Los Angeles - Digital civil liberties group the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) earlier this week filed a brief on behalf of an eBay seller who was sued by Universal Music Group for reselling promotional CDs, arguing that the record label is violating copyright law's "first sale" doctrine.

DMW’s CEO & Publisher provides a wrap-up of the top stories of the week. Who’s hot, who’s not and what’s the industry buzz?

There was no shortage of news for the week of Jan. 21-25. The biggest story: The Federal Reserve lowered the benchmark federal funds rate by three-quarters of a percentage point to 3.5%, its lowest level since September 2005, but the Fed’s actions couldn’t stop an already shaky stock market from continuing its downward spiral. After a sharp mid-week increase on news of the rate cut, the DMW100 ended slightly lower on the week.

San Jose, Calif. - Days after reports surfaced that she would retire, Meg Whitman, the president and CEO of eBay (NASD: EBAY), made it official, saying that she plans to step down on March 31. She will be replaced by John Donahoe, who joined eBay in 2005 following six years as the worldwide managing director of Bain & Company.

Rockville, Md. - More than 1.3 million video game consoles were bought and sold on eBay in 2006, to the tune of $330 million, according to a report from market research firm Packaged Facts.

London - Artist management firms representing more than 400 performing artists, including Radiohead, Arctic Monkeys and KT Tunstall, have joined together to try to secure artists a share of secondary online concert ticket sales. The Resale Rights Society (RRS) is targeting companies such as eBay, Viagogo and Seat Exchange, which generate an estimated more than $400 million annually in secondary ticket sales in the U.K.

San Jose, Calif. - LiveWorld (NASD: LVWD), a social marketing agency, said on Tuesday that eBay and an unnamed national sports league are the first clients for SuperGroups Community, its service that lets members of an online community create their own public and private sub-communities. Applications and moderation services include profiles, forums, blogs, photos, user video, customer support forums and groups.

San Jose, Calif. - Online auction giant eBay on Wednesday announced the launch of a new social networking feature, eBay Neighborhoods, that allows eBay users to join one of some 600 online communities that feature message boards, product reviews, photos and social mapping.

London - Recording artist Prince plans to sue websites including YouTube, eBay and the Pirate Bay for copyright infringement, and has recently requested the removal of some 2,000 videos from YouTube, MediaGuardian.co.uk reported.

Luxembourg - Skype, the Internet telephone service unit of eBay, on Tuesday added the ability to share online video in their Skype chats, and add videos downloaded from Dailymotion and Metacafe to their Skype "moods," the name for a Skype user's online profile.

San Francisco - Digital civil liberties advocates the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and a San Francisco law firm have filed suit against Universal Music Group, on behalf of an eBay seller sued by the label group for offering promotional CDs for sale.

Poor newspapers. Their cash cow service, classified ads, is probably about to break a record for facing more competition from free services than any other in the history of paid services. Faceboook recently piled on to the Craigslist disruption of the newspaper classified market with a free classifieds marketplace. Now eBay has launched a free classified site call Kijiji in 220 U.S. cities:

San Francisco - Online auction site eBay has launched a service that will offer unsold radio advertising inventory from 2,300 U.S. radio stations for sale on its site, through a partnership with Encino, Calif.-based Bid4Spots, The New York Times reported.

San Jose, Calif. - Online auction giant eBay announced on Wednesday that it has acquired StumbleUpon, a service that lets users discover and share websites and online videos, in a deal valued at $75 million.

Washington - The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA), the principal trade group for the software and digital content industry, said that it has settled a software piracy suit on behalf of member Symantec for $205,000. The organization filed suit after the defendant attempted to sell unauthorized Symantec software on eBay.

Los Angeles - A number of musicians and other celebrities have designed personalized guitar controllers for Activision's "Guitar Hero II" game, which will be sold via an online charity auction to benefit the recording industry's MusiCares Foundation. Through April 13, users can bid on custom guitar controllers by Tenacious D, My Chemical Romance, Tony Hawk, Hot Hot Heat and others on eBay.