Tech

Report: Skype Creators, eBay, Investors Near Settlement

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 4, 2009 - 9:29am.

San Francisco - Litigation between the inventors and former owners of Internet phone service Skype, current owner eBay (NASD: EBAY), and an investor group looking to acquire Skype from eBay, could be nearing a settlement, The New York Times reported, citing several people who have been briefed on the situation. Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis -- the inventors of Skype and the peer-to-peer technology behind file-sharing service Kazaa and video portal Joost -- sued the investor group in a bid to block their acquisition of Skype from eBay.

Norwegian Court: ISP Telenor Need Not Block The Pirate Bay

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 6, 2009 - 9:57am.

Oslo, Norway - International record label trade group IFPI has lost its court case that sought to compel Norwegian ISP Telenor to block its subscribers' access to file-sharing hub The Pirate Bay, TorrentFreak reported.

Walmart.com Prices Top 10 Pre-Order DVDs at $10

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 5, 2009 - 1:28pm.

Brisbane, Calif. - Walmart.com (NYSE: WMT) is now offering a $10 price tag and free home delivery on its top ten pre-order DVD and Blu-ray movie titles. Titles available through the offer include "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," "Star Trek" and "Julie and Julia." The DVD promotion comes as Walmart.com is engaged in a price-cutting war with Amazon and Target.

Survey: Among Consumers, File-Swappers Spend Most on Music

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 2, 2009 - 8:30am.

London - Those who download songs from unauthorized file-sharing services are the consumers who spend the most money on music, according to a survey of 1,000 16-50 year-olds with Internet access conducted by Ipsos MORI on behalf of London-based think tank Demos. The survey found that one in ten of the British respondents admitted to using free file-sharing services. File-swappers were found to spend about $120 a year on music -- 75% more than the $72 spent by those who aren't on file-sharing networks.

Swedish Court: Pirate Bay Operators Must Stop Running Site

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 29, 2009 - 7:45am.

Stockholm, Sweden - A Swedish court has ordered two of the operators of file-sharing hub The Pirate Bay to cease their involvement in operating the site, or else face fines of $71,000 each, TorrentFreak reported. The story notes that neither Gottfrid Svartholm nor Fredrik Neij currently reside in Sweden, nor is The Pirate Bay itself currently hosted on servers within Sweden.

U.K. Parliament to Consider "Three-Strikes" P2P Bill

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 28, 2009 - 10:14am.

London - The U.K. government plans to introduce a bill mimicking France's recently enacted "three-strikes" legislation on file-sharing, which authorizes the suspension of the Internet accounts of those warned repeatedly they are violating copyrights, according to published reports. The bill will "make technical measures available, including account suspension," U.K. business, innovation and skills minister Peter Mandelson said at a meeting of government and entertainment industry heads, according to PaidContent's coverage.

Report: Pirate Bay Being Courted by Four New Suitors

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 28, 2009 - 9:45am.

Stockholm, Sweden - In the wake of the unraveling of Global Gaming Factory's unsuccessful attempt to acquire The Pirate Bay, as many as four new suitors have emerged with an eye towards purchasing the file-sharing hub, TorrentFreak reported, citing Sweden's Dagens Industri. Reservella, the Seychelles-based holding company that currently owns the Pirate Bay, is reportedly currently in talks with GamersGate, a Swedish online games firm.

Roku Offers New HD Set-tops; Cuts Price of Base Model to $79

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 27, 2009 - 12:17pm.

Saratoga, Calif. - Roku, a maker of Internet-connected set-top boxes, on Tuesday introduced two new HD-capable models, and new pricing for its standard model. The $99 Roku HD player and $129 Roku HD-XR support HD-quality video and audio, while the standard model Roku SD player will now sell for $79.The devices can deliver content directly from partners including Netflix, Amazon Video On Demand and MLB.TV.

Dutch Court Orders Pirate Bay to Remove Torrents; Block Access

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 22, 2009 - 10:51am.

Amsterdam - The Amsterdam Court on Thursday gave the operators of file-sharing hub The Pirate Bay three months to remove a list of copyrighted torrents, and block access to portions of the site from Dutch users, or else face penalties of $7,500 each per day, TorrentFreak reported.

France Approves "Three-Strikes" Law on File-Sharing

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 22, 2009 - 9:59am.

Paris - France's Constitutional Court on Thursday approved the country's "three-strikes" law, which will sever the Internet connections of those found to have been repeatedly infringing copyrights on file-sharing networks, The New York Times reported. An earlier version of the law approved by France's Parliament was rejected by the court, because it did not include a judge's approval before a user's Internet connection was suspended.

Pirate Bay Appeal Postponed Until Summer 2010

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 19, 2009 - 9:20am.

Stockholm, Sweden - The appeal of the copyright infringement convictions of the four operators of file-sharing hub The Pirate Bay has been delayed, likely until at least next summer, as questions over potential conflicts of interest of several judges assigned to hear the appeal are considered, TorrentFreak reported.

Nokia's Comes With Music Subscriber Base: 107,277

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 16, 2009 - 9:51am.

London - Nokia's (NYSE: NOK) Comes With Music platform, where users pay extra for music-focused handsets that come with an unlimited download service, counted just 107,277 users in nine countries in July, some nine months after launch, according to Nokia figures published by Music Ally. In the U.K., where the service has been available since October 2008, the service counts 32,728 users. PaidContent notes that the service "has been hampered by DRM and complex PC operation and confusing PC-mobile sync."

Pirate Bay Four Appeal Judge Bias Claims to Supreme Court

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 16, 2009 - 8:49am.

Stockholm, Sweden - The four operators of file-sharing hub The Pirate Bay have taken their conflict of interest challenge against two of the judges assigned to hear their appeal of a conviction on copyright infringement charges to the Supreme Court in Sweden, TorrentFreak reported.

Skype Creators Seek Injunction Against Former Joost CEO Volpi

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 15, 2009 - 9:00am.

Wilmington, Del. - The creators of peer-to-peer services Kazaa, Skype and Joost have asked a federal court for an injunction against former Joost CEO Mike Volpi and Index Ventures, where he is now a partner, to prevent them from using trade secrets in their bid to acquire Skype from eBay. Developers Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis allege that Volpi breached his duties to Joost while employed there by dangling a prospective workaround -- that would eliminate the need for Skype to use Zennstrom's and Friis' peer-to-peer technology -- to investors looking to acquire Skype from eBay (NASD: EBAY).

Pirate Bay Buyer: Deal in Doubt; Operators Deny Ownership

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 8, 2009 - 9:39am.

Stockholm, Sweden - Hans Pandeya, the CEO of would-be Pirate Bay buyer Global Gaming Factory (GGF), has admitted in a statement that the company is unsure whether the deal will be completed, Sweden's The Local reports. Pandeya recently saw some of his assets seized and is facing bankruptcy proceedings; the GGF executive had previously said he would secure the acquisition with his own shares, but the company was recently deslited from a Swedish exchange. "At present, GGF cannot discern whether the acquisition will be completed regardless of the outcome of the trial," the company said in a statement.

AT&T to Allow VoIP Applications on its 3G Network

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 6, 2009 - 10:18am.

Dallas - AT&T (NYSE: T) announced on Tuesday that it has "taken the steps necessary so that Apple (NASD: AAPL) can enable VoIP application on iPhone to run on AT&T's wireless network." Previously, such applications were only enabled for use over Wi-Fi connections. The move will allow Internet-based phone services like Skype, and potentially Google Voice (NASD: GOOG), to work on the iPhone over AT&T's 3G network.

Report: Studio Attorneys Targeting Pirate Bay Hosting Providers

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 6, 2009 - 10:17am.

San Francisco - The website for file-sharing hub The Pirate Bay was down most of Monday, the result of the efforts of local attorneys in Sweden for the Hollywood movie studios to go after the site's hosting providers, CNET News.com reported, citing Tweakers.net. The site's current hosting provider, NForce, reportedly complied with the legal requests to shut the site down. In recent weeks, The Pirate Bay has also been moved from sites hosted by a Ukraine-based ISP, and Netherlands-based Black Internet as a result of legal threats, according to the reports. The site is currently back online.

Google: Pirate Bay Homepage Removal Was "Internal Error"

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 5, 2009 - 10:41am.

Mountain View, Calif. - The homepage of the website for file-sharing hub The Pirate Bay was removed from Google's (NASD: GOOG) search index on Friday as a result of "an internal error and not part of a DMCA request," Google said in a statement. Reports last week indicated that Google had received a takedown notice for ThePirateBay.org under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The Web page does not itself host any copyrighted content, but allows users to search out links to bits of files that may be downloaded from third-party locations.

Google Removes Pirate Bay Homepage from Search Results

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 2, 2009 - 7:39am.

Mountain View, Calif. - Google (NASD: GOOG) has removed the homepage of file-sharing hub The Pirate Bay from its search results after receiving a takedown request under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), TorrentFreak reported. Users searching for "The Pirate Bay" no longer see the site's homepage (ThePirateBay.org) in search results -- although the site's "Browse" and "Movies" pages still come up. The top result is now PirateBay.com, while the second link is to a Wikipedia entry.

Italian Court Reinstitutes Block on The Pirate Bay

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 1, 2009 - 9:53am.

Milan - The Italian Court of Cassation has overturned a prior ruling and once again blocked access to file-sharing hub The Pirate Bay in the country, Billboard reported.

Report: Skype Creators, eBay, Investors Near Settlement

Norwegian Court: ISP Telenor Need Not Block The Pirate Bay

Walmart.com Prices Top 10 Pre-Order DVDs at $10

Survey: Among Consumers, File-Swappers Spend Most on Music

Swedish Court: Pirate Bay Operators Must Stop Running Site

U.K. Parliament to Consider "Three-Strikes" P2P Bill

Report: Pirate Bay Being Courted by Four New Suitors

Roku Offers New HD Set-tops; Cuts Price of Base Model to $79

Dutch Court Orders Pirate Bay to Remove Torrents; Block Access

France Approves "Three-Strikes" Law on File-Sharing

Pirate Bay Appeal Postponed Until Summer 2010

Nokia's Comes With Music Subscriber Base: 107,277

Pirate Bay Four Appeal Judge Bias Claims to Supreme Court

Skype Creators Seek Injunction Against Former Joost CEO Volpi

Pirate Bay Buyer: Deal in Doubt; Operators Deny Ownership

AT&T to Allow VoIP Applications on its 3G Network

Report: Studio Attorneys Targeting Pirate Bay Hosting Providers

Google: Pirate Bay Homepage Removal Was "Internal Error"

Google Removes Pirate Bay Homepage from Search Results

Italian Court Reinstitutes Block on The Pirate Bay

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