BROADBAND
Map Files Suit Challenging FCC Internet Cable
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Web Radio's Last Stand
Broadcasters Don't Crave This TV
Timetable Set In Napster Lawsuit
BROADBAND
MAP FILES SUIT CHALLENGING FCC INTERNET CABLE
The Media Access Project (MAP) today filed a lawsuit on behalf of three
citizens groups -- Consumer Federation of America, Consumers Union and the
Center for Digital Democracy -- to challenge the Federal Communications
Commission's classification of Internet access delivered via cable modems to
be an "information service." According to MAP, if not reversed in court, the
FCC's action effectively freed cable operators from having to provide
non-discriminatory "open access" to the public.
[SOURCE: Media Access Project]
(http://www.mediaaccess.org/press/march25release.pdf)
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
WEB RADIO'S LAST STAND
A recent ruling by the U.S. Copyright Office states that under the Digital
Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), online radio stations must pay a royalty
fee of 14/100 of a cent per song, per listener. The ruling is retroactive
through October 1998. In this article, the program director and general
manager of SomaFM, an Internet-only radio station with about 20,000 daily
listeners, discusses the current fee structure to air music online, the
tremendous financial impact the new ruling will have his station and others,
and plans to ensure SomaFM stays on the air. The ruling could result in fee
increases of $1,000 a day for stations like SomaFM and several small
Internet stations have already shut down operations. Webcasters have
responded by launching a "Save Internet Radio" campaign in an attempt to
amend the DMCA to state that Internet broadcasters should be treated the
same as over-the-air broadcasters.
[SOURCE: Salon, AUTHOR, Katherine Mieszkowski]
(http://salon.com/tech/feature/2002/03/26/web_radio/index.html)
BROADCASTERS DON'T CRAVE THIS TV
More than two years after losing a legal battle with the broadcast industry,
defunct ICraveTV is being resurrected with a slightly different name and new
management. ICraveTV, a Canadian company that began streaming television
shows online in 1999, was shut down after a U.S. judge ruled that the
practice violated copyright laws. Herbert Becker, new owner of the new
company, said he is aware of the legal risks associated with putting
broadcast content online, but he believes a somewhat different business
model and changing market conditions will give the new iCrave a better shot
at avoiding lawsuits. "In the three years that have passed since iCrave
originally launched, the networks, broadcasters and content owners have come
to grips with the idea that shows will be going on the Internet," Becker
said. While the company has promised that the new site will employ
technology that prevents viewers from saving programs and thus protects
copyrights, lawyers and content owners are not convinced that such
protections were sufficient to avoid the ire of the broadcast industry.
[SOURCE: Wired, AUTHOR: Joanna Glasner]
(http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,51303,00.html)
TIMETABLE SET IN NAPSTER LAWSUIT
A fel judge ordered Sony, Warner, Universal, EMI and BMG to give Napster
more than 500,000 documents concerning partnersderahip agreements for two
joint ventures offering paid online music subscriptions. Napster is looking
for evidence of copyright misuse, claiming that the record labels should not
receive large damages if they misused their own copyrights to gain a
monopoly in online music subscription services. The documents will be sent
to Napster in the next month and have also been sent to the Justice
Department for an investigation into possible antitrust activities.
Additionally, Napster may take depositions from third-party companies that
partnered with the record labels during a period when licensing agreements
between Napster and the major labels appeared stalled. A lawyer representing
the record companies has said the record labels were not involved in
anti-competitive activities nor did they seek to stop Napster from
re-launching its subscription service.
[SOURCE: Silicon Valley News, AUTHOR: Ron Harris, Associated Press]
(http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/2939975.htm)
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