Los Angeles - "Scrabulous," the popular Web knock-off version of Hasbro's official "Scrabble" that was recently targeted with a copyright infringement lawsuit, has been removed from the U.S. and Canadian versions of online social network Facebook. [more..]

San Francisco - A Bronx woman sued by the major record labels for file-sharing copyright infringement has taken the novel approach of challenging the constitutionality of the Copyright Act, the law under which she was sued, Wired.com reports. [more..]

Sunnyvale, Calif. - HP, Intel and Yahoo said on Tuesday that they have partnered to create an open source test bed aimed at advancing cloud computing research and education. [more..]

Washington - U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) last week introduced a bill that would prohibit the sale rental of M-rated video games to minors, as well as ban the sale of games that do not have age-based content ratings, GamePolitics reported.
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Tokyo - Nintendo said on Tuesday that it has filed suit against five Japanese companies, accusing them of importing and selling equipment that allows users to play pirated games on Nintendo DS handheld game devices, Reuters reported. [more..]

Rome - Italian police have shut down what is believed to be the largest BitTorrent tracker file-sharing hub in Italy, Colombo-BT.org, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), a record label trade group.
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Singapore - The Asia-Pacific online content services market -- including music, video and games -- saw revenues grow 25.6% in 2007 and are expected to rise 21% to $4.67 billion by year's end, and to $9.2 billion by 2013, according to a report from Frost & Sullivan. [more..]

New York - Returns on venture capital investments nationally declined 7.6% compared to the fourth quarter of 2007 for an overall return of 13.3% in the first quarter of 2008, according to newly released data from Thomson Reuters and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA). [more..]

Austin, Texas - Heatwave Interactive, an independent game developer start-up focused on titles that crossover to film and television, announced on Tuesday that it has raised a $7.5 million first round of financing from Syncom Venture Partners. [more..]

Singapore - Garena, a Singapore-based company that hosts online game tournaments, has raised $2 million in angel funding from investors including Skype co-founder Tovio Annus and the government of Singapore, Alarm Clock reported. [more..]

Beverly Hills, Calif. - BiggerBoat, an online ad network focused on entertainment-related websites, has raised around $2 million in new funding from Draper Associates' Tim Draper and other previous investors, socalTECH.com reported. [more..]

The impact for broadcast ownership and the treatment of broadcast consolidation set by the precedent of this decision remains unclear, blogs David Oxenford. [more..]

Mountain View, Calif. - Anvato, a developer of video content protection and contextual advertising technology, on Tuesday introduced a service uses computer vision algorithms to allow video content owners to monitor video distribution sites for copyright infringements. [more..]

Minneapolis - Consumer electronics and media retailer Best Buy announced on Tuesday that it will begin selling musical instruments and recording equipment at up to 85 of its U.S. stores, as well as from its website. [more..]

London - Palringo on Tuesday introduced a rich-messaging application for Apple's iPhone that integrates with a range of instant messaging services, including AIM, Yahoo Messenger, Google Talk, ICQ, Jabber, iChat and Windows Live Messenger. [more..]

Tempe, Ariz. - Limelight Networks, a provider of content delivery network services, announced on Tuesday that it will provide live and on-demand video streaming services to NBCOlympics.com on MSN for its 2008 Beijing Olympics coverage. [more..]

London - British Sky Broadcasting said on Tuesday that it will incorporate social media tools from Pluck across its websites, including Sky.com and SkyNews.com. [more..]

New York - Digital music retailer AmieStreet.com said on Tuesday rock band the Walkmen have made their new album available for download exclusively on its site for $5 as part of AmieStreet's Download To Make A Difference campaign benefitting the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. [more..]

San Diego - RoyaltyShare, a service that provides labels and musicians with distribution of their tracks to a range of digital music services, announced that it has signed new deals to expand its offering to include Amie Street, Hot Topic's ShockHound, PassAlong Networks, Puretracks and Spiral Frog. [more..]

New York - Music-focused social network uPlayMe announced on Tuesday that it has named Dan Pelson, former senior vice president of global consumers marketing at Warner Music Group, as its new CEO. [more..]

Arlington, Va. - PBS said that it has launched its new presidential election site, called Vote 2008. [more..]

Chicago - Video game accessories maker SteelSeries said on Tuesday that it has acquired fellow gaming peripherals maker Ideazon for an undisclosed sum. [more..]