Dulles, Va. - More than three years after paying $1 billion for a 5% stake in Time Warner's AOL, Google now wants to recoup what's left of its money.

Agoura Hills, Calif. - Video game developer and publisher THQ has announced plans to cut 600 jobs, or about 24% of its staff, as part of a plan to reduce costs by $220 million in the coming fiscal year.

Los Angeles - TorrentSpy, the operator of a now-shuttered BitTorrent file-sharing hub that was sued for copyright infringement by the Motion Picture Association of America, has filed an appeal of the $111 million in damages it was ordered by a judge to pay the studios, CNET News.com reported.

New York - Warner Music Group now generates 19% of its total revenues from digital music, and reported $171 million in digital revenue for its fiscal quarter ended Dec. 31 -- a 20% increase from the same period a year ago.

Los Angeles - A federal judge has thrown out Universal Music Group's request to include investors in video-sharing site Veoh as defendants in its copyright infringement lawsuit against the company, TechCrunch reported.

Reston, Va. - U.S. Internet users watched a record 14.3 billion online videos during December, an increase of 13% from the previous year, with YouTube again leading the way with nearly 6 billion streams, or 41% of all U.S. video traffic, according to a report from market research firm comScore.

Burbank, Calif. - Time Warner's Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group announced on Thursday that it has acquired independent game developer Snowblind Studios, creators of titles such as "Baldur's Gate," "Champions of Norrath" and "Justice League Heroes."

Redmond, Wash. - Microsoft said on Thursday that a million of its Xbox Live Gold online game service subscribers have now downloaded and activated an application that lets them stream movies and TV shows from online DVD rental service Netflix.

Oslo - Norway's consumer ombudsman has withdrawn a complaint against Apple, after the company announced plans to abandon DRM at the iTunes Store by the end of April, Agence France Presse reported.

London - Viagogo, the operator of an online secondary ticket exchange in Europe, announced that it has raised $15 million in its fourth round of funding, from investors including tennis stars Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf, and return backer Index Ventures.

Los Angeles - ArtistDirect, a provider of music and movie information and owner of anti-piracy firm MediaDefender, announced that it has made significant changes to its capital structure, which included paying off senior debt, converting subordinated debt to common stock, and securing a new credit facility with Pacific Business Capital Corporation.

San Francisco - The Obama administration has chosen as its associate deputy attorney general Donald Verrilli, a copyright litigator who has represented the interests of the record labels against Grokster and alleged file-swapper Jammie Thomas, and also Viacom in its $1 billion claim against Google, CNET News.com reported.

Redmond, Wash. - Microsoft's MSN and independent media company BermanBraun on Thursday announced the beta launch of their new celebrity and entertainment news site, Wonderwall.

Los Angeles - Pearl Jam will include a redemption code in the reissued version of its debut album "Ten" that allows users to download versions of the band's tracks for MTV's "Rock Band" music video game, Billboard reports.

London - Mind Candy, a developer of online games for kids that includes "Moshi Monsters," announced that it has acquired Tutpup, a site featuring online multiplayer learning games for kids.