Sunnyvale, Calif. - Yahoo on Monday reiterated its decision to reject Microsoft's unsolicited takeover bid for the company, but left open the possibility of a deal, should the software giant raise its offer. [more..]

Beijing - A Chinese court has agreed to hear two multi-million dollar copyright infringement claims brought by major record labels against Chinese search engine Baidu, and Web portal Sohu and its Sogou media search engine, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). [more..]

Taipei, Taiwan - Sony plans to increase distribution of its Blu-ray Disc players this year and hopes its share of the total DVD market can increase from 20% to 50% by the end of this year, Digitimes reports [more..]

San Francisco - Imeem, a music-focused social network that claims 24 million unique monthly visitors, announced on Monday that it has acquired Snocap, the digital music registry and rights clearinghouse service co-founded by Napster creator Shawn Fanning, for an undisclosed sum. [more..]

Espoo, Finland - Nokia on Monday announced the launch of its re-tooled N-Gage mobile games service, which allows consumers to browse, demo and buy mobile games directly from their Nokia devices. [more..]

New York - The Nielsen Company, a provider of media audience ratings and market research, announced on Monday that it will acquire IAG Research, a firm that conducts research to determine the effectiveness of TV advertising, for $225 million. [more..]

Burbank, Calif. - Disney Interactive Studios, the company's video game publishing unit, announced on Monday that it has acquired Chinese independent game studio Gamestar, for an undisclosed sum. [more..]

Andover, Mass. - Mad Doc Software, a privately held developer of video games, has been acquired Rockstar Games, the unit of Take-Two Interactive that created the "Grand Theft Auto" franchise. [more..]

New York - U.S. private equity firms raised $58.5 billion during the first quarter -- up nearly 32% over the $44.3 billion raised during the first quarter of 2007 -- according to industry newsletter Dow Jones Private Equity Analyst. [more..]

Berkeley, Calif. - Redux, an online social network that uses an algorithm to match potential friends, has raised $6.5 million in its second round of funding, PEHub.com reported, citing a regulatory filing. [more..]

San Diego - Social music discovery service mTraks said on Monday that it has received $550,000 in new financing from a group of private angel investors. [more..]

n/a

Wikipedia is more commonly receiving traffic from the searches than MySpace, blogs Heather Dougherty. [more..]

Palo Alto, Calif. - Online social network Facebook this weekend quietly launched a new chat feature, which the company plans to roll out gradually to its 69 million users this week. [more..]

Los Angeles - Babelgum, an online TV network that uses peer-to-peer distribution technology, has announced that the first film to receive funds from its $15 million digital studio initiative to produce original content will be "Oil Sands," a feature-length environmental documentary, Variety reports. [more..]

Los Angeles - Warner Bros. is the first studio to offer some of its titles via video-on-demand services in the U.K. on the same day and date as their DVD releases, Variety reports. [more..]

Cambridge, Mass. - Internet TV distribution platform Brightcove on Monday announced deals to power online video distribution for social media firms Bebo, Meebo, RockYou, Slide and Veoh. [more..]

Cannes, France - ROO Group, a provider of online video distribution services to companies including Verizon, News Corp. and Google, on Monday announced that it has changed the name of the company to KIT digital. [more..]

Los Angeles - Habbo, an online virtual community for teens, announced on Monday that in-game ad network Double Fusion is now the exclusive advertising sales agency for Habbo.com. [more..]