Los Angeles - News Corp.'s MySpace on Friday announced the launch of a new feature for copyright holders that will help prevent users from re-posting content that has already been removed at the copyright holder's request. [more..]

Bangkok, Thailand - The Thai government has decided against filing suit against Google over videos posted to YouTube that mocked the country's beloved monarch, the Associated Press reported. [more..]

New York - Online social networks Facebook and Friendster this week both announced plans to begin offering users the ability to post free classifieds ads on their respective networks. [more..]

Santa Cruz, Calif. - Media Rights Technologies (MRT), a developer of technology that protects streaming audio from being recorded, has sent cease and desist letters to Microsoft, Adobe, RealNetworks and Apple, claiming that by not licensing its technology, the companies are acting "without regard for the Digital Millennium Copyright Act or the rights of American Intellectual Property owners." [more..]

New York - ROO Group, a provider of online video distribution services, announced that it has raised $25 million in new financing through a private placement of its shares, with mostly existing investors. [more..]

Shanghai, China - 51.com, China's largest blogging community, announced this week that it has raised $10 million in a recent financing round, from investors including Intel Capital, Redpoint Ventures, Sequoia Capital China and SIG. [more..]

Cambridge, Mass. - ScanScout, a developer of technology for online video distributors and advertisers, has raised $7 million in its first round of venture capital, led by General Catalyst Partners, according to a report in Mass High Tech on Friday. [more..]

San Francisco - Apple has submitted a patent application on a design for a handheld device (likely an iPod) that features multiple displays -- one on the front for displaying data, and another on the back with a touch- and force-sensitive screen that enable user input, Apple Insider reported. On a schematic submitted with the application, the backside touch-sensitive screen shows a typical iPod click-wheel, as well as QWERTY and alpha-numeric keyboards. Entitled "Back-Side Interface for Hand-Held Devices," the application was submitted on January 5 and is credited to Apple engineer John Elias. [more..]

New York - News Corp. entities Fox Sports and MySpace have partnered with the NFL to post Super Bowl ads online with "interactive extensions," according to The Hollywood Reporter. The Super Bowl-branded sites on MySpace, FoxSports.com and NFL.com will be promoted during the game's telecast on Fox. [more..]

London - Google Earth will soon allow users to hear sounds associated with the vast and varied locations it provides zoom-in satellite imagery for, NewScientist reported. Glen Ellen, Calif.-based Wild Sanctuary is currently using software it created to embed sounds ranging form bird calls to whale songs to melting glacier cracks into Google Earth; founder Bernie Krause has spent 40 years collecting over 3,500 hours of Earth sounds. The software is slated to become available to users on May 29, when it will also be presented at the Where 2.0 conference in San Jose, Calif. [more..]

Schaffhausen, Switzerland - Watchmaker IWC Schaffhausen said on Friday that it will present the online world premiere of the film version of a production of the play "The Interrogation of Leo and Lisa," produced by and starring actor Kevin Spacey. The company said it recorded a private performance of the 15-minute work with HD cameras, and will offer a one-time webcast of its recording, as well as additional making-of clips, on May 16 at 10 a.m. Eastern. [more..]

Agoura Hills, Calif. - Video game publisher THQ said on Friday that its internal Volition studio is currently in development on the next installment in its "Saints Row" franchise. The as-yet-untitled sequel is slated for release for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in 2008. [more..]

Durham, N.C. - Online game developer Funcom on Friday announced plans to publish "The Secret World," a new massively multiplayer online roleplaying title for the PC and Xbox 360. The creators of "Anarchy Online" and "Age of Conan" said its studios on Oslo and Beijing are working on "The Secret World," which does not yet have a release date. [more..]

Los Angeles - Encouraged by more than two million downloads of mobile games, ringtones, voicetones and graphics for the classic gangster film "Scarface," Disney's Starwave Mobile division plans to create a new suite of mobile content based on the film for release in the second half of 2007, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Disney and Universal Mobile Entertainment said voicetones, featuring actual lines from the film, have been downloaded over 186,000 times. [more..]