Duluth, Minn. - A federal judge in Minnesota yesterday declared a mistrial in the copyright infringement lawsuit that the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) brought against Jammie Thomas, the first American to be found guilty by a federal jury of illegal file-sharing, who was ordered to pay $222,000 the labels in damages. [more..]

Brussels - The European Parliament has voted to prohibit member states from enacting "three-strikes" laws that disconnect the Internet accounts of repeat file-swappers, TorrentFreak reported. [more..]

Sunnyvale, Calif. - Yahoo has hired the consulting firm Bain & Co. to explore ways to improve efficiency within the company, although it did not explicitly mention potential layoffs, Bloomberg reported. [more..]

Los Angeles - News Corp.'s MySpace launched its new music service without having first secured deals with top independent labels such as Beggars Group, Domino and Koch, a move that Merlin, the independent rights body that represents them, called "incredibly disappointing." [more..]

Tokyo - Japanese electronics firm Toshiba announced that it has made a $20 million investment in MOD Systems, the developer of a digital media delivery system for retailers that lets consumers download digital content for burning to an optical format. [more..]

San Mateo, Calif. - MotionDSP, a developer of video enhancement technology, has received an investment from graphics chipmaker Nvidia as part of its first round of funding, which remains open, VentureBeat reported. [more..]

New York - Over 300 media executives have gathered at the NY Games Conference going on today and tomorrow to network, do deals, and share ideas about the future of console, PC, online and mobile games. [more..]

I may not like what reality television is doing to the collective intelligence of the nation, but as a marketer Dancing with the Stars makes a whole lot of sense, blogs Rohit Bhargava. [more..]

Istanbul - Turkish wireless network operator Turkcell will launch Apple's iPhone 3G in the country tomorrow, the company said on Thursday. [more..]

Mountain View, Calif. - Google said on Thursday that the New York-based Bloomberg Television network will make national cable advertising time in the U.S. available through the Google TV Ads platform. [more..]

Los Angeles - Following their successful remix contest with the song "Nude" off their recent "In Rainbows" record, the band has placed the underlying "stem" tracks for the song "Reckoner" for purchase on the iTunes Store. [more..]