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European Commission OKs Proposed Sony-BMG Music Merger

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 20, 2004 - 5:05am.
Brussels -- The European Commission announced on Tuesday that it has approved the proposed merger of two of the world's five major record labels, Sony and BMG. Sony and Bertelsmann have proposed creating a 50/50 joint venture of their recorded music businesses, Sony Music Entertainment and Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG). The Commission said that following an antitrust investigation, which also included the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, it did not have sufficiently strong evidence to oppose the deal. The EC said that it did not find evidence to indicate that the five majors had colluded to fix CD prices in Europe in the past, and that reducing their ranks to four through the proposed merger would not change matters. It also examined the online music market, but did not foresee serious competition problems.
tags: Europe | Musics | Commission | Sony-BMG |

MTV Names Judy McGrath Chairman and CEO; President Rosenthal Resigns

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 20, 2004 - 5:03am.
New York -- MTV Networks announced on Tuesday that it has named Judy McGrath as chairman and CEO, succeeding Tom Freston, who was named co-president of MTV parent company Viacom. Previously, McGrath served as president of MTV Networks Group. The company also announced the departure of MTV president and chief operating officer Mark Rosenthal.
tags: MTV | CEO | Chairman | President | Resigns | Judy McGrath | Rosenthal |

Lindows Settles Microsoft Trademark Suit, Sets IPO Terms

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 20, 2004 - 5:02am.
Redmond, Wash. -- Lindows, the Linux-based operating system software firm headed by MP3.com founder Michael Robertson, announced that it has settled trademark infringement charges brought by Microsoft, developer of the Windows operating system. Under the terms, Microsoft, which sued Lindows for trademark infringement in late 2001, will pay Lindows $20 million to stop using the name "Lindows" in favor of "Linspire." "Over the next few months Lindows will cease using the term Lindows and transition to Linspire globally as our company name and primary identifier for our operating system product," said Lindows CEO Michael Robertson. Lindows also announced that it has filed for an initial public offering (IPO) of its shares, expecting to raise up to $48.4 million and see an initial market capitalization of around $206 million.
tags: Microsoft | Trademark | Lindows | IPO Terms |

Microsoft, Browser Developer Battle Over Patents In Court

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 20, 2004 - 5:01am.
Washington -- The University of California and browser software developer Eolas have filed a legal brief, countering Microsoft's request for an appeal of a $521 million judgment that said Microsoft infringed on browser-related patents owned by Eolas and UC Berkeley, CNET News.com reported. Since the judgment, Microsoft created but has held off on releasing a new version of Internet Explorer that removes the infringing elements; however, that version would render millions of existing pages unreadable. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has also stepped in and is evaluating the validity of the patents in question. Microsoft has said that it is hoping that the half-billion-dollar judgment will be set aside, and is seeking a new trial on the matter.
tags: Law | Microsoft | Patents | Browser Developer |