News written by James Delahunty (November, 2006)

Google has been sued for copyright infringement in Paris after a user uploaded a documentary made by a French movie maker to the Google Video service. Flach Film claims that Google acted as a fully responsible publisher when a third party posted "Le monde selon Bush" ("The World According to Bush"). The company alleges that it picked up 43,000 views in a short period of time.

In a recent filing with the US SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission), Google said it has been the subject of a lawsuit over a video that briefly appeared on its service, but it is unknown if this is the same case the company was referring to or a new one. Many believe that Google could soon face expensive lawsuits over content on its Google Video service and the recently acquired YouTube.

Flach Film said that by enabling access to the documentary for free, Google is clearly violating the country's intellectual property laws. It demands compensation for the unauthorized display of the video, which is distributed to cinemas and is available on DVD. Google claims that the film was removed from the service once the company was aware of the unauthorized copy, adding that uploading "illegal" videos is against the terms and conditions.

The communications regulator in the UK, Ofcom, is legalizing the use of low power FM transmitters that are designed to make digital music on an iPod or other MP3 player playable through a car radio. While these small devices have been widely available, their use in the UK has been illegal due to the Wireless Telegraphy Act of 1949. However, the "ban" has not been lifted on all of the available devices.

Under the Wireless Telegraphy Act, the use of radio transmission equipment without a license or an exemption is forbidden. This made popular devices such as Griffin's "iTrip" illegal because of their possible ability to interfere with broadcast from legal radio stations.

Some of these FM transmitter devices, which can be tuned to spare frequencies, will become legal from December 8th. Ofcom will also remove the need for a license to use Citizens' Band radio. All approved transmitters will carry a CE mark indicating approval for sale in the European Union.

Source:
BBC News

On Wednesday, the Copyright Office/Library of congress published its determination in the latest triennial exemption rule-making. Congress mandated that the register of copyrights revisit the anti-circumvention provisions in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) every three years to ensure that consumers have proper access to things they have purchased. Six exemptions were granted.

Among the exemptions is protection for security researchers if they come up against another DRM technology that puts the security of computers at risk. Such an example was seen with Sony BMG's controversial protected CDs that used rootkit-like techniques to hide the protection deep in a Windows operating system.

Persons making noninfringing uses of the following six classes of works will not be subject to the prohibition against circumventing access controls (17 U.S.C. § 1201(a)(1)) during the next three years.

1. Audiovisual works included in the educational library of a college or university’s film or media studies department, when circumvention is accomplished for the purpose of making compilations of portions of those works for educational use in the classroom by media studies or film professors. Read more...

On Friday, it emerged that Universal Music Group is suing one of the world's most popular social networking sites, MySpace. Universal claims that MySpace encourages its users to illegally share files and provides them the ability to upload music videos. The recording giant claims that material from The Killers, Jay-Z and Gwen Stefani is available.

MySpace has dismissed the lawsuit as "meritless litigation". "We have been keeping Universal closely appraised of our industry-leading efforts to protect creators' rights," MySpace said. "We provide users with tools to share their own work - we do not induce, encourage, or condone copyright violation in any way."

Universal doesn't see it that way and in its lawsuit (lodged in a US district court), it claims MySpace "encourages, facilitates and participates in the unauthorized reproduction, adaptation, distribution and public performance".

"Our music and videos play a key role in building the communities that have created hundreds of millions of dollars of value for the owners of MySpace." A statement issued by Universal reads. "Our goal is not to inhibit the creation of these communities, but to ensure that our rights and those of our artists are recognized."

After queuing for as much as a few days, gamers in North America have finally gotten their chance to buy a PlayStation 3 (PS3) console. The machine sells in two models priced at $499 and $599. Approximately 400,000 consoles have been made available for the North American launch. "We're going to try and get as many units into the North American market as possible." Kaz Hirai, chief executive of Sony's American games division said.

"Usually most companies would boat the product in, but we're actually chartering airplanes to bring them into the North American market to try to shorten that lead time, so we get as many units into the hands of consumers as possible." he added. In Japan last week, less than a quarter of the North American figure of the consoles went on sale.

While some consumers lined up for days to buy a PS3 for themselves, some others have turned the launch into a business opportunity, lining up to get a console to sell later. James Salterio, 27 is an example. "I'm gonna sell mine," he said, estimating he could fetch up to $4,000 for it.

European gamers will have to wait until March 2007 to get their chance to own a PS3, prompting many PlayStation fanboys to look for any import options they can find.

Microsoft has today launched its new Zune player, hoping to effectively tackle Apple's iPod in the MP3 player market. The iPod currently has about 75% of the U.S. market and over half of the world market. The Zune is now available in the U.S. in just one model that comes in three different colours. The 30GB player is priced at $250.

As with any new gadget, this item has its fair share of praise and criticism, but since so many believe this is the first real challenge to the iPod, quite a bit of the feedback about the device is based on comparison between it and the iPod. Its inclusion of FM radio, wireless capabilities and its "slightly rubberised plastic" coating (which make it less prone to scratching and getting covered in fingerprints) have delighted some.

However, not all are convinced just yet. Firstly, the limitations on the wireless music sharing feature has fueled criticism. Also, the fact that music from online download stores like Urge, Napster, Rhapsody and even MSN Music (which is shutting down) don't work with the player despite all using Microsoft technology has gained frowns from consumers.

The case, UMG v. Lindor, has just gotten more interesting. Marie Lindor is currently in a legal battle with the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), accused of being a web pirate. Ms. Lindor is now challenging the RIAA to explain why it demands $750 per track in damages when they are available legally to the public for just 99c. Of course, the RIAA did fight to stop this amendment to the case.

The trade group claimed it was not up to Ms. Lindor to decide the damages and that her complaint was without merit, the motion was untimely and it would prejudice the RIAA. However, Judge Trager did not agree with the RIAA on those claims nor a claim that Ms. Lindor was required to send a notice to the United States Department of Justice of her defense of unconstitutionality.

So now the RIAA needs to explain how it has come to the $750 per track figure. Lindor has already provided proof that possible damages to the RIAA amount to no more than 70c per track, which is the share record companies pick up from online retailers.

Here is a paste of the Judge's ruling from the Recording Industry vs. The People blog:

Google Inc. has denied that a rumor detailing a $500 million reserve set aside by Google in its deal to acquire YouTube has any truth. The denial came form Chief Executive Eric Schmidt on Tuesday at the annual Web 2.0 summit. The rumor had arisen from an anonymous blog post that claimed insider information about a legal reserve aimed to settle copyright claims brought against the company over content uploaded to YouTube by its users.

Billionaire Mark Cuban, who has been an outspoken critic of the Google-YouTube deal, published the rumor on his Blog Maverick site, saying he had not verified the details. Speaking to more than 500 industry insiders, Schmidt said the rumor was not true during an on-stage interview by conference organizer John Battelle.

In a two-part question, Battelle asked first if Google had a secret reserve for legal claims and secondly if Google was making progress striking deals with content owners. "The former is not true," Schmidt said. "The latter is. We have visited as many media companies as we can." YouTube's incredible success relies enormously on technically illegal content.

Many television and video producers along with recording labels have expressed anger at pirated copies of their content being uploaded to YouTube's servers every day.

After constant delays, reports of problems at Sony and public relations nightmares over the past couple of years, the device that many describe as being crucial to bring Sony back on top is finally going to get into the eager hands of gamers in Japan. As expected, the PlayStation 3 console has created a huge buzz in Japan with gamers flocking to get their hands on their own. Gamers in the U.S. will also get their chance next week.

European gamers however are being forced to sit on their hands again as the territory has been left out of Sony's Christmas plan. Still, the buzz around the console in the UK and the rest of the continent has prompted many enthusiastic PlayStation fans to consider attempting to import a console before the March 2007 launch date.

Sony, of course, is strongly against retailers attempting this and seem poised to even take on Santa Claus if he dares try to deliver a PS3 to a European kid this Christmas. Lik-Sang, a source many would have chosen for a PS3 import, folded to pressures on the company it blamed on multiple Sony lawsuits over PSP imports in the UK last year.

Never-the-less, even with problems surrounding Sony recently, the PS3 has still been labeled as the console war favorite by many sources. The advancement of the PlayStation franchise sports hardware capable of displaying new standards in graphics and the much touted Blu-Ray capabilities that make way for high definition movies and capacity-demanding games.

Microsoft Corp. has agreed to pay a fee to Universal for every Zune payer that is sold. The amount given per sales was not disclosed but this represents how Microsoft is desperately trying to break the dominance of the iPod. Several major record companies have expressed beliefs that they should be paid for the sale of iPods and other devices that rely so heavily on music content.

"Rivals including cell phone makers eventually could pay for hardware sales as well as for the music itself," Universal said. "We felt that any business that's built on the bedrock of music we should share in." Currently the iPod has almost an 80% share of the MP3 player market and iTunes is still by far the dominating legal music download store.

Due to these facts, Apple and Steve Jobs have been publicly credited with almost single-handedly creating the legal music download business. However, Jobs' reluctance to give record companies a share of iPod sales and other disputes they have had over the pricing of downloads could come back to bite Apple now that the competition is going to reach over boiling point.

A draft government report prepared by the Australian Institute of Criminology has lashed out at the music and software sectors for their piracy statistics. The confidential briefing for the Attorney-General's Department labels the statistics "self-serving hyperbole" and says that copyright owners "failed to explain" how they reached financial loss statistics used for great influence in lobbying and at court cases.

The report specifically says that figures for 2005 provided by the Business Software Association (BSA), which amounts to $361 million a year of lost sales in Australia are "unverified and epistemologically unreliable". However, senior researchers have disagreed with its conclusions so it is to be redrafted.

Researcher Alex Malik was particularly critical of the use of the questionable statistics in court. "Of greatest concern is the potentially unqualified use of these statistics in courts of law," the draft reads. Institute principal criminologist Russell Smith has described the report as an early draft and said that is currently being edited by the agency.

"We wouldn't use language like that because it's not accurate, it's hyperbolic and overblown," he said. "It was a very early draft written by a consultant, and we would want a chance to revise it. We have an extensive quality control system in the institute, so that drafts are read by most senior staff. The report hasn't been finalized. It's still being edited and revised."

Microsoft Corp. announced that it will begin using the Xbox Live service to offer video content to its users. On November 22nd the service will begin selling content like TV shows to users. Video content in both standard definition and high definition will be available, with HD content costing more. SD video content will be priced around the same as rival stores according to Peter Moore, Microsoft's corporate vice president for interactive entertainment.

Apple's iTunes service sells TV show episodes for $1.99 for example. Microsoft has negotiated the rights to sell (or rent) content from CBS, MTV Networks, Paramount, Warner Bros. and Turner Broadcasting. This is another push from Microsoft to reach further into the living rooms of consumers and flex more muscle in the home entertainment markets. This does differ from Microsoft's "other" attempts and also other video download stores.

Microsoft believed that media centre PCs was a way to bring the company further into the home entertainment area, but it didn't catch on as much as expected. This is where the Xbox 360 can shine; the service will be relatively easy (at least in comparison to setting up and maintaining media centre PCs) and in a blow to other video download services, it eliminates the need for a PC in the middle.

Disney has displayed its faith in Nintendo's new Wii console by forming a development studio that will produce content exclusively for the console and Nintendo's handheld gadgets. Fall Line, the new studio based in Salt Lake City and headed by Scott Novis, is the fourth game development studio now under Disney. The plan is, of course, for Disney to cut back on out-sourcing game development and produce its own software.

Avalanche Software, Propaganda Games, and Climax Racing are owned by Disney. Disney has a vast array of brands that can be brought to the games industry, whether they span back decades or are more recent box office hits created by studios like Pixar. However, with Pixar producing content that gets the attention that "Cars" or "The Incredibles" have gotten, Disney will have to wait to develop Pixar-branded videogames for some time.

Currently THQ holds the game rights to the next four Pixar movies. "It seems like with our brand, the Nintendo platform is a really good place to put our development effort," said Fall Line head Scott Novis. Novis previously worked on the game adaptations of the movie Cars. In December, Chicken Little will become the first game from Disney to be available for the Wii console. It was developed by Avalanche Software.

Microsoft is preparing for the launch of its new Zune music player by opening its official website and starting to downgrade its MSN Music service. MSN Music will no longer sell music tracks after the Zune store has launched according to the company. While Zune.com does have some Zune-related content from Microsoft, the official Zune site is actually Zune.net.

MSN Music has started pointing towards the new Zune site, and on November 14th, the buy button will be replaced by links to the Zune store and Real's Rhapsody service. Just like on Xbox Live, users will buy "Microsoft Points" and use them to buy tracks and albums. The points work across the Zune Marketplace and Xbox Live Marketplace.

Individual tracks will cost around 79 Microsoft points (around $0.99). There will also be a Zune Pass subscription service allowing users to rent unlimited amounts of music for $14.99 per month.

Source:
Pocket-Lint.co.uk

Apple Computer Inc. has added an 8GB version of its red iPod Nano to its line-up. The player costs $249 and is advertised as being able to store 2,000 tracks. It has double the capacity of the next Nano in line, the 4GB model which retails at $199. As with the other red iPod, $10 is donated to the Global Fund to fight AIDS in Africa per sale.

Apple launched the red iPod Nano in co-operation with Bono last month. The players have a 1.5" screen, and are advertised to have 24 hour playtime on a full battery. The announcement of the iPod Nano Red is a cross-brand campaign dubbed (PRODUCT) RED.

In cooperation with this campaign, several other companies are making their own offerings. For example, Motorola is offering a red RAZR and The Gap is ponying up their own red leather jacket to help the cause.

Source:
Reuters