Home

Dutch

Dutch Content-Protection Firm Irdeto Buys LockStream

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 17, 2005 - 10:20am.
Amsterdam -- Irdeto Access, a provider of content protection technologies for digital video and IP networks, announced on Thursday that it has acquired LockStream Corp., a Seattle-based mobile digital rights management (DRM) firm. Irdeto is a unit of Dutch media group Naspers. "LockStream is a great addition to the Irdeto Access content protection portfolio for digital TV, IPTV and mobile networks," said Irdeto CEO Graham Kill. "With this acquisition, Irdeto Access gains leading-edge products which are already deployed in real applications, and a top-notch team to drive us towards our objective of leading the mobile content protection market." Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
tags: Deals | Dutch | Irdeto | Content-Protection Firm | LockStream |

Dutch Retailer Free Record Shop Launches Digital Music Store

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 10, 2004 - 3:13am.
Amsterdam -- Free Record Shop, a Dutch music retailer, announced on Tuesday the launch of a digital music download store offering 250,000 tracks to consumers in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. The store will compete with existing offerings operated by retailers aligned with U.K.-based download distributor OD2; Apple, which currently operates download stores in the U.K., France and Germany, plans to launch a wider European store some time in the fall. Free Record Shop, which will offer tracks for between $1.08 and $1.46 each, said it hopes to sign deals to increase its library to 500,000 tracks by the end of the year, and also plans to expand its service into Finland and Norway.
tags: Digital Music | Dutch | Free Record |

Dutch Supreme Court Rules Kazaa File-Sharing Software Is Legal

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on December 19, 2003 - 4:38am.
Amsterdam -- The Netherlands' Supreme Court on Friday upheld a lower court's ruling that said the Kazaa file-sharing application is legal and may be freely distributed on the Internet. Dutch music copyright agency Buma Sterma brought the legal action against Kazaa founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, who called the ruling in their favor, "an historic victory for the evolution of the Internet and for consumers." Although the court's ruling does not address individuals who use the file-sharing network, it does absolve the developers of the software that individuals use. Little surprise, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), which has waged an all-out war on file-sharing networks, attacked the ruling, saying that it was one-sided and flawed. It also vowed to continue its legal battle in other countries.
tags: Law | Software | File-Sharing | Kazaa | Supreme Court | Dutch |

Dutch P2P Firm Honest Thief to Use Distributed Computing to Pay Musicians

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 7, 2003 - 1:40am.
Arnhem, Netherlands -- The Honest Thief, a Netherlands-based file-sharing software provider that is aiming to take advantage of a P2P-friendly court ruling in the country, on Friday announced the release of a beta version of Thank You, its software program that will pay musicians for songs traded through the sale of its users' unused computing resources to research facilities. The company said version 2.0 of Thank You will be available in the second quarter, and will offer file-sharing providers a system that utilizes its users as distributed computing nodes whose computing power is sold to research facilities -- the proceeds from which will be collected and doled back out to musicians whose music is traded on the service. "We are the first to figure out a way for both file sharing providers and musicians to earn an honest Euro," said company founder Pieter Plass. "We are the first, but certainly not the last, to eliminate the record companies from the equation. The record companies are not dead yet, but they're certainly on life support. And The Honest Thief pulls the plug." http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/f_headline.cgi?day0/230665103&ticker=
tags: P2P | Musicians | Dutch | Honest Thief |