Home

iMesh

Merlin Licenses Indie Catalog to iMesh Legal P2P Service

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 9, 2009 - 1:09pm.
Los Angeles - Merlin, a consortium of independent record labels that includes Beggars Group, Domino, KOCH, Epitaph and PIAS, announced on Monday that it has signed a deal licensing its labels' repertoire to iMesh, a legal peer-to-peer download service. iMesh, which has been around since 1999 and settled a copyright infringement case brought by the RIAA in 2003 for $4.1 million, offers a mix of free and paid content, via subscription and download packages. The deal with Merlin includes Lphant, a peer-to-peer application that supports networks including BitTorrent, eDonkey and eMule.

tags: Licensing | P2P | Music | Indie | iMesh | Merlin |

Report: Google to Use Audible Magic Copyright Filter on YouTube

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 23, 2007 - 11:28am.

San Jose, Calif. - Google will use technology developed by Audible Magic to filter out copyrighted videos on its YouTube service, The San Jose Mercury News reported, citing two sources familiar with the deal.

tags: Video | MySpace | Google | YouTube | Copyright | iMesh | Grouper | Audible Magic | User-Generated |

BearShare File-Sharing Network to Shut Down, Pay Labels $30 Million

Authored by dmw on May 5, 2006 - 9:11am.
Los Angeles - Free Peers, the company behind the BearShare peer-to-peer file-sharing service, has agreed to shut down and pay the record labels a $30 million settlement to avoid copyright infringement claims, the Associated Press reported on Friday. Under the terms of the settlement, which must still be approved by a judge, BearShare will also sell its technology, user data and domain name to a unit of iMesh, another file-sharing service that settled with the labels and now offers a legitimate music service. Financial terms of the sale were not disclosed. BearShare was one of seven targets of letters sent by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) after the Supreme Court ruled providers of file-sharing software were liable for copyright infringement. Fellow RIAA letter recipients i2Hub and WinMX have also since shut down, while Warez P2P, Limewire, eDonkey and Soulseek continue normal operations.
tags: Law | Lawsuits | Settlements | P2P | Piracy | Music | RIAA | BearShare | iMesh | Free Peers |

iMesh Launches Legal P2P Music Service in Canada

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 24, 2006 - 9:48am.
New York - Mesh, a legal peer-to-peer music file-sharing network, on Tuesday announced the launch of its service in Canada. New York-based iMesh -- formerly an illicit file-sharing network -- launched in the U.S. in October 2005 as a paid service that offers tracks from all the major record labels and many independents for purchase and download. The Canadian version of iMesh will cost users CDN $8.95 per month (U.S. $7.77).
tags: P2P | Music | iMesh | Canada | legal |

iMesh Legal P2P Network Licenses Songs from MusicNet

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 23, 2006 - 10:49am.
New York - MusicNet, a provider of licensed digital music to service providers, announced on Monday that it will provide its catalog to iMesh, a legitimate peer-to-peer file-sharing network. The new, legal version of iMesh -- which was formerly a free file-sharing network -- now offers tracks for purchase from all major labels and 40,000 independent labels, in addition to promotional and other tracks authorized for free distribution on the Gnutella peer-to-peer network.
tags: P2P | Music | iMesh | MusicNet |

iMesh Legal P2P Service's Copyright Filter Falters

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 3, 2005 - 3:34am.
San Francisco - CNET News.com reported on Thursday that the newly re-launched iMesh, the first legal peer-to-peer file-sharing service in the U.S. with substantial support from major record labels, is allowing free downloads of some copyrighted works it shouldn't be in its first days of operation. Tracks from Led Zeppelin -- who have not licensed tracks to any digital services -- as well as Green Day, Franz Ferdinand, Black Eyed Peas and others are slipping through the filtering software from Audible Magic meant to screen out such tracks from iMesh users. "Given that we're in an early beta phase technology, issues are to be expected. These are isolated problems which we are diligently working on fixing," iMesh executive chairman Bob Summer told News.com.
tags: P2P | Copyright | iMesh | Falters |

Peer-to-Peer Veterans iMesh Launch Secure, Paid File-Sharing Service

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 25, 2005 - 7:10am.
New York - Peer-to-peer music file-sharing service iMesh on Tuesday became the first of its breed to migrate from an unauthorized network, targeted by recording industry lawsuits, into a fully-licensed, for-pay file-sharing service. The Israel-based developers of iMesh were sued by the major record labels for copyright infringement, and in July 2004 settled the lawsuit and pledged to develop a secure, for-pay file-sharing service. The company at the time paid $4.1 million to the labels, in exchange for an agreement to allow the free iMesh to continue operating while the new service was created, CNET News.com reported. The beta version of iMesh 6.0 offers file-swappers a selection of some 15 million tracks from both the iMesh and Gnutella peer-to-peer networks, 2 million of which are authorized tracks from major and independent labels, and public domain content. Tracks not licensed for downloading will be blocked from users' computers by filtering software. Following a free trial, users will pay $6.95 per month for an ad-free service that allows tethered downloads and includes many social networking features. The company told CNET News.com that a future version will also allow songs to be transferred to some Windows-compatible portable players. A similar paid file-sharing service called Mashboxx is also slated to launch in the fall.
tags: Launches | iMesh | Secure | Peer-to-Peer Veterans | Paid File-Sharing Service |

Legal File-Sharing Service iMesh Licenses Sony BMG Catalog

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 11, 2005 - 10:53am.
New York -- iMesh, a peer-to-peer file-sharing service founded in 1999 that has since adopted a legal, commercial model, announced on Monday that major record label Sony BMG has licensed its songs for distribution on iMesh. Last week, Sony BMG signed a similar deal to license its songs to Mashboxx, another legal peer-to-peer service. New York-based iMesh paid $4.1 million to settle a copyright infringement lawsuit brought by the recording industry in July 2004, and has since worked to develop a for-pay service that is slated to launch this year. The company said the new, legal service will offer more than 15 million tracks from multiple sources, including the Gnutella network. "We are pleased to make our music available to the new iMesh as they build a service that will offer consumers a compelling experience and will respect our copyrights," said Thomas Hesse, president of Sony BMG's Global Digital Business Group.
tags: iMesh | Licenses | Legal File-Sharing Service | Sony BMG Catalog |

Israeli P2P Firm iMesh Pays RIAA $4.1 Million to Settle Copyright Suits

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 21, 2004 - 4:57am.
New York -- Israeli peer-to-peer file-sharing network iMesh announced on Wednesday that it has settled copyright infringement litigation filed against the company by the major record labels, agreeing to pay $4.1 million in damages to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The labels filed suit against iMesh, which claims 10 million users, in September 2003. iMesh now plans to launch a secure file-sharing network later this year, and said it will continue to operate its peer-to-peer network as a software distribution platform until the new service is launched. "Entering into this agreement with key players within the entertainment industry to put the lawsuit behind us will allow us the opportunity to migrate to a business model that will continue to provide users with the P2P experience that they have come to expect from iMesh," said iMesh chief operating officer Ofer Shabtai.
tags: Deals | RIAA | iMesh | Israeli P2P | Copyright Suits |

RIAA Files Copyright Suit Against Apple-Based File-Sharing Service iMesh

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 19, 2003 - 6:28am.
Washington -- The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), a trade group representing the world's major record labels, announced on Friday that it has filed a copyright infringement suit against iMesh, the Israel-based provider of a peer-to-peer file-sharing network. The suit comes at the same time as the RIAA's appeal of a ruling that said such file-sharing services were not themselves guilty of copyright infringement, instead placing the guilt on individual file-swappers. IMesh operates on the same FastTrack network used by Kazaa and Grokster, one of the firms that was absolved of copyright liability in the ruling the RIAA is appealing. "IMesh's recent conduct and public statements make clear that its goal is to encourage illegal behavior. This action is timed to make clear that there is no free pass for those who center their activity around, and profit from, copyright infringement," RIAA president Cary Sherman said in a statement.
tags: RIAA | Copyright | iMesh | File-Sharing | Apple-Based |