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Russia Agrees to Shut Down AllofMP3.com, Clamp Down on Piracy

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 29, 2006 - 2:43pm.

Washington - Russia has agreed to shut down the controversial website AllofMP3.com -- which sold cheap song downloads without label permissions -- as part of an agreement designed to allay U.S. concerns about the country's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Konami Settles Trademark Suit, Acquires Rival Dance Game from Roxor

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 26, 2006 - 12:26pm.

Tokyo - Japanese video game publisher Konami has settled a lawsuit it filed against fellow developer Roxor, over that company's alleged trademark infringement of Konami's "Dance Dance Revolution" game with its own "In the Groove" dance game, GamesIndustry.biz reported. Under terms of the settlement, Konami has acquired the intellectual property rights to "In the Groove," while Roxor has pledged to respect Konami's intellectual property rights in the future.

IBM Files Patent Infringement Suits Against Amazon.com

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 24, 2006 - 2:13pm.

Research Triangle Park, N.C. - IBM has filed two patent infringement lawsuits against Amazon.com for unspecified damages. The company said that it filed the suit in two District Courts for the Eastern District of Texas after nearly four years of attempting to resolve the issues. "IBM's property is being knowingly and unfairly exploited," said John Kelly III, the senior vice president of IBM technology and intellectual property. The patents cover such processes as presenting applications in an interactive service, storing data in an interactive network and ordering items using an electronic catalogue. "Dating back to September 2002, IBM has notified Amazon.com numerous times of the infringement, but Amazon.com has shown no willingness to have meaningful discussions," IBM said in a statement.

Russian Download Store AllofMP3 Reacts to Visa, MasterCard Bans

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 20, 2006 - 2:12pm.

Moscow - Reacting to the blow that came as two major credit card companies halted payment processing for its controversial music download store, Russia-based AllofMP3.com called the actions "arbitrary, capricious and discriminatory," adding that it may seek legal recourse to reverse the decisions. The site sells albums for about $2 each, and claims to be legal under Russian law and hold a valid license from a Russian copyrights society. This week, both Visa and MasterCard ceased processing payments for the site.

U.S. Trade Rep: Russian MP3 Store Barrier to WTO Accession

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 5, 2006 - 4:48pm.

Washington - The U.S. Trade Representative has called on Russia to shutter music download store AllofMP3.com, pointing to it as an impediment to the country's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), Reuters reported. Susan Schwab previously identified the site -- which sells songs for pennies -- as the "poster child" for online music piracy. "I have a hard time imagining Russia becoming a member of the WTO and having a Web site like that up and running that is so clearly a violation of everyone's intellectual property rights," U.S. Trade Representative Schwab told Reuters. The recording industry has been trying for some time to pressure Russian authorities to shut down AllofMP3.com, but despite an investigation that found the site is breaking Russian laws, prosecutors in Moscow have not taken action thus far against the company. The topic will likely be resurrected next week at another meeting between U.S. and Russian officials on WTO accession.

RIAA, i-SAFE to Produce Copyrights Lectures for School Assemblies

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 7, 2006 - 1:01pm.

Washington - The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) announced that it has partnered with i-SAFE, a government-funded non-profit that educates students on Internet safety, to produce a presentation on intellectual property to be used at middle and high school assemblies.

Wired News: IP Activists Launch The Pirate Party of the U.S.

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 20, 2006 - 11:25am.

San Francisco - Wired News on Tuesday reported on the founding of a new political movement in the U.S. -- born in the aftermath of a raid on a Swedish file-sharing website -- that seeks to inform U.S. citizens about intellectual property laws.

Report: European Telecommunications Group Calls for IP Rights Reform

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 22, 2005 - 11:12am.

London - According to a report in the Financial Times, a group of large European telecommunications companies including U.K.-based Vodafone, Germany-based T-Mobile and Spain-based Telefonica is calling on the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) -- the organization responsible for IT standardization in Europe -- to tighten up the way it deals with intellectual property (IP) rights. The group claims that the status quo is leaving companies exposed to "unsustainable" and "excessive" demands for royalties. The Financial Times said the group was planning to tell ETSI on Tuesday that the benefits of standardization would be eroded if ETSI failed to change IP rules.

tags: Europe | Reports | IP | Telecommunications Group |