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DMW Daily, April 24, 2009

Top Stories
o EU Parliament Votes to Extend Copyright Terms to 70 Years
o Apple Lays Off 1,600 Employees From Retail Stores
o Report: Web TV Service Joost Up for Sale
o Apple's App Store Surpasses 1 Billion Application Downloads
o NPR Lays Off 13 Employees, Plans Furloughs
o Report: Hulu in Talks With Labels on Adding Music Videos
o Internet-based TV Firm Move Networks Acquires Inuk Networks
o NTN Buzztime Acquires Mobile Social Games Firm iSports
o Mobile Game Matchup Firm Scoreloop Gets Seed Funding
Briefly Noted
o Defense Fund Hatched for Swedes Accused of P2P Piracy
o Project Playlist Names MTV Co-founder Sykes as New CEO
o EA Signs Larry Fitzgerald, Troy Polamalu for "Madden NFL 10"
 Top Stories
o EU Parliament Votes to Extend Copyright Terms to 70 Years 
Strasbourg, France - The European Parliament voted this week to approve extending copyright term lengths from 50 to 70 years in a first reading of the measure, which must now be approved by EU governments as well before becoming law, Agence France Presse reported. [more..]
o Apple Lays Off 1,600 Employees From Retail Stores 
Cupertino, Calif. - Apple laid off 1,600 employees from its retail stores during the second quarter, according to an SEC filing. [more..]
o Report: Web TV Service Joost Up for Sale 
San Francisco - Streaming TV service Joost is actively seeking a buyer for the company, and Time Warner Cable is among the prospective suitors, CNET News.com reported, citing "sources close to the companies." [more..]
o Apple's App Store Surpasses 1 Billion Application Downloads 
Cupertino, Calif. - Just nine months after launching its App Store, Apple said on Friday that customers have now downloaded more than 1 billion applications for their iPhone and iPod touch devices. [more..]
o NPR Lays Off 13 Employees, Plans Furloughs 
Washington - National Public Radio (NPR) has laid off 13 employees, in only the second round of layoffs at the company in the past 25 years, the Washington Post reported. [more..]
o Report: Hulu in Talks With Labels on Adding Music Videos 
New York - Hulu, the Web video joint venture between News Corp. and NBC Universal, is in talks with the four major labels on adding music videos to the site, in a bid to challenge YouTube's current dominance in the sector, Bloomberg reported, citing "four people with knowledge of the discussions." [more..]
o Internet-based TV Firm Move Networks Acquires Inuk Networks 
American Fork, Utah - Move Networks, a provider of Internet-based television services (IPTV), announced this week that it has acquired Inuk Networks, a U.K.-based provider of "triple-play" television, broadband and telephone services. [more..]
o NTN Buzztime Acquires Mobile Social Games Firm iSports 
Carlsbad, Calif. - NTN Buzztime, a provider of interactive TV games and quizzes in bars and restaurants, announced on Friday that it has acquired the assets of iSports, a provider of mobile sports scores, news and interactive gameplay. [more..]
o Mobile Game Matchup Firm Scoreloop Gets Seed Funding 
Munich - Scoreloop, the developer of a platform that connects mobile gamers, has raised an undisclosed sum of seed funding from venture capital firm Target Partners. [more..]
 Briefly Noted
o Defense Fund Hatched for Swedes Accused of P2P Piracy 
Stockholm, Sweden - One of the four associates of The Pirate Bay, along with several Swedish Green Party politicians are launching a defense fund to help those accused of copyright infringement under Sweden's new anti-piracy law pay legal costs, CNET News.com reported. [more..]
o Project Playlist Names MTV Co-founder Sykes as New CEO 
Palo Alto, Calif. - Project Playlist, a service that allows users to create and share song playlists, said on Friday that it has named MTV co-founder and former Infinity Broadcasting CEO John Sykes as its new chief executive. [more..]
o EA Signs Larry Fitzgerald, Troy Polamalu for "Madden NFL 10" 
Redwood City, Calif. - Electronic Arts on Friday named Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald and Pittsburgh Steelers safety Troy Polamalu as cover athletes for its "Madden NFL 10" game, scheduled for release on Aug. 14. [more..]