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Napster Inventor's Start-Up Lands $10 Million, Deal With Universal Music

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on December 3, 2004 - 4:45am.
San Francisco -- Snocap, a start-up founded by Napster inventor Shawn Fanning to secure and monetize peer-to-peer file-sharing, announced on Friday that it has raised $10 million in funding and signed major label Universal Music Group as its first client. The financing round was led by WaldenVC and Morgenthaler Ventures. Snocap's system uses audio fingerprinting technology licensed from Philips to identify, register and track music that is available for licensing, and allows labels and artists to set business rules for each track on a global basis -- even making them securely available on file-sharing services like Kazaa. Universal has already begun submitting its entire catalog to Snocap, and The Los Angeles Times reports that Sony BMG and EMI have also expressed interest. The service would also enable labels and artists to track live shows, bootlegs and out-of-print recordings traded on peer-to-peer networks, and potentially make money from these as well. "There are some good authorized online music services but they have limited content and a comparatively small number of users. There are unauthorized services that have content and users orders of magnitude higher, but the service they provide is inferior and they are at odds with rights holders. Snocap is the means to bridge that divide for the consumer," said Snocap co-founder Shawn Fanning. Snocap is slated to deploy its full platform in 2005.
tags: Deals | Universal Music | Napster Inventor | Start-Up |

Supreme Court to Decide if Cable Broadband Should be Opened to Rival ISPs

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on December 3, 2004 - 4:43am.
Washington -- The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday agreed to consider whether cable TV systems should be classified in the same manner as phone companies, who are compelled by the government to open their high-speed Internet lines so that third-party Internet service providers may offer their own competing services over the systems, the Associated Press reported. The justices will consider whether the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) should classify cable broadband as a "telecommunications service," and be opened to competition as are phone companies' DSL lines. The case will challenge a year-old decision by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled that the cable operators must abide by the same rules as phone companies, which are forced by FCC rules to share their systems. Telephone carriers who offer DSL Internet services have argued that the rule puts them at a competitive disadvantage to the cable industry.
tags: Law | Supreme Court | Rival ISPs | Cable Broadband |

Apple Referred to European Commission for Unfair U.K. iTunes Song Prices

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on December 3, 2004 - 4:41am.
Brussels -- The U.K. Office of Fair Trading (OFT) on Friday referred Apple to the European Commission, claiming the U.S.-based company is overcharging its customers in the U.K. for songs at its iTunes Music Store. The OFT said it would pass the case on to Brussels because iTunes operated in more than three EU states, making the Commission "better placed" to rule on the matter. The OFT made its decision after Which? -- a non-profit organization formerly known as the Consumer Association -- filed a complaint that Apple was charging U.K. customers as much as 20% more than those in Germany and France. Which? also complained that U.K. customers are being barred from purchasing songs from the German or French websites. For its part, Apple has defended its pricing practices, arguing that the underlying economic models in each country determine how the company prices its downloads. Currently, Apple prices downloads at its Canadian store the cheapest, at $0.83, followed by the U.S. ($0.99), Germany and other European nations ($1.33) and the U.K. ($1.53).
tags: Music | Apple | U.K | European Commission | iTunes Song Prices |

Leaked Electronic Arts Memo Hints at Shift in Working Conditions, Overtime Pay

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on December 3, 2004 - 4:39am.
Redwood City, Calif. -- A memo purportedly sent to Electronic Arts employees by the company's head of human resources, responding to recent reports of unpaid overtime and never-ending "crunch" periods where workers routinely put in over 80-hour weeks, indicates the company is considering changes to its employment policies. The memo, sent to employees on Tuesday by Electronic Arts executive vice president of human resources Rusty Rueff and later posted on Spong.com, acknowledges recent complaints of harsh working conditions by employees and their families. "As much as I don't like what's been said about our company and our industry, I recognize that at the heart of the matter is a core truth: The work is getting harder, the tasks are more complex, and the hours needed to accomplish them have become a burden," Rueff said in the memo. "We haven't yet cracked the code on how to fully minimize the crunches in the development and production process. Net, there are things we just need to fix." The memo also addressed the issue of overtime pay, which some employees are not eligible for due to their classification under California labor laws. EA has been "forced to look at making some changes to exempt and nonexempt classifications beginning in April," the memo stated, meaning that workers previously not eligible to receive overtime pay may receive some reprieve.
tags: Overtime Pay | Leaked Electronic Arts | Working Conditions | Memo |

Report: 100 Million Europeans Now Online; Broadband Use Up 60%

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on December 3, 2004 - 4:37am.
London -- The number of European Internet users has grown 12% over the last year to 100 million, spurred by dramatic broadband penetration data that shows over half of European users now have a high-speed connection, according to a report from New York-based Internet audience measurement firm Nielsen/NetRatings. The report found that 54.5 million Europeans had broadband in October, an increase of 60% from the 34.1 million reported a year earlier. The number of broadband users leapt 120% in Italy, 93% in the U.K. and 70% in France. "Twelve months ago high speed Internet users made up just over one third of the audience in Europe, now they are more than 50% -- and we expect this number to keep growing," said Nielsen European analyst Gabrielle Prior. "Websites will need to adapt, update and enhance their content to retain their visitors and encourage new ones."
tags: Internet | Broadband | Reports | Online | Europeans |

Internet Archivists to Appeal Ruling on Copyright Term Length Extensions

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on December 3, 2004 - 4:35am.
San Francisco -- Two Internet archivists have appealed a ruling that maintains current copyright term lengths, arguing that extensions made to copyright terms by the government are unconstitutional and that the First Amendment dictates such works should enter the public domain. A federal judge last month granted the government's motion to dismiss the case brought by Internet Archive founder Brewster Kahle and Prelinger Archives founder Rick Prelinger, which challenged the constitutionality of the Copyright Renewal Act of 1992, the Sony Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, the Copyright Act of 1976 and the Berne Convention Implementation Act. Since 1976, the government has extended the length of time by which a creator controls the copyright on his or her works from a flat 28 years, with the option to file for a 28-year extension, to the entire length of the author's life plus an additional 70 years. Critics say the government has made such extensions to protect corporate profits, as such intellectual property as Disney's Mickey Mouse could in recent years have fallen into the public domain, were it not for newly-passed copyright term extensions. Kahle and Prelinger argue that copyrighted works should pass into the public domain sooner, where anyone may freely use them for any purpose without permission of the creator.
tags: Law | Internet Archivists | Appeal Ruling | Copyright Term Length Extensions |

Viewpoint Acquires Video Ad Technology Developer Unicast for $7.4 Million

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on December 3, 2004 - 4:32am.
New York -- Viewpoint Corporation, a provider of Internet graphics and delivery systems, announced that it has acquired online video ad developer Unicast Communications, for $7.4 million. New York-based Unicast develops video ad delivery technologies like its "superstitial" and "video commercial" that are used by over 1,400 websites and 700 ad agencies, including AT&T, General Motors, MSN, ESPN, Forbes.com and Washington Post Newsweek Interactive. Viewpoint's ad delivery business includes a toolbar that has been downloaded over 7 million users -- mainly through a bundling deal with AOL's AIM program. "With the addition of Unicast's products to Viewpoint's… advertisers will be able to satisfy all their online ad needs from one source, including receiving next-generation tracking and reporting," said Viewpoint president and CEO Jay Amato.
tags: Deals | VC | Viewpoint | Video Ad Technology Developer | Unicast |

Survey: Most People Using Other Media While Watching TV

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on December 3, 2004 - 4:30am.
Reston, Va. -- A high percentage of people say that they watch TV while also using another form of media, according to a new report by The Media Center at the American Press Institute. According to the survey, reading the mail while watching TV tops the list, with 74% of respondents doing it regularly or occasionally. The remainder of the top five includes reading the newspaper while watching TV (64.5%) watching TV while reading the mail (64.2 %), using the Internet while watching TV (62.9%) and reading a magazine while watching TV (59.2%). When it comes to viewing habits, 41% say they most of their time watching cable television, while just under 38% say they spend more time watching traditional TV networks. More than 13,000 people took part in the online survey.
tags: TV | Survey | Other Media | Most People |