscriber who posted the clips on the site so that Fox can prevent further infringement of its copyright.
25 January 2007
Italian court rules downloading isn't a crime if not for profit Silicon Valley (AP)
Italy's top criminal court has ruled that downloading music, movies and software over the Internet isn't a crime if profit wasn't the motivation, though analysts questioned Monday whether the ruling would have much effect on copyright laws.
19 January 2007
uk: Music firms talk tough on file-sharing The Times
The music industry has threatened to sue internet service providers that allow customers to share digital music files illegally
Digital music sales nearly doubled in 2006 Sydney Morning Herald
Global digital music sales almost doubled in 2006 to around $US2 billion, but have not yet reached the industry's "holy grail" of offsetting the fall in CD sales.
17 January 2007
Hollywood Asks YouTube: Friend or Foe? International Herald Tribune
YouTube can help studios build tremendous buzz for films and TV shows, driving Hollywood to try to work with it instead of against it.
09 January 2007
Downloads help U.S. music sales rise International Herald Tribune
U.S. album sales continued to decline in 2006 but total music sales rose thanks to a huge increase in digital downloads, according to figures made public.
07 January 2007
Downloads help U.S. music sales rise International Herald Tribune
U.S. album sales continued to decline in 2006 but total music sales rose thanks to a huge increase in digital downloads, according to figures made public.
21 November 2006
au: The A$65,000 question: do you own an iPod? Sydney Morning Herald
Owning an iPod, camera phone or a DVD recorder might be enough to land you in jail or lumbered with a large fine under the Federal Government's proposed new changes to the copyright laws, experts warn.
19 November 2006
How YouTube pushed Lebanon out of the news The Guardian
This time last year there had never been a mention of YouTube in Britain's 18 main newspapers. After a prescient first mention in the Times on November 19 2005, YouTube scored a measly 13 stories in the first quarter of this year. In the second quarter, it ran up 154. In the first week of November, it clocked up 79.
Whiff of tobacco firms on net Sydney Morning Herald
Is this the last frontier in tobacco marketing or simply a global stage for the look-at-me generation? Thousands of videos of sexy, smoking teens are appearing on the internet phenomenon YouTube, possibly being posted by tobacco manufacturers to recruit the next generation of smokers.
MySpace sued by Universal Music BBC
Universal Music Group sues MySpace - claiming the site is encouraging users to illegally share copyrighted material.
15 November 2006
au: Soon recordings will be a crime Sydney Morning Herald
Hundreds of U2 fans used their mobile phones to record Bono belting out their favourite songs at Sydney's Telstra Stadium over three concerts ending last night. Little did they know that under planned changes to copyright laws, they would be committing a criminal offence, attracting a maximum fine of A$6600.
02 November 2006
Kazaa settles 3rd suit on file-sharing International Herald Tribune
Kazaa, the file-sharing network, has reached a tentative settlement in the last of three major lawsuits brought against it by the music and motion picture industries.
To the Media, YouTube Is a Threat and a Tool Washington Post
Media companies are of two minds about Internet video-sharing site YouTube. They are unsure of whether YouTube is a friend or a foe -- a threat that could siphon off their TV audiences and ad dollars or a powerful promotion machine that could generate buzz for the shows.
In Teens' Web World, MySpace Is So Last Year Washington Post
Teen Web sensation MySpace became so big so fast, News Corp. spent $580 million last year to buy it. Then Google Inc. struck a $900 million deal, primarily to advertise with it. But now Jackie Birnbaum and her fellow English classmates at Falls Church High School say they're over MySpace.
01 November 2006
YouTube purges more clips International Herald Tribune/New York Times
Hitting the financial jackpot may have created some headaches for YouTube. The site late last week began purging copyrighted material from Comedy Central, including clips from YouTube stalwarts like "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart," "The Colbert Report" and "South Park."
31 October 2006
YouTubers cut and paste at their peril Sydney Morning Herald
The days of anything goes on YouTube are over. If you're planning on using copyrighted content as part of your own creative masterpiece, you're more or less inviting legal action, says a new research paper paper authored by Damien O'Brien and Brian Fitzgerald of Queensland University of Technology.
25 October 2006
Apple's iPod-iTunes code 'cracked' Sydney Morning Herald
The iPod has just had its fifth birthday, but Apple's celebrations may be cut short thanks to a 22-year-old Norwegian who claims he's cracked Apple's proprietary iPod-iTunes ecosystem.
