Jailtime coming for two software pirates1
Yesterday, two brothers accused of software piracy were sentenced to multi-year prison sentences, said the US Department of Justice.
Maurice Robberson and his brother Thomas Robberson were sentenced to 36 and 30 month sentences respectively and ordered to pay $1 million USD in restitution. In November both men plead guilty to felony copyright infringement.
Both men sold counterfeit software through their websites Bestvalueshoppe.com, TheDealDepot.net, CDsalesUSA.com, and AmericanSoftwareSales.com. Both men agreed to pay back all revenue made by the sites which equaled the $1 million USD restitution.
“People who steal the intellectual property of others for their personal financial gain, while defrauding consumers who think they are buying legitimate products, will be punished for their crimes, as today’s sentences prove,” said Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher.
Both men received complaints from software copyright holders but denied wrong doing. Undercover FBI agents then purchased items from one of their sites and found a network of other sites selling pirated software.
FutureShop to offer HD DVD “amnesty” deal
The large Canadian retailer FutureShop has announced that anyone who bought a now obsolete HD DVD player now has the option to trade it in for a $100 CAD discount on the purchase of one of two hybrid HD players, the Samsung BD-UP5000 or the LG BH200. The hybrid players will play both HD DVD titles and Blu-ray titles. Any HD DVD player is up for the deal no matter how much they cost to begin with.
The new deal, which will last until April 3rd, will see all the received HD DVD players donated to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada.
A similar deal was made recently by the giant US retailer Circuit City to allow users to return their HD DVD players within 3 months or trade them in for Blu-ray players.
Samsung and Adidas to compete against Nike+iPod
Samsung and Adidas have announced the launch of the miCoach workout tracking system in an effort to compete with the popular Nike+iPod program jointly run by Apple and Nike.
miCoach will combine the Samsung miCoach mobile phone with “a heartrate monitor and stride sensor to provide accurate feedback about workout activities.” There was no word on pricing yet but the system will be available in Europe beginning next week.
“miCoach is the most advanced interactive training system in the marketplace, blending sophisticated mobile technology with the most advanced in sport innovation and training,” added Eric Liedtke, VP of Adidas Brand Marketing. “The uniqueness of miCoach is that it collects and analyzes personal data and then customizes training plans based on your fitness level and specific goals, while giving you real-time feedback during your workout via the miCoach phone.”
The mobile phone in itself has good specifications without the heartrate monitor or stride sensor including seven colorways, a 2 megapixel camera, 1GB memory capacity and a slider portion.
New, larger HDD model of Xbox 360 coming?
Microsoft may be planning to upgrade the Xbox 360 Pro to a 60GB HDD model, if new rumors are to be believed. The mid-tier model of the popular game console currently offers 20 GB of storage and the new rumor touts that Microsoft will be replacing the stock 20GB drive with the much higher capacity 60GB drive.
The upgraded console will come at the end of May or early June and although no exact reasons for given for the upgrade, we can imagine it is due to the growing power of the Xbox Video Marketplace and the larger size of game demos from the Xbox Live arcade.
On top of the upgrade, it is believed the company is considering a completely new model, although what will be inside this new model is uncertain as of yet. Could it possibly have an internal Blu-ray drive? We will keep you updated on any new developments.
Beatles finally coming to iTunes?
The United Press International has reported that a tentative agreement between Apple and former Beatle Paul McCartney had been made which would mean that the Beatles’ back catalog will finally be available for digital distribution on iTunes.
The deal, which could be in excess of $400 million USD, will be split between all the former members of the Beatles, Sony, EMI, and Michael Jackson all of which have some rights to the songs, whether it be in publishing, recording or reproduction.
Paul McCartney recently released his latest solo work for distribution on iTunes and that was followed by the release of John Lennon’s solo work prompting widespread rumors that the Beatles catalog would soon follow. There has been no official announcement from either McCartney or Apple so for now the report is just speculation but we will keep you updated.
YouTube introduces search term ads
Google-owned Youtube has introduced a new ad platform to turn the heads of advertisers. In addition to traditional text ads YouTube now allows search term based adverts that are displayed on the top of the search results. Like the ones on Google search the YouTube search term ads are separated from the actual results by their background color.
Costing Google a hefty $1.76 billion YouTube has not yet turned into a money making machine. However, the integration of the new ad platform was not as an easy task as one could’ve thought.
“In hindsight, it is a natural transition for YouTube to make. We’ve been working on this for months. The key was, we wanted to make sure we got it right. There are a lot of intricacies involved. YouTube is a video discovery platform. We’ve been integrating with Google AdWords for some time, and now we’re at a place where it can be win and win,” said YouTube product manager Matthew Liu to CNET News.
There are no limitations regarding who can buy the ads but due to the formula used to determine ad placements - combining popularity of the video and money paid - companies will most likely buy off the most popular search terms. There will be however a chance to buy yourself the 15 seconds - or minutes in this case - of fame.
Search ads are currently used only in the U.S. but will be expanded to other countries and regions in the future as well.
TorrentValley shut down in a raid
One of the largest BitTorrent sites on the Internet, TorrentValley.com, has been shut down in a raid by Bulgarian authorities. The so-called Cyber Crime Unit got tipped off by the Bulgarian Association of Musical Producers (BAMP).
“Torrentvalley was a major international source of copyright infringing material. This site was a gate towards more than 5 000 torrent-trackers from all over the world. The decisive action by the authorities shows that Bulgaria is no haven for copyright abuse in Internet and makes efforts to protect the rights of those involved in the creative industries,” said the BAMP representative Ina Kileva.
The press release by IFPI estimates that TorrentValley aided the distribution of more than one million copyright infringing files.
This is not the first time Bulgarian authorities have acted against BitTorrent sites. In 2006 police arrested the admin of Arenabg.com, who was soon released due to lack of evidence.
RIAA lawyers still fighting to stop Jammie Thomas’ new trial
Last year a Minnesota woman became the first person ever to lose a P2P copyright infringement case to the RIAA. It was initially heralded as a victory for the RIAA’s argument that simply offering files for download violated copyright holders’ exclusive rights. But after Thomas appealed the decision she was granted a new trial based on the judge’s determination that the RIAA’s legal theory was directly contradicted by everything from legislative intent to prior caselaw. But instead of getting her day in court she’s once again fighting for her new trial as the RIAA looks to appeal her appeal.
Confused yet? Well that’s probably the point. In fact, like much of what RIAA lawyers claim, their justification for appealing the decision doesn’t seem to have much in common with the facts. It goes something like this.
The entire “making available” claim is based on a number of cases involving secondary infringement. In each of those cases the defendant was a third party who contributed to someone else’s copyright infringement. In setting aside the original judgement and ordering a new trial Judge Michael J. Davis said as much.
Now RIAA lawyers are asking to delay the new trial while they appeal his decision to grant the new trial. And the reasoning behind the request? Basically they’re ignoring what the judge said and claiming there’s dissent among different judges as to whether simply offering files for download constitutes distribution of those files.
[More]>>
RIAA lawyers still fighting to stop Jammie Thomas’ new trial
Last year a Minnesota woman became the first person ever to lose a P2P copyright infringement case to the RIAA. It was initially heralded as a victory for the RIAA’s argument that simply offering files for download violated copyright holders’ exclusive rights. But after Thomas appealed the decision she was granted a new trial based on the judge’s determination that the RIAA’s legal theory was directly contradicted by everything from legislative intent to prior caselaw. But instead of getting her day in court she’s once again fighting for her new trial as the RIAA looks to appeal her appeal.
Confused yet? Well that’s probably the point. In fact, like much of what RIAA lawyers claim, their justification for appealing the decision doesn’t seem to have much in common with the facts. It goes something like this.
The entire “making available” claim is based on a number of cases involving secondary infringement. In each of those cases the defendant was a third party who contributed to someone else’s copyright infringement. In setting aside the original judgement and ordering a new trial Judge Michael J. Davis said as much.
Now RIAA lawyers are asking to delay the new trial while they appeal his decision to grant the new trial. And the reasoning behind the request? Basically they’re ignoring what the judge said and claiming there’s dissent among different judges as to whether simply offering files for download constitutes distribution of those files.
[More]>>
Sandisk introduces 8GB Sansa Clip
Sandisk has added a new model to their Sansa Clip line of MP3 players. This new addition features 8GB of storage and will have a MSRP of $99.99. It joins existing models with 2GB and 4GB capacity which retail for $39.99 and $59.99 respectively.
The Sansa Clip is a line of small flash-based music portable music players. It’s small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. It weights less than an ounce and is designed to be clipped to clothing, a backpack, or a purse.
Audio formats supported include MP3, WMA, and WAV. They also feature a built in voice recorder and FM tuner.
