Washington - The U.S. Senate on Tuesday approved the Webcaster Settlement Act, which passed in the House over the weekend and was introduced to allow webcasters to continue to negotiate new royalty agreements with copyright owners while Congress is busy with the elections. [more..]

Seattle - RealNetworks on Tuesday filed a pre-emptive lawsuit against the Hollywood movie studios and the DVD Copy Control Association (DVD CCA) -- which licenses the anti-copying technology found on DVDs -- asking a federal judge to rule that its recently-released software that can make copies of DVDs does not violate the DVD CCA's license agreement. [more..]

Los Angeles - A number of retired NFL players have filed a lawsuit claiming that the NFL Players, Inc. and game publisher Electronic Arts conspired to deprive them of fees from the use of their likenesses in the wildly popular "Madden NFL" game franchise, GamePolitics reported. [more..]

Research Triangle Park, N.C. - Stating that "market conditions have changed very rapidly and action must be taken to ensure that it can remain competitive in the dynamic and fast-paced telecommunications industry," Sony Ericsson, the manufacturer of communication devices, announced that it will reduce its workforce worldwide by 2,000 people. [more..]

Washington - Creative Loafing, the Florida-based publisher of the Washington City Paper and five other alternative weekly publications, said that it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. [more..]

Washington - U.S. consumers who still have analog TV sets that receive over-the-air signals are being urged by the government to apply for coupons that can be used toward the purchase of digital TV converter boxes by year's end, to "minimize the chances of losing TV reception" when analog signals are switched off in February. [more..]

McLean, Va. - Four months after raising $18 million in its third round of funding, Clearspring Technologies, the developer of a widget network designed to connect publishers and advertisers to audiences on social networking sites, said on Tuesday that it has acquired New Jersey-based AddThis, the developer of a popular bookmarking and content sharing service. [more..]

San Mateo, Calif. - Zvents, the provider of local search engine and paid listings ad network, announced on Tuesday that it has raised $24 million in additional funding from new investors including Nokia Growth Partners, NAVTEQ and AT&T. [more..]

London - EnQii Holdings, the operator of a global, digital out-of-home advertising network, announced on Tuesday that it has closed an $18 million second round of financing, led by Amadeus Capital Partners and Wellington Partners. [more..]

New York - HealthiNation, a digital health video network, announced on Tuesday that it has raised $7.5 million in its second round of venture capital, led by Intel Capital. [more..]

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Washington - Online social network Facebook has hired high-profile DC lawyer Ted Ullyot as its vice president and general counsel, the Los Angeles Times reported. [more..]

Los Angeles - Nine Inch Nails, the Trent Reznor-fronted industrial rock band that has recently experimented with alternative distribution models of its albums, has partnered with Tapulous, creators of the iPhone game "Tap Tap Revenge," to release a NIN-themed premium version of the game featuring the band's music, TechCrunch reports. [more..]

Round Rock, Texas - PC maker Dell on Tuesday announced a deal with Paramount Digital Entertainment that will see a copy of the movie "Iron Man" pre-installed as an option on newly purchased computers. [more..]

Washington - National Public Radio (NPR) on Tuesday announced the beta launch of new online community features, which let users create profile pages, and comment on NPR stories. [more..]

London - We7, a U.K.-based, ad-supported digital music service, said on Tuesday that it has signed a license deal with independent digital music distributor The Orchard. [more..]

Los Angeles - Major record label EMI's Australian unit has launched an MP3 download store in the country called Musichead MP3, Billboard reports. [more..]

Washington - Two months after its merger with XM Satellite Radio, Sirius has added several of XM's exclusive channels to its radio service, Reuters reported on Tuesday. [more..]

London - Shazam, the operator of a mobile music discovery service, announced on Tuesday a deal with Korea's Samsung, to embed its application on Samsung phones, including its new Beatb and Beats handsets. [more..]

New York - Viacom's MTV Games said on Tuesday that veteran rock band AC/DC will offer a downloadable full album of live tracks in its upcoming "Rock Band 2" game. [more..]

New York - IGA Worldwide, the operator of an in-game advertising network, announced on Tuesday that it has signed a multi-year agreement with Activision. [more..]