" 'You're never too young to start learning about intellectual property law'--or that's the message the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office sent to a pack of elementary schoolers on Tuesday." – Anne Broache
"It is not realistic to believe legal action against individual infringers will stamp out, or even significantly reduce, file-sharing infringements of copyright." – Australian Judge Murray Wilcox, ruling against Kazaa
"The hope that these parties would devote at least as much attention to the business of finding new business models as they have devoted to the litigation that was raging in 2003 has not been fully realized." – Distributed Computing Industry Association
"I had the same problem, ended up having to uninstall iTunes and iPod, lost all music on both." – iTunes User
"A broad smile, however nice it may be, is unacceptable." – German Interior Ministry
September 17th, 2005
RIAA Sends Cease And Desist Letters To File Sharing Firms
The Recording Industry Association of America has sent letters to seven peer-to-peer companies, asking them to halt what the RIAA alleges is their practice of encouraging users to illegally distribute copyrighted material.
The RIAA's actions follow a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June against P2P services provider Grokster and marks one of the first actions the recording industry trade group has taken against P2P services beyond Grokster. In a unanimous decision, the court said companies that build businesses with the active intent of encouraging copyright infringement should be held liable for their customers' illegal actions.
"Companies situated similarly to Grokster have been given ample opportunity to do the right thing," a RIAA spokesperson said. "Those businesses that continue to knowingly operate on the wrong side of that line do so at their own risk."
The letters were mailed to seven file-sharing companies, according to a RIAA spokesperson, who declined to identify the companies.
Companies such as eDonkey, LimeWire and Kazaa were viewed as potential targets of litigation after the Supreme Court ruling because of their unrestricted file-swapping services. Under the court's decision, these companies could face the additional burden of demonstrating that they were not encouraging users to circumvent copyright laws.
In a copy of the letter obtained by CNET News.com, the RIAA states: "We demand that you immediately cease-and-desist from enabling and inducing the infringement of RIAA member sound recordings. If you wish to discuss pre-litigation resolution of these claims against you, please contact us immediately."
The letter, dated Tuesday, Sept. 13, goes on to say that the U.S. Supreme Court decision involving Grokster applies equally to the company and certain individuals at the company.
Other companies in the peer-to-peer file-swapping market include i2Hub, BitTorrent, WinMX and Free Peers, maker of file-swapping software BearShare.
BearShare, WinMX and LimeWire were identified in a Wall Street Journal story as recipients of the letters.
LimeWire declined to comment, and Free Peers did not return phone calls. WinMX representatives could not be reached for comment.
Following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling, the RIAA has been diligently filing lawsuits against alleged copyright violators. Last June, RIAA filed lawsuits against 784 individuals and just last month issued another round against 754 individuals.
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-5867085.html
Invalidation Of Key Lemelson Patents Upheld
AP
A federal appeals court has upheld a ruling that invalidated key patents -- for the bar code scanner and industrial robotic vision -- of the late Jerome Lemelson, one of America's most prolific and controversial inventors.
The court affirmed that 14 of Lemelson's critical patents were unenforceable in a case brought by companies including Cognex Corp., the world's largest maker of machine vision, and Symbol Technologies Inc., which makes bar code scanners.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, in Friday's ruling, backed U.S. District Judge Philip Pro's finding that the amount of time it took for Lemelson's patents to issue was unreasonable and the delay unexplained.
Lemelson filed two voluminous applications with the U.S. Patent Office in 1954 and 1956 that were the basis for patents Lemelson claimed underlied the technologies with which supermarket clerks scan prices and that allow robotic arms to place computer chips on circuit boards.
But Lemelson's critics claimed the inventor manipulated the U.S. Patent Office, exploiting loopholes in the system that allowed him to be awarded the critical bar code and machine vision patents, the first of which was issued in 1963.
In 1998, a handful of companies sued the Lemelson Medical, Education & Research Foundation, the for-profit Nevada entity Lemelson created years earlier to enforce his patents and eventually wangle 979 companies into paying $1.5 billion in licensing fees.
After a lengthy trial, the companies prevailed in January 2004.
In his ruling, Pro said: ``Symbol and Cognex products do not work like anything disclosed and claimed by Lemelson.''
But the companies never proved that Lemelson, who died in 1997, had intentionally stalled getting the patents so he could profit handsomely.
Lemelson blamed the patent office and its examiners for the delays.
The lower court said Lemelson had engaged in ``culpable neglect'' during the prosecution of his applications.
Rob Lemelson, Lemelson's son, said in an e-mail that the higher court's decision was regrettable but it did not diminish his father's legacy that includes more than 600 patents and efforts to foster invention.
``We do not believe it detracts from the significant contributions my father made to American society through his many inventions and patents, his lifelong advocacy of the individual American inventor, and his investment, through his charitable activities, to support American innovation, invention and our economic future,'' he wrote.
Before his death, Jerome Lemelson established a private philanthropy based in Portland, Ore., that continues to support educational initiatives and inventors.
Lemelson also founded a $500,000 award for inventors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Lemelson Center at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History.
Jesse Jenner, who led the team of lawyers representing Cognex and the other plaintiff companies, said the appeals court decision will have major repercussions.
``Hundreds of other companies that have been sued or threatened by litigation are now free of the Lemelson infringement threats,'' he said in a statement.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...stomwire .htm
Family Entertainment Act Yields Its First Prosecution
Eric Sinrod
Not long ago, President Bush signed the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act of 2005 into law. One part of that law, known as the Artists' Rights and Theft Prevention Act of 2005, criminalizes the use of recording equipment to copy movies playing in theaters.
Furthermore, the law bars the infringement of work prepared for commercial distribution by making it available on a computer network accessible to the public, when the violator knew or should have known that the work was intended for commercial distribution. And now, on the heels of the new law, the first criminal indictment has been filed against a defendant who allegedly used a camcorder in movie theaters to copy recent releases and then who allegedly uploaded the copies to a computer network for distribution.
The U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California has charged Curtis Salisbury, a 19-year-old from St. Charles, Missouri, with violating the new law in a five- count indictment. The prosecution of Mr. Salisbury, according to the U.S. Attorney's office, is part of a continuing investigation known as Operation Copycat, which so far supposedly has resulted in the execution of over 40 searches across the country.
Specifically, Mr. Salisbury is alleged to have used an audiovisual recording device to copy the movies "The Perfect Man" on June 21, 2005 and "Bewitched" on June 28, 2005. Copies of these movies then allegedly were distributed on a computer network via "warez" sites that offer pirated movies, games and software. The indictment also asserts that Mr. Salisbury illegally downloaded the movie "Madagascar" and the software programs "Sony Sound Forge V8.0," Adobe "Premier Pro V7," and Adobe "Premier Pro V1.5 Proper."
The indictment sets forth that Mr. Salisbury apparently communicated with others regarding the tools and processes of removing identifying features on films that disclose the originating theater for specific films. Furthermore, he allegedly communicated about receiving payment at a post office box for copies of films he would supply.
The indictment charges Mr. Salisbury with conspiracy – two counts of copyright infringement by distributing a copyrighted work on a computer network – and two counts of unauthorized recording of motion pictures in a motion picture exhibition network. Included in the indictment is a criminal forfeiture and destruction provision designed to ensure forfeiture and destruction of recording equipment and unauthorized copies of films. The statutory penalties for violations of the new law can be as high as five years in prison, a $250,000 fine or twice the value of the property involved, whichever is greater, a three-year period of supervised release, and a mandatory special assessment.
Of course, Mr. Salisbury is to be presumed innocent of the charges raised in the criminal indictment unless and until convicted. Still, the indictment of Mr. Salisbury shows that the United States Attorney's office in Northern California and United States Attorney's offices elsewhere vigorously will seek to prosecute perceived violators of the new Family Entertainment and Copyright Act.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columni...ight-act_x.htm
Another Maryland Game Pirate Sunk
Brendan Sinclair
The owner of a Maryland-based retailer has been sentenced to five months in prison and fined $247,237 for selling modified Xboxes that let players play pirated games, the Entertainment Software Association said on Thursday.
Biren Amin, owner of the Pandora's Cube chain, is the fourth person associated with Pandora's Cube to be convicted and sentenced for game piracy. Last month, Hitesh Patel, a store manager, was sentenced to four months in prison, four months under house arrest and two years of probation.
Mguresh Amin, another store manager, received a sentence of six months of home confinement, 24 months of probation and 150 hours of community service. Herbie Walker, a senior retail manager, was sentenced to six months of home confinement, 24 months of probation and 100 hours of community service.
The ESA called the sentencing "a clarion warning for others contemplating computer and video game piracy," with ESA president Douglas Lowenstein adding that "sentences of this magnitude send a clear message to game retailers that selling pirate products has serious consequences, including prosecution to the fullest extent of the law."
Once out of prison, Amin is subject to five months of home confinement and three years of supervised release. He must complete 80 hours of community service as part of his sentence.
In addition to imported games, anime and hentai DVDs, Pandora's Cube also sold "Super Xboxes," modified versions of Microsoft's console with a larger hard drive that came prehacked and loaded with illegal software for $500.
http://news.com.com/Another+Maryland...3-5867765.html
Swedish MP3 Company Rejects Copyright Charge
Jens of Sweden, a company which produces mp3 players, is facing legal proceedings for after flatly refusing to pay a controversial 'copying charge' on its products.
"It's not our problem that the record industry hasn't come up with its own solution," said the company's owner, Jens Nylander.
The charge, known as 'cassette compensation', was introduced in Sweden in 1999 and was designed to compensate copyright owners whose music or films were copied to a different format for private use.
Last year, 85 million kronor in cassette compensation was collected and redistributed by the copyright organisation Copyswede.
The law also applies to mp3 players but Jens Nylander told Svenska Dagbladet that it was outdated and unjust. He said that there are several large companies which do not pay the charge, including Apple with its iPod, but Copyswede is only taking legal action against his company and one other.
"The system is unreasonable," said Nylander, whose company has refused to pay the charge for the last two years.
"In my opinion the compensation should be built into the price. To be able to transfer a song to an mp3 player should be included in the purchase of the music."
But Hans-Olov Dahlén at Copyswede told Svenska Dagbladet that his organisation wants a good relationship with the industry and that they are not picking on Jens of Sweden.
"They have clearly stated that they will not consider paying, so we're going to court. We're in discussions with the other companies," he said.
"As the law stands, people have the right to make copies for private use, so the copyright owners should be fairly compensated."
http://www.thelocal.se/article.php?I...befa43503dcded
Singapore Bloggers Charged Under Sedition Act Over Racist Remarks
Pearl Forss
Two bloggers have been charged with sedition for posting racist comments online.
This is the first time bloggers are being charged in Singapore and it is sending shockwaves through the local blogging community.
Lawyers say the last time the sedition act was invoked in Singapore was at least 10 years ago.
Twenty-five-year-old Nicholas Lim Yew and 27-year-old Benjamin Koh Song Huat are being accused of posting racist comments on an online forum and on their blog site.
They are both being charged with committing a seditious act, by promoting feelings of ill-will and hostility between races in Singapore.
They were not represented by defence lawyers and were granted bail of S$10,000 each.
This charge came as a shock to many in the blogging community.
Said Singaporean blogger Benjamin Lee (Mr Miyagi):" A lot of them will be looking at their blogs and wondering if they made any legally seditious remarks. I think because of the way this will be played up, it's negative publicity for the Singapore blogging community."
"Currently if you surf the net you will come across a lot of bloggers making such comments. You will probably see a drop in such cases henceforth. At the moment I am not aware of any cases except of a case in Iran where bloggers are charged. But Iran has a different legal system from Singapore," said Leonard Loo, managing partner of Leonard Loo & Co Advocates & Solicitors.
Channel NewsAsia understands that the Media Development Authority had asked host servers to remove a racist blog from the web.
Police are now investigating this matter.
While many racist blogs by Singaporeans can be found online, the blogging community is also quick to criticize any racist comments.
Channel NewsAsia has received many emails from viewers informing us about a few racist sites.
Viewers said they were "appalled as well as disappointed that a Singaporean could condemn" other fellow Singaporeans of a different race.
Lawyers warn that anybody who forwards seditious remarks to others via email can also be charged with abetment.
The case is expected to be heard in court again on September 21.
A person is deemed to have committed an offence under the Sedition Act if he performs any act which has a seditious tendency, or conspires with any person to do so.
It is also an offence to utter any seditious words or to print, publish, sell, distribute, reproduce or import any seditious publication.
First time offenders can be fined up to S$5,000, or jailed up to three years, or both.
For subsequent offences, they can be jailed up to five years and have their seditious publications forfeited and destroyed. - CNA /ct/ls
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stori...167812/1/.html
Singapore Website Hosting Racy Photos Broke Copyright Law
Khushwant Singh
THE company that hosts the risque but popular
www.sggirls.com website has been found liable for copyright infringement after it was successfully sued by a modelling agency.
In a summary judgment issued on Sept 1, Assistant Registrar Ernest Lau ordered Jeyel Technologies to pay damages and costs to Perspectives Models after pictures of two of its models were posted on the website.
Perspectives' lawyer Roger Ngaw said the ruling was a landmark decision that had far-reaching implications for other websites that allow users to post content such as pictures, ringtones and text.
'No longer can a host claim that he has no control over what is posted on the website and is therefore not liable for copyright infringement or libel because these were committed by third parties.
'Hosts have to either continuously check what is on their websites or face repercussions. This judgment makes that very clear.'
Mr Ngaw, 39, said that discussions are underway to decide the amount of damages and costs Jeyel has to pay.
The copyright infringement surfaced in April when a friend of Nicolle, one of two models involved, saw her picture on the site.
The picture was an exact replica of one that appeared on the Perspectives' website, including the copyright warning. There was also a picture of Nicolle's colleague Dawn.
They immediately complained to Mr Hsu Kirk Wei, the boss of Perspectives.
Mr Hsu told The Straits Times yesterday: 'The models did not want to be associated with Sggirls as the pictures there can get rather racy.'
Sggirls removed the two postings two days after receiving his lawyer's letter, but Mr Hsu was not content.
'This has happened before and Sggirls waited for our complaints before removing the incriminating material. They then claimed innocence by pointing the finger at third parties. What they did was wrong, so I decided to take them to court.'
Mr Cyril Chan, 34, a lawyer specialising in intellectual property (IP), said: 'A host is ultimately responsible and must ensure that content does not infringe copyright or is libellous or obscene, even if it's posted by other people.'
Mr Alban Kang, a senior IP law specialist, agreed. 'A newspaper that prints a libellous report and then insists that it was merely reporting what a certain person had said has no defence under the law.
'That's the way it should be for website hosts.'
When contacted through her lawyer, Jeyel's sole proprietor Kuar Soh Cheng declined to comment.
http://www.asia1.com.sg/st/st_20050908_339427.html
German Constitutional Court: Private Copying Unlikely a Right
The Federal Constitutional Court of Germany (the Bundesverfassungsgericht) has rejected a complaint by a consumer about copy protection measures on CDs and DVDs. The Court did not see such a serious disadvantage in the copy protection mechanisms for the consumer, that it should give a decision before the consumer had followed a normal civil procedure against the manufacturer. The interesting thing about the rejection of the ruling is that the Court added some considerations about the private copying "right": it doubted that the constitution provides such a right.
The consumer had complained about provision 95a German Copyright Law that allows rightsholders to use copy protection measures and prohobits their circumvention. While there aren't any criminal sanctions (jail sentence / fines) for the circumvention for merely private use, consumers are often not able to make such a circumvention and thus a private copy in the first place.
Although the Court's consideration is vague, it's an indicator of what has been said often: there is little indication that there is something like a private copying right, or that it will be granted against copy protection measures. Interestingly, a French court took a different stand last April: reversing an earlier decison, which denied that private copying was a right, it prohibited the use of copy protection measures on DVDs, since they were considered to be incompatible with private use. For the proponents of private use as an enforceable right the French decision offered some hope, but now it looks even more like courts (and governments) will probably not move to the "private copying is a right"-mantra in the future.
http://constitutionalcode.blogspot.c...t-private.html
No Smiling for Passport Photos in Germany
AP
Germans were ordered Thursday to stay serious when having their photographs taken for new passports, wiping away any grins, smirks or smiles so that biometric scanners can pick up their facial features.
Interior Minister Otto Schily ordered passport authorities to only accept pictures taken from the front showing the "most neutral facial expression possible," starting Nov. 1.
Facial recognition systems match key features on the holder's face and work best when the face has a neutral expression with the mouth closed.
"A broad smile, however nice it may be, is therefore unacceptable," the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
German officials showcased the new passports in June, saying that they would be much harder to forge or tamper with. Two scanned fingerprints are also to be stored on a chip built into the passport cover from March 2007.
The passports are part of a host of security measures passed by the German government after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
Biometric passports have already been introduced in Canada and the United States.
The European Union agreed common standards in December last year.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...=ENTERTAINMENT
Russian Economic Ministry Set To Amend Intellectual Property Laws
The Russian Economic Development and Trade Ministry is set to draft amendments to intellectual property legislation, minister German Gref said Friday.
"We are ready to draw up amendments and we want law enforcement bodies to help us determine [the relevant] sanctions," Gref said at the coordinating session of law enforcement authorities on toughening measures against violations of intellectual property rights.
Gref said it was necessary to find ways to encourage officials to enforce anti-piracy laws while the authorities could still correct the situation.
Gref called for toughening sanctions against those in violation of copyright.
"However, tougher sanctions could lead to corruption, therefore these measures must be followed by the appropriate enforcement," he said.
The minister of economic development and trade asked those present to work out relevant proposals on changing the law to be later coordinated and sent to the State Duma for final adoption before the end of this year.
"We call it a violation of intellectual property rights, but it is sheer plundering and theft," Gref said. "If you steal a purse in a tram or a store, it will amount to a punishable crime. But if you steal millions in the intellectual property sphere, you get insufficient punishment," he said.
The minister said all the people involved in producing and selling counterfeit products, above all, salesmen, should be brought to justice for the "intentional sale of stolen things."
Gref also said leading figures of culture, science and art were preparing to participate in an anti-counterfeit campaign that will be held on Red Square soon. The minister said efforts to prevent illegal activity should be regularly organized. Trade inspections helped prevent violations in the past, but now control is weaker than before, Gref said.
http://en.rian.ru/business/20050909/41351535.html
Yahoo Says It Gave China Internet Data
Journalist Jailed By Tracing E-mail
Peter S. Goodman
A co- founder and senior executive of Yahoo Inc., the global Internet giant, confirmed Saturday that his company gave Chinese authorities information later used to convict a Chinese journalist now imprisoned for leaking state secrets.
The journalist, Shi Tao, was sentenced last spring to 10 years in prison for sending foreign-based Web sites a copy of a message from Chinese authorities warning domestic journalists about reporting on sensitive issues, according to a translation of the verdict disseminated by the watchdog group Reporters Without Borders.
Speaking at an Internet conference in this eastern Chinese city, Yahoo's co- founder, Jerry Yang, said his company had no choice but to cooperate with the authorities.
"To be doing business in China, or anywhere else in the world, we have to comply with local law," Yang said, responding to a question about his company's role in the case. "We don't know what they want that information for, we're not told what they look for. If they give us the proper documentation and court orders, we give them things that satisfy both our privacy policy and the local rules."
"I do not like the outcome of what happens with these things," Yang added. "But we have to follow the law."
Yang's explanation drew spirited applause from many in the mostly Chinese audience -- made up of several hundred Internet executives and investors, who represent some of the better-educated and wealthier people in the country.
Yahoo's role in the imprisonment of a journalist is the latest in a string of controversies surrounding the activities of global technology companies in China and their assistance to the state security apparatus. Many of the foreign technology powers that market themselves as forces for the free flow of information in other countries have made accommodations with an often repressive Communist Party government as they pursue business opportunities in a land of seemingly limitless potential.
Google, the popular Web search site, has been accused by Internet monitors based in the United States and Europe of preventing Internet users in China from accessing sites Chinese authorities deem sensitive, such as those carrying reports about Tibet, Taiwan and the banned religious sect Falun Gong. Cisco Systems has sold China much of the equipment authorities use to block access to such sites, though the company maintains that China's use of the gear is beyond its purview. Three years ago, Yahoo drew fire for reportedly signing a pledge in which it agreed to abide by all Chinese censorship laws -- an implicit promise to bar access to Web sites deemed off- limits.
The Shi Tao case has become particularly high-profile because it involves the imprisonment of a Chinese journalist at a time when the government is cracking down on domestic media that report on topics seen as challenging the state's authority.
Shi, 37, was a reporter for Contemporary Business News, a newspaper in the southwestern province of Hunan. He apparently used a Yahoo e-mail account to send a Chinese- language Web site based in New York a message from state censorship authorities. According to the Reporters Without Borders report, the e-mail warned domestic journalists about the perils of reporting on the anniversary of the 1989 pro-democracy demonstrations in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, which ended in a massacre of hundreds of people.
According to the report, Yahoo gave state security authorities details about Shi's e-mail usage that ultimately allowed them to trace the message to a computer he used at the newspaper.
"We already knew that Yahoo collaborates enthusiastically with the Chinese regime in questions of censorship, and now we know it is a Chinese police informant as well," the watchdog group declared. "Yahoo appears to be willing to go to any lengths to gain shares of the Chinese market."
Yang characterized the state's demand for the information and Yahoo's ultimate compliance as "a legal process."
Asked specifically whether the information Yahoo provided was crucial to the case or merely incidental, Yang said he did not know. Shortly after the questioning, Yahoo canceled a news conference that had been scheduled, providing no further explanation.
The exchange over Yahoo's role in Shi's conviction was barely a footnote to a conference full of triumphant talk about the transformational power of the Internet. The keynote speech was delivered by former president Bill Clinton, who characterized China's Internet entrepreneurs as a progressive force for change in Chinese society. He pointed out that Internet reports played a key role in forcing the Chinese government to acknowledge and then stamp out the deadly outbreaks of the SARS virus two years ago.
Clinton's trip to China was paid for in part by Alibaba.com, one of China's most successful Web commerce businesses. Yahoo recently purchased a 40 percent stake in the firm.
Clinton did not mention the Shi case in his speech. As he was leaving the hall, the former president declined to answer a question about the case before melting into a thicket of Chinese security and Secret Service officers.
Jack Ma, chief executive of Alibaba, said he first heard about the case on the morning of the conference and was surprised by the questions directed at Yang, his new partner.
"As a business, if you cannot change the law, follow the law," he said. "Respect the local government. We're not interested in politics. We're just focused on e-commerce."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...091001222.html
Baidu Sued Over Music Downloads
The world's biggest music companies are suing Baidu, the mainland search engine that captivated Wall Street investors, for copyright infringement in a move that could force the company to shut down its MP3 search engine, a key to the company's popularity among young Chinese Internet users.
Sherman So
The world's biggest music companies are suing Baidu, the mainland search engine that captivated Wall Street investors, for copyright infringement in a move that could force the company to shut down its MP3 search engine, a key to the company's popularity among young Chinese Internet users.
Universal, EMI, Warner, Sony BMG and their local subsidiaries, Cinepoly, Go East and Gold Label, are suing the search company in a Beijing court for infringing the copyright of hundreds of songs.
They allege that the search service makes it easy for users to listen to and download illegal copies of their songs, said a source close to the music companies. In a statement issued Thursday night in response to inquiries by The Standard, Baidu said "the company acknowledges the litigation in question."
It added that it does not, as a matter of practice, "make comments on specific litigation already [in] legal proceedings," but insists it "has always been an advocate of improving copyright protection on the Internet, and has been in discussion with relevant parties."
Baidu's vice president of marketing Liang Dong met several music company executives Wednesday to discuss copyright issues. According to the Beijing Star Daily, the companies included EMI, TR Music, Huayi Brothers, Beijing Chuangmeng Music and Guangdong Freeland Music. The outcome of the meeting was "positive," said a source at Baidu, adding that the goal is "to cooperate and make a platform for legal music downloads."
News of the lawsuits comes amid growing investor concern over the company's prospects. Baidu shares fell 28 percent Wednesday in New York trading after two analysts warned the stock was seriously overvalued.
Baidu's August 8 stock sale was one of the year's hottest initial public offerings, with shares more than quintupling from the US$27 (HK$210.60) offering price to a closing high of US$153.98 just three days later.
Even after Wednesday's US$30 plunge, the shares closed at US$83.21, more than triple the IPO price.
Although Baidu informed its investors in its prospectus about a June 20 lawsuit filed by mainland music company Shanghai Busheng Music Culture Media, alleging unauthorized downloads, it made no mention of the potentially more damaging litigation threatened by the music industry's giants. Yet letters warning about the possibility of suits were sent to the company by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry and its music company members as early as June, the source said.
Lawsuits were filed by Gold Label on July 21, and EMI and Universal on July 28, before the IPO. Warner Music filed its lawsuit on August 15, with Sony BMG going to court on September 8, the source said.
Executives at EMI and Universal have confirmed the filing of the lawsuit.
What has drawn the industry's ire is the ease with which Internet users can use Baidu's search engine to locate copies of music stored on the Web, even to the point of organizing songs into Top 10 lists by category. When a user clicks on a particular song, the engine provides a direct link to the url where the file is stored.
Since the search process is automatic, Baidu argues that it is simply providing the basic service offered by all search engines, and is not itself involved in any copyright infringement. In addition, it promises to remove the link if a company can prove it owns the right to a song. "This practice is consistent with legal requirements of PRC law," Baidu said last night.
The industry, however, argues that a Chinese court, in an earlier case, ruled MP3 searches were illegal.
ChinaMP3.com was found guilty of offering similar links to illegal copies of copyrighted songs in January, a source familiar with the case said. The company was fined 310,000 yuan (HK$297,445) in four cases involving 70 songs. Under pressure from foreign and some domestic companies, the mainland government has begun cracking down on rampant illegal downloading of everything from songs to mobile phone ringtones and movies.
Under a new legislation, fines are slapped on Web sites that offer content illegally.
Though the music companies are seeking compensation, what they most want is the suspension of services that allow Internet users to gain free access to copyrighted material.
As Internet usage soared in Asia in recent years, the music industry's revenue fell dramatically, thanks in large part to MP3 downloads from unauthorized sources.
In Korea, music sales have plunged more than 55 percent since 2001, according to the IFPI.
"We want all the illegal downloads to be stopped," said Caroline Chow, director of new media at EMI Group (Hong Kong).
According to the source familiar with the situation, the songs cited in the lawsuits filed against Baidu represent only a small part of the illegal songs that are available through Baidu's MP3 search. The companies will file additional litigation if copyright infringement persists, the source said.
Recently, Netease, one of the top three Web portals in China, shut down its MP3 search over copyright infringement concerns.
That wasn't a big blow for Netease, which relied on online gambling for 85 percent of its second-quarter revenue.
For Baidu, however, MP3 is a core business. According to Alexa, an Internet market research firm owned by Amazon.com, MP3 search contributes 22 percent of Baidu's online traffic. Others said the figure could be higher.
"Most Baidu users are young people in high schools, and what attracts them to Baidu is the MP3 search," said Lu Weigang, a market researcher at China Internet Network Information Center in Beijing.
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_d...527&con_type=1
Parental Software To Detect Dutch Illegal File Sharing
Dutch anti piracy organisation BREIN is to release free parental software on 22 September, that will detect file sharing programs such as Kazaa or illegal media files on PCs.
The software will not be able to remove those files - parents have to do this manually if they wish.
BREIN says that the software is basically a public awareness campaign. Too many youngster do not seem to realise that it is illegal to make copyrighted music available online for others to download and that illegal file sharing is hurting the music and movie business, BREIN director Tim Kuik explains. The website where the free software can be downloaded is owned by Dutch entertainment industry organisation NVPI.
The announcement has already met with fierce criticism. Theoretically, the software could also be used to collect evidence of illegal file sharing.
Just recently, BREIN lost a court case against five Dutch ISPs who refused to hand over the names of 42 suspected song swappers. BREIN had hired US company Media Sentry, which monitors popular online forums and file sharing services for copyright infringement, to gather evidence against the file swappers.
However, according to the Dutch Data Protection Authority (CBP) the collection and storage of IP addresses is only legitimate if BREIN handled it themselves. Free parental software could do this laborious job for BREIN perfectly, though the organisation insists that no information will be send back to its headquarters.
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/200..._file_sharing/
Dutch to Create Cradle-To-Grave Database
Toby Sterling
The Dutch government will begin tracking every citizen from cradle to grave in a single database, opening a personal electronic dossier for every child at birth with health and family data, and eventually adding school and police records.
The Health Ministry says the new database will begin Jan. 1, 2007.
As a privacy safeguard, no single person will be able to access someone's entire file. And each agency that contributes to the records will maintain its own files as well.
But organizations can raise "red flags" in the dossier to caution other agencies of potential problems with children, said ministry spokesman Jan Brouwer. Until now, schools and police have been unable to communicate with each other about truancy records and criminality, which are often linked.
"Child protection services will say: `Hey, there's a warning flag from the police. There's another one from school. There's another one from the doctor. Something must be going on and it's time to call the parents in for a meeting,'" Brouwer said.
Currently, all Dutch births are registered with local authorities, and children receive tax ID numbers in the mail within several weeks of birth. But their health and other records are not available in a single file.
Now each child will get a Citizens Service Number, making it easier to keep track of children with problems even when their families move.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...CTION=BUSINESS
The Connecticut Campus
Learning to Share
They´ve cracked down on illegal file-sharing, right? But there are secret networks at Connecticut universities where you can still get music and movies for free
Nathan Conz
I began college in 2000. It was the Golden Age of music downloading. A year earlier, a college student named Shawn Fanning had created Napster -- a file-sharing Internet program that allowed users to access and download music.
As Napster grew, so did its usefulness. More users meant more songs. Like many others, when I moved onto campus in late August I came armed with a brand new computer (I knew I invited all those people to my graduation party for a reason). And when I hooked that computer up to my school's network I had high-speed Internet access.
Searching Napster became a daily ritual for most college students that year. Imagine it: any song you wanted. All you had to do was type it in. In moments, the Napster program would display a list of matching files available for download. In a matter of minutes, sometimes seconds, the song could be yours and it was free.
Well, it wasn't exactly free. Someone was getting shortchanged on the whole process. Lots of students had new computers with CD-burning software. If a student could download songs for free and then burn them onto a CD, why would they ever again shell out $15 for a CD at Best Buy? Many of the songs shared on Napster everyday were copyrighted, and the artists and their record labels wanted compensation. Without it, how were the members of Metallica expected to feed their families?
Lawsuits ensued and eventually Napster was no more. Of course, the story didn't end there. Many more file-sharing programs -- called peer-to-peer (P2P) networks because they allow individuals to connect to one another to share files -- popped up or grew after Napster's demise, like Kazaa and LimeWire among others. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and other groups (movies and computer software are also commonly traded) didn't stand by idly. They've sued thousands of individuals, including a number of college students, and they've been winning. Settlements have involved cash payments and promises to stop illegal file-sharing. Despite the very real possibility of legal action, many college students are still getting their music and movies illegally via P2P networks. Some have even discovered faster and safer ways to do so. Meanwhile, colleges around the country and in Connecticut have begun to seek out legal file-sharing alternatives.
Walter Swann asked that his real name not be used for this story because "this is something I could possibly get kicked out of school for." An undergraduate at the University of Connecticut, Swann runs the UConn DC++, a file-sharing hub that only allows access to users on UConn's computer network. He's run the hub for three years; other individuals ran the hub for two years before that.
DC++ is a computer program that is Shareware, meaning anybody is allowed to use it and modify it. Swann explains that the software allows a person to run an actual server or hub for file-sharing. With just a server and DC++ software, you can run your own file- sharing network. Swann's UConn DC++ hub is a private network. He decides who can and cannot access the hub.
"UConn itself has a private network within the UConn academic network that only UConn students can logon to. So, I basically have a server in my room that allows for that."
At any given time, Swann estimates that at least 500 students are active on the UConn DC++ hub. He says that along with copyrighted materials, a lot of non-copyrighted materials, like some shared for academic purposes and music from local UConn bands, are also available. Swann does not advertise the hub as a place to download copyrighted material.
However, in MGM v. Grokster, the Supreme Court ruled in June that P2P software manufacturers could be held liable for the copyright-infringing activities of their users.
In one sense, students at UConn who use the UConn DC++ hub aren't sharing files over the Internet. Their connections never leave campus (even UConn students living off-campus are not allowed access to the hub). Since everyone sharing on the hub is on the same network, downloads are extremely fast.
"The connection speeds are phenomenal," Swann says. "I'd say my average download time for anything is 1.5 megabits a second, which basically means I can get a movie within five minutes. To download a song, the time is negligible, like two seconds."
That also makes it safer for students to share copyrighted media than on an Internet P2P network. Unlike a P2P network like Kazaa, the RIAA or another lawsuit-wielding organization can't monitor the file-sharing on UConn DC++.
"The hub is open only to UConn students, basically, because there are laws that are incorporated with academic networks, like UConn's, where outside people can't just search the network for any given reason. That allows for a lot of protection you wouldn't otherwise have," Swann says.
Sharing files on the hub also keeps students immune to bandwidth restrictions imposed by the school's network administrators. Students on ResNet (UConn's residential network) are limited to five gigabytes -- the rough equivalent of eight 74- minute CDs of data according to the ResNet website -- of uploads and downloads in a seven-day span. Surpassing that limit can restrict one's Internet access, but in-network file-sharing, like file transfers via the UConn DC++ hub, do not count towards bandwidth restrictions.
Michael Kerntke is an associate vice president and UConn's chief information officer. He says that UConn receives complaints of illegal file-sharing and copyright infringement on a regular basis from various sources such as the RIAA and MPAA.
When the school receives a complaint against a student, that student will face a disciplinary hearing.
"Normally, they will contact the student and schedule a counseling session where they go over copyright laws: the fact that it is illegal to share music and other copyrighted materials and that they [need to] cease and desist," Kerntke says.
After the third complaint against a student, his or her Internet connection is disabled.
Kerntke says that no one, to his knowledge, has been sued by the RIAA or another organization for copyright infringement on the UConn network.
Kerntke says UConn does not monitor file-sharing activities on the campus network.
"The only time we would become involved is if campus bandwidth began impacting data flow across the network and we have not had that occurrence," Kerntke says. "We don't proactively go after and seek out those that are doing file-sharing."
Students at Wesleyan University have also taken advantage of in-network connections as a way to share files. One student recently extolled the virtues of "The Network" on WesBlog '09, a web log maintained by current Wesleyan students to inform the incoming freshman class.
"The Network" appears to afford Wesleyan students the same benefits that the DC++ hub does at UConn. Only students on the school network can access the files and the transfer speeds are equally fast.
David Pesci, director of media relations at Wesleyan, says that the school does not condone illegal file-sharing, and discourages students from doing so. He also confirmed that starting this semester, Wesleyan will begin a trial partnership with the Ruckus Network, a subscription-based service that offers students a library of copyrighted songs and movies for legal download. Similar services are available from RealNetworks, Napster and Sea Blue Media among others.
The Ruckus service offers students a legal and virus-free alternative to P2P networks, says Ruckus director of communications Josh Weiner. Over 1 million licensed songs from all the major and many independent labels are available in the service's library.
The download times for Ruckus are also impressive. Weiner says a movie download will range from a few minutes to up to 20 minutes. Music files will download at a small fraction of that. Costs for the service vary from school to school. At Wesleyan, a music subscription will be free and a movie subscription will cost $19.95.
Pesci says costs relating to the Ruckus service at Wesleyan have been paid for by an anonymous donor. Although it's certainly possible that the donor is a private citizen, alumnus or otherwise, it could also be a music company. It has been reported that Sony BMG Music Entertainment has offered to pay the entire bill for some schools to offer a service such as Ruckus.
"We're reaching into our pockets," Andrew Lack, chief executive for Sony BMG told Wired magazine in April. "At a certain point, the universities have to step up, too, but this is about an investment in the future."
Unfortunately, files downloaded via Ruckus will not remain on a student's computer forever, but only for as long the student has a subscription to the service. "All of our music and movies are protected by a tethered download," Weiner says. "As long as they are a subscriber they get access to [their files], but once they stop being a subscriber, they lose the files."
http://hartfordadvocate.com/gbase/Ne...oid=oid:125718
Wireless Internet Provides Freedom
Julie Hargreaves
Upon moving in to Quinnipiac University, residents of Larson, Perlroth and Troup Halls discovered that they no longer needed to use a cord or a plug in the wall to navigate the World Wide Web. The wireless network, which was installed over the summer, gives students the opportunity to enjoy all the luxuries of the Internet without the constrictive cable.
Along with the newly implemented wireless capabilities, an ethernet jack was equipped in each of the four suit rooms. The ethernet jack is faster and more helpful for students who desire to send and receive data in large quantities.
"Wireless access points eliminate the incentive for students to install private wireless networks that conflict with and compromise the operation of the university network," said Richard Ferguson, vice president and chief information and technology officer.
Residents find their new wireless freedom satisfying and entertaining.
"The wireless network is cool because I can run around my room with my computer and still be online," said sophomore diagnostic imaging major Wesley Shay.
Although the wireless system is convenient and beneficial for the residents of Larson, Perlroth and Troup, some students are experiencing a slow or no internet connection which is due to the amount of students who are accessing the Web at the same time. Similar problems happen to students while using the wireless Internet also located in several classrooms, some residence hall common areas, the Bobcat Den and the Arnold Bernhard Library.
"Having wireless Internet is a good start, but it is really slow sometimes and not all of the web pages load properly," said Jennifer Parra, a sophomore pre-med major.
"The wireless internet works pretty fast, but sometimes it cuts you off. Some people have had a problem getting into WebAdvisor," said junior media production major and Larson Residential Advisor Tamara Irving. "The service is good as long as it works."
Residents looking to have a better Internet connection should position their laptops as close to the bathroom as possible because the wireless access points have been installed into each bathroom ceiling. If sitting in the bathroom is not something students are willing to do to get faster service, there is always the other option of using the not so convenient Internet cord.
"All wireless network users should understand that using peer-to-peer software such as BitTorrent, Kazaa, and myTunes, which generate large amounts of data traffic, will cause the users computer to be blocked temporarily from the wireless network. If you wish to use peer-to-peer file sharing software, please do so using a wired network connection. Although residents of Larson, Perloth and Troup feel that the new system still needs some work, it does seem to come in handy to most students who use it," stated Quinnipiac University Information Services in an e-mail distributed to the residents of Larson, Perlroth and Troup Halls.
"I find the wireless system to be very convenient because it creates less wire hazards and more freedom with laptop range," said sophomore business major Stephanie Gerhard.
"The system seems to work alright. I have never had a problem with it. There is an ethernet connection for anyone who needs it," said Mica Kurtz, a sophomore economics major.
If the wireless system located in the suites remains a success the university hopes to install wireless systems in all residence halls in the future.
http://www.quchronicle.com/media/pap...m-983387.shtml
RIAA, MPAA and Internet2 - A Case Of When You Can't Beat Them, Join Them
Jack Myers
The Internet2, a private network supported by 200-plus US universities, government establishments and industry, for providing colleges high-speed electronic networks as a test-bed for research on new technologies, has been joined by movie and music industry groups to examine possibilities for content distribution.
Only months after accusing 33 Internet2 users of illegally swapping music and movie files over the network, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) have suggested hand in hand with the Internet2 community. This time their objective would not be to track illegal swaps but to consider “innovative content distribution and digital rights management technologies” by studying “trends on high- performance networks” as the basis for future business models. Internet2's Chief Executive, Douglas Van Houweling, while paying no mention of the lawsuit's accusation, said that Internet2 provided unique access to the research and education community” sharing the “interest in developing secure leading-edge content distribution technologies".
Cary Sherman, President of RIAA looking forward to the collaborative effort said that this would enable production and distribution of appropriate digital content over next generation networks “in ways that protect and enhance the value of creative works". The movie studios also hope that this new move may provide direction to evolving content distribution and protection technologies, besides safeguarding their interests by steering research.
Josh Bernoff, an analyst with Forrester Research, suggested that this would establish avenues for “legitimate” digital downloads critical to freezing illegal file-shares and exchanges, in the lines of what Apple's iTunes has done in digital music. Though some skeptics believe that illegal file-sharing despite lawsuits, will remain rampant and underground, as long as legal downloads are priced, the industry is keen to establish strategies for using the Internet to their advantage in distributing content. Bernoff suggests that when consumers are ready to pay a price online for quality content, "It's just up to the studios and other players to figure out distribution questions".
Internet2 will with its faster speeds that enable quicker downloads of the heaviest files, may actually be a window of opportunity for the future of movie and recording industry to capitalize on. But current methods of distribution and digital rights actually are handicaps for the industry and far from safeguard their long-term interests.
The industry is waking to the obviously needs to prevent unauthorized copies from being transmitted on the ideal for peer-to-peer (P2P) file distribution higher speed networks like Internet2 through seeding research on sure-fire methods and tools to manage and protect digital rights. Industry analyst Mike Goodman suggests, "Internet2 was designed to make large file transfers happen quickly" and therefore is ideal for learning how an all-broadband world will look. Clearly the RIAA and MPAA have become wise to the ways of technology in defining future standards and know that if lawsuits cannot beat geeks at illegal file-shares, it is better to join them in developing something more robust for the future.
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/4024.html
EU Proposes .kid Domain
Correspondents in Strasbourg
THE European Parliament has proposed creating a new .kid internet domain name to help children navigate cyberspace safely.
The .kid domain would be reserved for websites with content designed for children and would be regularly monitored by an independent authority, the proposal suggests.
The idea was part of a report on making internet browsing safer for children who are often exposed to violence, pornography and sexual advances on the web.
When they subscribe to an internet access, parents should be offered user- friendly filters that would block access to some 260 million pornographic website available worldwide, it said.
"It's time access providers offered parents special internet services targeted at children with an automatic filter," the report's author, liberal French MEP Marielle de Sarnez, told a news conference.
She proposed that the executive European Commission create a toll- free telephone helpline for parents seeking advice on filtering the internet or avoiding chat rooms where children could be exposed to sexual propositions.
Studies from some European Union member states showed one child in three is confronted by violent, pornographic or pedophile images on the internet, she said.
http://australianit.news.com.au/arti...-15319,00.html
Microsoft Takes P2P Mainstream
Networking technology to enable mobile applications in Vista
Tom Sanders
Microsoft will ship a technology as part of Windows Vista that aims to broaden the appeal of peer to peer networking technology.
"P2P is a game-changer for application development," Microsoft product unit manager Sandeep Singhal said in a session at the Microsoft Professional Developer Conference in Los Angeles.
The technology has been available for a while, but has not taken off because it is too difficult to develop the applications and faces security issues.
P2P could especially benefit applications for mobile devices, where limited bandwidth is more of a concern, according to Singhal.
The technology is best known for its use in file-sharing applications, but is also applied in content delivery applications including streaming radio and video services.
To allow third-party developers to incorporate the technology into their software, Microsoft will build in support in Vista. The technology is part of the Windows Communication Foundation Platform, formerly known as Indigo.
"The key is that we getting a very balanced, high performance way of distributed messaging without burdening the person who is sending the data, " said Singhal.
Vista uses the P2P capabilities for a feature called 'People Near Me' that allows computers on the same network to connect.
Jim Alchin, group vice president for platforms at Microsoft, demonstrated the feature during a keynote presentation at the conference, showing how two computers could edit a single presentation.
www.vnunet.com/2142266
Blockbuster Probing Online Video-On-Demand
David Koenig
Movie-rental giant Blockbuster Inc. continues to take small steps toward a rollout of online video- on-demand in the United Kingdom while rival Netflix Inc. plans a small-scale test in the United States this year.
Blockbuster demonstrated an online video service at a trade show in Europe last week and has completed a test involving 5,000 British households, but officials downplay talk of service in the very near future.
"We are keeping a close eye on new and developing technologies," said company spokeswoman Karen Raskopf. "When and if we see a model that's economically viable, we believe that Blockbuster is well-positioned to be a force in the VOD arena."
Netflix plans to test video-on-demand this year but won't say when, where or how many households will get the set- top boxes they could use to order movies instantly.
Video-on-demand has long been touted as a touch-button technology that could make movie-rental stores obsolete. Cable providers are rushing to add video-on-demand service_ customers can start, stop, pause and rewind a movie they rent for 24 hours _ to pay- per-view schedules.
But video-on-demand has been hindered by questions about technology, cost and the lack of recently released movies. Even when combined with pay-per- view, it accounted for only 6.1 percent of the home video market in the first half of this year _ the same as a year ago, according to media researchers NPD Group Inc.
The movie-rental business has also slowed _ Blockbuster and Movie Gallery Inc. both lost money in the second quarter _ but sales of DVDs have remained strong, helped by deep price-cutting.
"Consumers have decided what the real video-on-demand is, and that's owning it," said Tom Adams, president of Adams Media Research.
Last week, several vendors that are developing a Blockbuster-branded video-on-demand service demonstrated the technology at a broadcasting convention in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The companies said in a release that they expected it to go into service next year. Blockbuster has about a dozen technicians who work part-time on development of online video.
The trade show demonstration followed last year's trial in the northern England town of Hull, in which Blockbuster gave set-top boxes to about 5,000 households. The boxes were connected to high- speed phone lines.
Raskopf said the test taught Blockbuster the skills and marketing prowess it would need run a video-on-demand service. She added that the Dallas- based company was not prepared to announce a U.K. rollout.
In addition to competition from cheap DVDs, video-on-demand faces other problems, including that movie studios generally won't allow cable operators to air movies until 45 days after the DVDs go on sale.
Netflix's test of video-on-demand this year will be "very modest," said spokesman Steve Swasey.
"It will be limited mostly by content for the reason that the studios are not licensing that many titles for electronic delivery," Swasey said.
Studios typically earn only $1 or $2 from each movie rental but can make $12 or more from each DVD sale, giving them a short-term incentive against supplying recent movies to video-on-demand services.
Russ Crupnick, a media and music analyst with NPD Data, said video-on- demand is likely to grow only slowly until it solves the problem of limited movie selection _ cable operators are typically offering only recent releases and few classics.
"Until you get to the point where video- on-demand has Netflix-like ability to order anything, and maybe when the pricing comes down a bit, it's going to be relatively flat," Crupnick said.
Adams said movie studios and video-on- demand providers should follow the music industry's recent lead by letting consumers download a wide selection at reasonable prices.
"The on-demand that makes sense to me," Adams said, "is to have every movie ever made, and you buy it, not rent it for 24 hours."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...091500034.html
Ebay to buy Skype: 'Get Some Phones In Here'
The price of 'free' turns out to be $US4 billion
Francis Till
The world's leading internet auction house, Ebay, will buy the world's leading free voice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP) peer-to-peer telephone network, Skype, in a deal that could go to $US4 billion.
Analysts are recovering from nosebleeds at the shock sticker price for a company that only months ago was being ridiculed for having no apparent business plan, only a handful of (apparently very far sighted) investors and a piddling revenue stream drawn from value added services.
In what was widely characterised as a sounding-out run at Skype in July, Rupert Murdoch was said to have failed to buy the company with an offer of around $US3 billion.
According to Reuters, Ebay said it will pay $US1.3 billion in cash and $US1.3 billion in stock for Skype, plus a further payout of up to $US1.5 billion by 2008 or 2009 if undisclosed financial targets are met. That would give the deal a total value of up to $US4.1 billion.
Skype has been being more forthcoming about revenues and other numbers in the past month, something most observers saw as courting behaviour.
Today it disclosed as part of the Ebay deal that it had anticipated revenue of $US60 million this year (up from $US7 million last year) and more than $US200 million in 2006.
At $US60 million, each of its 54 millon users is spending very little -- just over a dollar apiece on services this year.
Most of that revenue will come from users calling regular telephones from their computers through a service called SkypeOut.
But the value of those customers, at $US4.1 billion, stands at about $US76 apiece -- low for a telco (about 5 per cent of imputed value) but high for a service that has such a narrow road to sales.
The buy will be Ebay's largest ever purchase, dwarfing its 2002 $US1.5 billion acquisition of problem-plagued payment solutions provider PayPal, which it has turned into a major payment vehicle for its own operation.
Reuters says Ebay's value proposition for the acquisition is at least in part to offer buyers and sellers a way to communicate for free in real time about deals on offer through Ebay.
"Once we integrate communications into e-commerce, we think that (Skype) is going to remove considerable friction" from the buying and selling process Ebay CFO Rajiv Dutta told Reuters.
Yes, well.
Nearly half Skype's users live in Europe, a quarter are in Asia and an eighth are in North America, Reuters noted, without mentioning the most important challenge to using Skype globally: Language barriers.
Skype is also under fire from the Chinese government, which wants to lock it out for fear it will make unregulated information exchanges with the outside just a little too easy.
Reuters noted that Goldman Sachs analyst Anthony Noto had already the comms value could be added -- particularly in China -- without actually buying Skype and that the value proposition for the buy remained unclear.
Skype software has been downloaded over 164 million times and the network claims it has more than 50 million active users -- after only two years of life.
On the Skype website, the company celebrates the sale and says: "The deal also represents a major opportunity for Skype to advance its leadership in Internet voice communications and offer people worldwide new ways to communicate in a global online era. Skype, eBay and PayPal will create an unparalleled ecommerce and communications engine for buyers and sellers around the world."
It quotes Ebay CEO Meg Whitman as saying that "communications is at the heart of ecommerce and community."
Founded in 2002 by Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, the genius coders who developed (and sold) P2P network Kazaa, Skype is Luxembourg-based.
One of the fastest growing companies on the internet, Skype's 54 million members dwell in 225 countries and territories.
Skype is currently adding approximately 150,000 users a day and has created a thriving ecosystem of products, services, developers, and affiliates, the company says.
Skype is considered the market leader in virtually all countries in which it does business, the company claims.
In North America alone, Skype has more users and serves more voice minutes than any other internet voice communications provider -- a claim that deals a direct blow to Vonage, which has had few kind words for Skype.
“Our vision for Skype has always been to build the world’s largest communications business and revolutionize the ease with which people can communicate through the internet,” said Niklas Zennström, Skype CEO and co-founder. “We can’t think of any better platform to fulfill this vision to become the voice of the Internet than with eBay and PayPal.”
“We’re great admirers of how eBay and PayPal have simplified global ecommerce and payments,” said Janus Friis, Skype co-founder and senior vice president, strategy. “Together we feel we can really change the way that people communicate, shop and do business online.”
Mssrs Zennström and Friis will remain in their current positions, with Mr Zennström also reporting to Ms Whitman as a member of Ebay’s senior executive team.
No word, yet, on any plans or ideas Mssrs Zennström and Friis might have for their next disruptive technology innovation.
http://www.nbr.co.nz/home/column_art...ame=Technology
Verso Intros Skype Filter
Press Release
Verso Technologies, Inc., a leading provider of packet-based solutions, today announced the introduction of its new carrier grade application filter, which offers a bandwidth optimization and content management tool specifically for the carrier market. This new application provides the most comprehensive array of optimization and content management options currently available for cable operators and internet protocol service providers seeking to selectively disable undesirable network traffic and improve service levels on their networks. Applications such as Skype, Peer-2-Peer (P2P) messaging, streaming media and instant messaging increasingly cause congestion on service provider networks and interrupt or degrade service for other critical applications.
Applications such as Skype enable an end-user to utilize a computer with an Internet connection to place a voice call to another end-user who is also running a Skype application, free of charge, over the internet.
VoIP calls break conversations into data packets that get routed over the Internet, which is more efficient and less expensive than the traditional circuit-switched phone system. However, these calls typically run through multiple carriers' IP networks and consume large amounts of bandwidth. This traffic runs outside the traditional carrier revenue generation models and is therefore highly undesirable for them.
Furthermore, carriers currently do not have a feasible way to separately monitor and restrict this type of traffic on their network. Verso's new technology would fill this void.
Verso's application filter is a carrier grade solution running on Intel-based NEBS compliant hardware and is based on Verso's proprietary, patent-pending technology. The new carrier grade filter improves a carrier's quality of service and does not degrade performance or affect voice or data quality for the carrier and does not introduce any additional single point of failure in the network.
"This is a first of kind technology we are introducing in the carrier marketplace," said Monty Bannerman, president and chief operating officer, Verso Technologies. "The introduction of Verso's application filter reinforces the company's focus on the network application space and strengthens our position as a leader in optimization technology.
This application should be of great interest to any facilities based carrier in the world. Now that the application has successfully completed its pre-production trials, we are working with tier-1 carriers to conduct the first production field trial for this application. We believe that the application has tremendous market opportunity because it addresses an increasingly critical carrier requirement as P2P traffic continues to grow worldwide."
http://www.lightreading.com/document...WT.svl=wire1_1
Talk 2 NE1, NE Time 4 Free
PeerMe, a peer-to-peer Internet telephony provider, on Wednesday launched in India its first beta product that provides free, unlimited voice communications over the Net.
The company will soon launch a series of new offerings to support its goal of providing voice-enabled portals and applications on the Internet.
"With India's rapidly growing Internet population, currently more than 25 million users and the fifth largest world-wide, our vision is to bring a human connection to the Internet through voice-enabling it.
Using industry standard protocols, PeerMe's peer-to-peer voice system provides sound quality almost equal to Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), free and unlimited to any Internet-connected PC user worldwide," said PeerMe director Shailendra Kumar.
"Similar to the impact of mobile telephones, PeerMe allows computer users to communicate with their network of friends, family and colleagues anywhere, anytime. We are committed to enabling online communities and helping to bring people around the world together through the use of our easy-to-use technology.," said Tom Lasater, founder and CEO of PeerMe.
"What sets PeerMe apart is our technology, which is aimed at voice- enabling the Internet. In addition to our first product, which provides free communication over the Web in the form of superior quality voice or instant messaging, our technology is designed for integration into websites and portals enabling direct communication between online users," he added.
PeerMe has developed a messaging environment supporting PC-to-PC and PC-to-handheld voice communications and instant messaging over public Internet connections.
Its technology can be used independently by connecting on a peer-to- peer basis or integrated into Web communities, thus bringing a new generation of interactive connectivity to users.
PeerMe does not require special configuration, works behind firewalls, and can be easily downloaded at home or workplace.
In addition to the P2P voice technology service, an application programming interface (API) that enables website developers to add voice communications and instant messaging to their sites will be provided as well.
PeerMe's API helps Web developers use or combine voice communications and instant messaging capabilities.
For example, an Internet price comparison site could utilize the API so that site users can search through the list of sellers offering specific brands and click on the PeerMe icon to talk to any online seller instantly.
Founded last year, PeerMe Inc is a privately-held company with offices in Mountain View, California., Tokyo, Japan, South Korea, India, Bulgaria and Austin, Texas.
http://infotech.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1231054.cms