In The News

["Olga Francois" <ofrancois@xxxxxxxx>]

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Copyright News: New Microsoft DRM Scheme
By: DVD Digest on May 04, 2004
http://www.digital-digest.com/dvd/shownews.php?newsid=093

"Microsoft has unveiled a new copy protection software which aims to
make media files un-usable after a set period of time. The software will
allow files to be transferred to new portable devices that also support
the new protection measure."
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321 Software head asked to testify to House subcommittee
By Jim Suhr, Associated Press, USAToday.com, 5/3/2004
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2004-05-03-321-head-to-testify_x.htm

"ST. LOUIS - The creator of DVD-copying software being challenged by
Hollywood is taking his case to Capitol Hill, in support of a measure
meant to further define consumers' rights under federal copyright laws."
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Commission joins calls for single European market in music copyright
by Leigh Phillips, dmeurope.com, 04/05/2004 
http://www.dmeurope.com/default.asp?ArticleID=1679

"The European Commission has warned the sixteen organisations that
collect royalties on behalf of musicians in Europe that their so-called
Santiago agreement is potentially in breach of European Union
competition rules."
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p2p file sharing splits musicians
By p2pnet.net News:- 
http://p2pnet.net/story/1349

"Musicians are sharply divided about how much impact file sharing has on
the music business.
Those who earn most of their income from music are more inclined than
'starving musicians' to back the RIAA, but even very committed musicians
don't believe Big Music's sue 'em all campaign is doing much good.
*
REPORT: Preliminary results of survey of musicians
April 30, 2004
http://www.pewinternet.org/reports/toc.asp?Report=123
Download the full report in Adobe PDF format
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Senate to mull copyright, piracy measures
By Declan McCullagh, CNET News.com, April 30, 2004
http://news.com.com/2110-1028_3-5203059.html

"The Senate Judiciary committee on Thursday approved four intellectual
property bills, clearing the way for votes on the Senate floor. The
measures would criminalize using camcorders in movie theaters; increase
fees for patent applications; clarify existing law dealing with joint
applications for patents; and permit the Justice Department to bring
civil lawsuits against copyright pirates."
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India in the USTR priority watch list
By Indiantelevision.com Team, 4 May 2004
http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k4/may/may16.htm

"MUMBAI: Five countries -- Egypt, South Korea, Kuwait, Pakistan and
Turkey -- have made it into the US's priority watch list for
intellectual property theft. This was revealed in an annual report
published by the US Trade Representative's (USTR) office. The list
lowered Poland to its regular watch list."
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Israel left in second-rank blacklist of copyright violators
By Ora Coren, Haaretz Correspondent, haaretzdaily.com
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/423448.html

"The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has left Israel in its second-ranking
list of companies abusing intellectual property rights, instead of
downgrading it to the third list as it had threatened to do."
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RIAA Files Nearly 500 New Lawsuits
By TechWeb News, April 30, 2004 
http://www.techweb.com/wire/story/TWB20040430S0003

"Keeping the pressure on illegal music downloading, the Recording
Industry Association of America (RIAA) filed another 477 lawsuits
against alleged file sharers this week." 
*
More Coverage:
http://news.com.com/2100-1027_3-5201637.html
http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,63263,00.html
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Google says third parties see copyright violations
By Reuters, forbes.com , 04.29.04
http://www.forbes.com/business/services/newswire/2004/04/29/rtr1353466.html

"LOS ANGELES - Google Inc., the world's No. 1 Web search engine, said on
Thursday in a public filing that it had been notified by other companies
of potential copyright violations."
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Apple disables iTunes song-swapping tool
By Ina Fried,  CNET News.com, April 28, 2004
http://news.com.com/2100-1027_3-5201781.html

"Among other additions Apple Computer made to its iTunes software, the
Mac maker has plugged a hole that allowed some people to download music
from another computer."
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Court sets date in Napster damages cases
By Reuters,  April 28, 2004
http://news.com.com/2110-1027_3-5201817.html

"A federal judge in San Francisco set June 14 to hear motions to dismiss
lawsuits claiming investors in Napster kept the song-swap site going,
costing the music industry $17 billion in lost sales. Napster went
bankrupt in 2002 and was bought by software firm Roxio, which relaunched
it as a pay-for-use service last year. Roxio was not named in these
latest cases."