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Napster Lays Off 10 "Middle Managers," Denies Substantial Layoff Rumors

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 26, 2006 - 8:56am.
Los Angeles - Napster announced that it plans to lay off around ten middle managers, denying rumors that have been circulating about more substantial job cuts at the digital music service provider. "Consolidating the Napster subscription service with our new Napster.com initiative has resulted in approximately 10 middle management redundancies world-wide, and no additional reductions are contemplated," the company said in a statement. "Napster projects its headcount will actually increase over the coming year as our new Napster.com products enter the marketplace. Rumors of major or significant layoffs were misleading and greatly exaggerated, and efforts to sell the company are patently untrue." The company recently announced that it has surpassed 500,000 paying subscribers.
tags: Napster | Middle Managers | Denies | Rumors |

Judge Denies Free Speech Defense for Music File-Swappers

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 27, 2004 - 4:30am.
New York -- In a victory for the recording industry, a federal judge has ruled that cable TV operator Cablevision must reveal the identities of its subscribers whom record labels believe are using their high-speed connections to pirate music on file-sharing networks, CNET News.com reported. U.S. District Judge Denny Chin said that while file-swapping does qualify as "speech," Cablevision subscribers sued via "John Doe" lawsuits are not entitled to First Amendment protections, in the first ruling to directly address the issue with regard to copyright infringement on Internet file-sharing networks. The copyright suits were filed in February against 40 "John Doe" Cablevision subscribers; to date, Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) member labels have sued nearly 3,000 individuals for copyright infringement on peer-to-peer networks.
tags: Musics | Judge | File-Swappers | Denies |

Judge Denies Microsoft Motion to Move RealNetworks' Antitrust Suit to Seattle

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 12, 2004 - 6:16am.
Seattle -- The judge presiding over RealNetworks' $1 billion antitrust suit against rival Microsoft has denied a Microsoft motion to move the trial to Seattle from San Jose, California, where RealNetworks lodged its original claim. U.S. District Court Judge James Ware said that Microsoft would not be any more inconvenienced if the trial were in California instead of Washington, even though both companies are based there. RealNetworks is thought to have filed in California partly because many of Microsoft's rivals operate in Silicon Valley, and because some employees of these firms may be called to testify. "We look forward to presenting our case to a jury in San Jose, where key third-party witnesses can give important testimony in person," said RealNetworks spokesman Greg Chimengo. In its suit, RealNetworks argues that Microsoft used its monopoly standing to influence the digital media player market in which the two companies compete. Microsoft has defended its actions, pointing to a healthy and competitive market in which Microsoft, RealNetworks and Apple's QuickTime all hold large shares.
tags: Microsoft | RealNetworks | Seattle | Antitrust | Denies |

Aussie Judge Denies Kazaa Motion to Exclude Evidence Seized by Labels

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 4, 2004 - 6:53am.
Sydney -- Australia's Sharman Networks, distributors of the Kazaa file-sharing software, have lost a legal motion to have evidence seized by the Australian record industry in February raids on its offices and executives' homes declared off-limits. Justice Murray Wilcox ruled that, despite similar legal actions taken against Kazaa in other jurisdictions -- in which the company complied with subpoenas during copyright infringement investigations -- the Anton Piller orders he issued to the record industry to conduct its searches without prior warning were justified. The judge ordered the two sides to meet and discuss the handing over of evidence seized in the raids. "We remain outraged at the heavy-handed tactics that have been used by the record industry to obtain information that we would have provided through the normal, appropriate court process," said Sharman CEO Nikki Hemming. In his ruling, Justice Wilcox noted that the Anton Piller orders were necessary in order to provide a "snapshot" of the inner workings of Kazaa while in progress. The Australian recording industry's case against Sharman Networks is now set to begin in earnest on March 23.
tags: Labels | Aussie | Denies | Kazaa | Evidence |

Microsoft Denies RealNetworks' Allegations of Media Player Monopoly

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 23, 2004 - 8:09am.
San Francisco -- In a court filing submitted on Friday, Microsoft denied allegations raised by rival RealNetworks in a $1 billion antitrust suit that the company has used its monopoly over PC operating systems to discriminate against RealNetworks' media player in favor of its own Windows Media Player. The "more than 300 million unique users of RealPlayer that RealNetworks claims to have undermine any allegation of distribution foreclosure," Microsoft wrote in its filing, arguing that there is healthy competition in the digital media player market. Microsoft also points out in the filing that it has included the ability for users of its operating systems since the release of Windows 2000 Professional and Windows XP to manually remove all visible means of access to Windows Media Player, and make another media player the default choice for all media types. The next hearing in the case is scheduled for March 1.
tags: Microsoft | RealNetworks | Media Player | Denies | Monopoly |

Apple Denies Making Offer For Vivendi Universal's Music Division

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on April 17, 2003 - 1:51am.
Paris -- Refuting various media reports, Apple Computer's CEO Steve Jobs said that his company has made no offer to invest or acquire Vivendi Universal's music division. However, Jobs did not deny that the two companies were currently in talks, or that an offer could be made within the next few weeks. Jobs' comments come in the wake of intense media speculation this week, sparked by comments by Vivendi board member Claude Bebear, who said that Apple would "probably" make a $6 billion bid for the music division. Vivendi later denied that Bebear had revealed negotiations with Apple.
tags: Apple | Vivendi | Denies | Universal's Music |