AfterDawn: Tech news

Universal sues Bertelsmann

Written by Petteri Pyyny @ 13 May 2003 1:43 User comments (4)

Universal sues Bertelsmann World's largest record company, Universal Music Group (part of French media giant Vivendi) has sued other media giant, German Bertelsmann, claiming that Bertelsmann aided Napster in copyright infringements by funding the start-up.
Universal joins in the case with group of music publishers who originally sued Bertelsmann for the same reason in February, this year. Universal Music Group is seeking for $150,000 per illegally distributed song -- the maximum amount the controversial DMCA law allows.

Well, for consumer point of view, it is finally nice to see equal-sized opponents in the ring, instead of the usual scenario during the last couple of year: in one corner, a poor student in his worn jeans and in one corner, a multi-billion dollar media giant. But as usual, the only ones winning in this case, however it ends up, are American lawyers..

Source: AtNewYork.com

Previous Next  

4 user comments

114.5.2003 02:00

Thatīs an insane amount of money per song. Letīs say 2 million songs were downloaded (is this a fair estimate?). That amounts to 300000000000 dollars. What is that? 300 billion? Iīm not very good when it comes to big numbers.

215.5.2003 01:36

IIRC, napster had over 10 million users at one point. If every user downloaded one song that's at least $1,500,000,000,000 ! True, it's insane!

315.5.2003 03:25

And think itīs fair to say that mosty dowenloaded more than one song. No one with a healthy mind can actually beleive Universal will get that amount of money.

415.5.2003 06:55

Agreed. It is pointless for Universal to go ahead with this. Even if they were to win something, it would probably be lost again on appeal.

Comments have been disabled for this article.

Latest news

VLC hits milestone: over 5 billion downloads VLC hits milestone: over 5 billion downloads (16 Mar 2024 4:31)
VLC Media Player, the versatile video-software powerhouse, has achieved a remarkable feat: it has been downloaded over 5 billion times.
1 user comment
Sideloading apps to Android gets easier, as Google settles its lawsuit Sideloading apps to Android gets easier, as Google settles its lawsuit (19 Dec 2023 11:09)
Google settled its lawsuit in September 2023, and one of the settlement terms was that the way applications are installed on Android from outside the Google Play Store must become simpler. In the future, installing APK files will be easier.
8 user comments
Roomba Combo j7+ review - Clever trick allows robot vacuum finally to tackle home with rugs and carpets Roomba Combo j7+ review - Clever trick allows robot vacuum finally to tackle home with rugs and carpets (06 Jun 2023 9:19)
Roomba Combo j7+ is the very first Roomba model to combine robot vacuum with mopping features. And Roomba Combo j7+ does all that with a very clever trick, which tackles the problem with mopping and carpets. But is it any good? We found out.
Neato, the robot vacuum company, ends its operations Neato, the robot vacuum company, ends its operations (02 May 2023 3:38)
Neato Robotics has ceased its operations. American robot vacuum pioneer founded in 2005 has finally called it quits and company will cease its operations and sales. Only a skeleton crew will remain who will keep the servers running until 2028.
5 user comments
How to Send Messages to Yourself on WhatsApp How to Send Messages to Yourself on WhatsApp (20 Mar 2023 1:25)
The world's most popular messaging platform, Meta-owned WhatsApp has enabled sending messages to yourself. While at first, this might seem like an odd feature, it can be very useful in a lot of situations. ....
18 user comments

News archive