San Francisco - Video hosting site Veoh has prevailed in a copyright infringement suit filed against the company by Universal Music Group, with the court ruling that transcoding and other activities utilized in serving streaming video are covered under the "safe harbor" provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Universal sued Veoh over music videos uploaded to the site by users, arguing that the safe harbor that protects service providers from liability from copyright infringement committed by users of their services applies only to storing such material on a server.

New York - After five years and more than 35,000 copyright infringement lawsuits filed against suspected music file-swappers, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has decided to end its litigation campaign, opting instead to negotiate agreements with Internet service providers to take action against their subscribers, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. The RIAA has "hashed out preliminary agreements with major ISPs" that will take somewhat of a "three-strikes" approach, asking customers to stop file-sharing, and potentially cutting off their Internet access if they fail to comply after multiple notices.

Nashville - Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen last week signed into law a bill that will compel universities in the state to invest in campus network anti-piracy technologies, should they receive a certain number of notices that their students are believed to be illegally downloading copyrighted material in a given year.

Los Angeles - The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has responded to an allegation that the studios are "against innovation" with an open letter to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a digital civil liberties group that has sided with RealNetworks in a dispute with the studios over the company's DVD-copying software, CNET News.com reported.

San Francisco - After similar moves were made by Microsoft (NASD: MSFT) and Yahoo (NASD: YHOO), Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) has announced plans to shut down servers that provide continued access for consumers to songs they purchased from its digital music store that were wrapped in digital rights management (DRM) security -- which the company has since abandoned in favor of MP3s.

Los Angeles - The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has filed court documents seeking sanctions against Ray Beckerman, an attorney who defends those accused of illegal file-sharing and runs a blog documenting those and other related cases, called Recording Industry vs. The People.

Los Angeles - A federal judge ruled on Wednesday that copyright holders must consider the potential "fair use" of their works before sending copyright takedown notices to online video sites. "In order for a copyright owner to proceed under the DMCA with 'a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law,' the owner must evaluate whether the material makes fair use of the copyright," U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel wrote, in his ruling.

San Francisco - Yahoo (NASD: YHOO) has announced that it will provide refunds to any consumers who purchased songs locked by digital rights management (DRM), which otherwise would have eventually become unplayable after the company discontinues support for the technology. Yahoo had initially not offered any compensation to patrons of its Yahoo Music Unlimited service who purchased song downloads; had they needed to reauthorize the tracks on a new computer, for instance, they would have found the songs unplayable.

San Francisco - Yahoo (NASD: YHOO) is taking some criticism for following a move Microsoft (NASD: MSFT) was compelled to backtrack on, namely discontinuing a digital rights management-laden music service in a way that will make some songs purchased by consumers unplayable. Microsoft eventually added three years of support for customers who purchased downloads from its MSN Music store, who complained that their songs would no longer be available if they ever had to reauthorize them on another computer.