Archives

Date

Report: U.S. Consumers Spent $1.8 Billion on Online Content in 2004

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 10, 2005 - 4:54am.
New York -- Americans spent $1.8 billion on online content during 2004, a 14% increase over 2003 that was driven by growth in the Entertainment/Lifestyles category, according to a study conducted by comScore Networks and the Online Publishers Association. While Online Personals retained their top spot among paid content sectors, up 4% to an all-time high of $469.5 million for the year, the Entertainment/Lifestyles segment leapt into the second spot as it grew 90% to $413.5 million in 2004, up from $217.6 million in 2003. The study found the Sports and Games segments also showed strong annual growth: payments for online sports content rose 38% in 2004 to $52.8 million, while online game content saw a 22% rise to $88.8 million. "The fact that Entertainment/Lifestyles, Sports and Games were by far the year's fastest growing paid content categories is further evidence that the Web is on its way to becoming a true entertainment medium for U.S. consumers," said Online Publishers Association president Michael Zimbalist. Overall, the report found that 19 million U.S. consumers paid for online content in the fourth quarter of 2004, up 2.6 million over the same period in 2003. Furthermore, paid content consumer penetration reached its highest point ever in the fourth quarter of 2004, when 11.6% of U.S. Internet users paid for content online.
tags: Deals | Reports | Online Content |

Judge Denies Motion to Dismiss TiVo Patent Claims Against Echostar

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 10, 2005 - 4:48am.
Alviso, Calif. -- TiVo announced late on Wednesday that a federal judge has refused a motion to dismiss and transfer its patent infringement case against satellite TV operator Echostar Communications -- which operates the DISH Network -- allowing its charges to go forward in the Eastern District of Texas. Alviso, Calif.-based TiVo sued Echostar for infringing its basic digital video recorder technology, contained in the "Time Warp" patent it was granted in May 2001. Echostar rival DirecTV is currently the largest distributor of TiVo's technology, in the form of satellite TV set-tops equipped with digital video recorders. Jury selection in the patent infringement trial against Echostar is now slated to begin on Oct. 4, 2005.
tags: EchoStar | Judge | TiVo Patent | Dismiss |

Australian Record Industry Raids ISP Allegedly Hosting P2P Servers

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 10, 2005 - 4:44am.
Perth, Australia -- The Australian recording industry's Music Industry Piracy Investigations (MIPI) unit has conducted a raid on Perth-based Internet service provider Swiftel, in connection with the company's alleged ties with peer-to-peer file-sharing networks, ZDNet Australia reported on Thursday. MIPI said a four-month investigation revealed that two servers offering copyrighted movies and music -- Torrent Web and Archie's Web -- were located on domains listed as owned by Swiftel, a unit of People Telecom. While Torrent Web used the BitTorrent file-sharing software, Archie's Web utilized Direct Connect and was allegedly only accessible by Swiftel subscribers. "We have identified Swiftel as an ISP which has adopted BitTorrent technology to link infringers to music clips and sound recordings," MIPI general manager Michael Speck told ZDNet Australia. "We believe hundreds of thousands of downloads have been conducted in the last year in breach of copyright laws." Speck said evidence gathered in the raid, which was authorized by federal magistrate Rolf Driver, would be used in a copyright prosecution against Swiftel.
tags: Australian Record Industry | ISP Allegedly Hosting |

House Democrats Name Rep. Howard Berman Entertainment Industry Liaison

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 10, 2005 - 4:39am.
Washington -- House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi has named Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.) as chief liaison between the House Democratic Caucus and the entertainment industry. Berman is the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property, and once co-sponsored legislation that would have enabled the entertainment industry to "hack" into individuals' computers if they had a "reasonable basis" to think the individuals were engaged in Internet piracy. "Howard Berman has long been a leader on copyright enforcement and stopping Internet piracy," Pelosi said. "He understands the business and creative interests of the entertainment industry, which comprises the largest and fastest growing sector of the U.S. economy and creates a surplus balance of trade."
tags: House Democrats | Howard Berman | Entertainment Industry Liaison |

ContentGuard CEO Sues Majority Shareholders Microsoft, Time Warner

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 10, 2005 - 4:35am.
London -- Digital rights management firm ContentGuard has filed suit against its majority shareholders -- Microsoft, Time Warner and Xerox -- with ContentGuard founder and CEO Michael Miron alleging the firms "enrich themselves at the expense of the company and its employee shareholders," according to published reports. As part of ContentGuard's proposed acquisition from Xerox by Microsoft, Time Warner and now Thomson -- which has still not passed European antitrust approval -- the company provided relatively cheap licenses of its anti-piracy technologies to Microsoft and Time Warner. Miron said the companies have also sub-licensed ContentGuard technology to third parties, keeping the profits and diluting the company's overall valuation. Microsoft and Time Warner have offered to buy out ContentGuard shareholders' remaining stake in the firm, and Miron alleges the share price offered is "wholly inadequate." While Miron's suit against Microsoft and Time Warner progresses, the European Commission now has until April 7 to decide whether to approve the companies' proposed acquisition of ContenGuard.
tags: Microsoft | Time Warner | ContentGuard CEO | Majority Shareholders |