Los Angeles - A blogger who posted nine unreleased songs from rock band Guns N' Roses' 14-years-in-the-making "Chinese Democracy" album was arrested at his home in Los Angeles on Wednesday morning, on suspicion of violating federal copyright laws, the Los Angeles Times reported. [more..]

Los Angeles - Due to an accused file-swapper's actions to uninstall file-sharing software and reformat his hard drive, a federal judge has found he willfully destroyed evidence and is now subject to relevant sanctions, Ars Technica reported. [more..]

Los Angeles - A consortium of movie studios and Web movie retailers is preparing a new initiative, Open Market, which would create an interoperable digital rights management (DRM) scheme for selling movies online, TechCrunch reported. [more..]

San Jose, Calif. - Immersion Corp., a developer of touch feedback technology used in video game controllers, announced on Wednesday that it has settled outstanding litigation with Microsoft, and will pay the company $20.75 million. [more..]

Los Angeles - Wolfgang's Vault, a site that offers downloads of vintage concerts and other memorabilia once owned by legendary concert promoter Bill Graham, has reached a tentative settlement with rock bands Santana and the Doors, and a number of record labels that sued the site for copyright infringement, Billboard reports. [more..]

San Diego - The Active Network, a provider of online communities focused on sports and promoting healthy lifestyles, has raised an $80 million, sixth round of venture capital led by Disney's ESPN, PEHub.com reported, citing a regulatory filing. [more..]

New York - Lifetime Networks, the women's TV network joint venture between Hearst Corporation and Disney, on Wednesday announced its first-ever digital acquisition with the purchase of ParentsClick Network, a provider of social network creation tools. [more..]

Boca Raton, Fla. - Hollywood Media Corp. announced on Wednesday that it has sold off its Hollywood.com and Hollywood.com Television businesses to R&S Investments, an entity owned by Hollywood Media's chairman Mitchell Rubinstein and president Laurie Silvers, for $10 million. [more..]

New York - A recent survey of video "super-sharers," defined as those who have posted at least five videos online in the past 12 months, found a wide range of ages present, a majority of videos posted related to real-life experiences rather than for creative outlet, and that 75% are finding ways to skip ads.
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Helsinki, Finland - Supponor, a provider of digital billboard sports advertising, announced on Wednesday that it has raised $8.8 million in its first round of venture capital, led by Northzone Ventures and previous backer Conor Venture Partners. [more..]

Hilversum, the Netherlands - Cloudspeakers, an aggregator of music reviews, streaming tracks and music videos, said that it has received an investment from Veronica Holding. [more..]

In the weeks leading up to the DNC, Barack Obama started a mobile campaign to text his followers to become the first to know about his running mate selection. While many have critiqued the timing of the actual text being received after many news outlets reported the VP pick, at Hitwise we found that plenty of searchers were seeking information about the texts, blogs Hitwise's Heather Dougherty. [more..]

London - An Apple iPhone advertisement has been banned by the U.K. Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), over its claim to offer access to "all parts of the Internet," Silicon.com reported. [more..]

Los Angeles - EQAL, the digital production studio founded by the creators of Web series "Lonelygirl15," on Wednesday announced plans to debut "LG15: The Resistance," a follow-up to the series that will feature characters from the original including Sarah and Jonas. [more..]

Redwood City, Calif. - Zazzle, a provider on-demand, customized merchandise for recording artists and other applications, on Wednesday announce the launch of Artsprojekt, an online community for arts, pop culture and action sports enthusiasts. [more..]

New York - Lime Wire, the distributor of peer-to-peer file-sharing software that also now operates a DRM-free music download store, announced that it has added the catalog of digital music distributor The Orchard to its LimeWire Store, which now offers over 2 million MP3 tracks for purchase and download. [more..]

London - A new U.K.-based venture called Bandstocks allows consumers to invest in a promising artist's recording, and receive a cut of profits from the resulting album's sale and licensing, the Guardian reported. [more..]

Alviso, Calif. - Digital video recorder maker TiVo announced on Wednesday that it has partnered with Entertainment Weekly to offer automatic recording of the magazine's 'What to Watch' TV recommendations. [more..]

Seattle - GalleryPlayer, a provider of high-resolution artwork and other images for display on HD televisions, shut down its service at the end of last month, the Seattle P-I reports. [more..]

Los Angeles - Electronic Arts' Casual Entertainment label on Wednesday announced that it has signed singer Natasha Bedingfield as the spokesperson for its forthcoming "Boogie SuperStar" karaoke and dance game for the Nintendo Wii. [more..]

Vancouver, Canada - Hip Digital Media, a provider of branded digital music stores and content management services, announced on Wednesday the launch of a digital music store it created for Nectar, a U.K.-based customer rewards program. [more..]