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Feb 05, `08 — Three global record companies, Universal Music Ltd, Sony BMG Music Entertainment (Hong Kong) Ltd and Warner Music Hong Kong Ltd, have launched legal proceedings against China’s top Internet search engine Baidu.com, accusing it of violating copyright by giving access to music files, International Federation of the Phonographic Industry said in a press release on Monday, Feb 04.

* New legal proceedings brought against Baidu
* Copyright infringement actions against Sohu and its associate company Sogou
* Yahoo China in breach of copyright violation judgment

After months of fruitless negotiations, legal proceedings have been filed on Feb 04, against the China’s biggest internet company, Baidu. Separate actions have also been brought against Sohu and its associate company Sogou. Meanwhile, Yahoo China faces fresh proceedings following its refusal to comply with a landmark ruling in December confirming it violated Chinese law by committing mass copyright infringement.

All of the Chinese companies involved operate similar services based on delivering music to their users via “deep links” to hundreds of thousands of infringing tracks on third party sites, with the aim of driving their own advertising revenue. Such services have been confirmed as in breach of copyright by the December judgment of the Beijing Higher People’s Court. Each of them is a driver of copyright abuse in China, where the huge potential for the online music sector is being stymied by copyright theft.

China has potentially the largest online music-buying public in the world with as many broadband connections as the United States. Currently, however, more than 99 per cent of all music files distributed in the country are pirate and China’s total legitimate music market, at US$76 million, accounts for less than one per cent of global recorded music sales.

Monday (Feb 04)’s actions follow in the wake of a decisive judgment against Yahoo China in December 2007 by the Beijing Higher People’s Court. The court’s finding that Yahoo China’s music delivery service is illegal under Chinese law sets a precedent for cases against similar operations in China.

Three record companies have now filed proceedings against Baidu. The new claims have been filed with the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court by Universal Music Ltd, Sony BMG Music Entertainment (Hong Kong) Ltd and Warner Music Hong Kong Ltd. The three companies are asking the court to order Baidu to remove all links on its music delivery service to copyright infringing tracks that they own the rights to.

Action is also being taken today against Sohu and its associate company Sogou, which operates a similar service. Sogou makes profits through advertising that appears on the service and through sponsorship. Sogou also actively induces and encourages copyright infringement by means of recommendations and charts, while Sohu provides deep linking services through its associate company.

Sohu is the official sponsor of internet content service (ICS) for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

The legal action is being brought by four record companies: Universal Music Limited, Gold Label Entertainment Limited, Sony BMG Music Entertainment (Hong Kong) Limited and Warner Music Hong Kong Limited. The cases were also filed at the Beijing No.1 Intermediate People’s Court. They follow four prior notices that were sent to both companies from July 2007 onward.

The claims against Baidu, Sohu and Sogou will be served on the respective companies by the court after the Chinese New Year.

Meanwhile, Yahoo China has still not complied with the December ruling made against it by the Chinese appeal court. As a consequence, the plaintiffs in that case have now filed execution proceedings against Yahoo China, asking the court to force Yahoo China to comply with the earlier judgment.

More at International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.

New Agreement Settles Dispute and Covers All Receivers in the XM Product Line with Recording Functionality.

NEW YORK, Dec 17, `07 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Universal Music Group (UMG) and XM Satellite Radio today announced that they have resolved the lawsuit brought by UMG against XM over its Pioneer Inno, a portable satellite receiver with advanced recording functionality. The companies did not disclose terms of the deal.

As part of the agreement, UMG becomes the first music company to reach a multi-year deal covering all XM radios with advanced recording functionality, including both those currently available as well as future product releases. In addition, UMG will withdraw as a party to the complaint filed by the major record companies against XM in May, 2006. More at XMRadio.

Amsterdam, The Netherlands — Dec 04, ‘07 — At the annual Nokia World conference today, Nokia Oyj announced it has agreed with the world’s largest music group Universal to offer free 12-month access to Universal artists’ music for buyers of Nokia’s music phones.

The world’s top cellphone maker said it has signed up Universal Music Group International, owned by French media giant Vivendi, for its new “Comes With Music” offering and is eyeing similar deals with other labels before the offer starts in the second half of 2008.

Nokia said the new offering would differ from other packages on the market as consumers can keep all the music they have downloaded for free during the 12 month period.

“We set out to create the music experience that people are telling us they are looking for - all the music they want in the form of unlimited downloads to their mobile device and PC,” said Anssi Vanjoki, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Multimedia, Nokia.

“Even if you listened to music 24 hours a day, seven days a week, you would still only scratch the surface of the music that we’re making available. Comes with Music fulfils our dream to give consumers all the music they want, wherever they want it, while rewarding the artists who create it.”

“The financial barrier to try new music is completely removed. It fundamentally changes a lot of business logic in the music industry,” said Nokia spokesman Damian Stathonikos. The free access to new music could hurt peer-to-peer networking while also raising pressure on Apple Inc.

Nokia outlines its vision of Internet evolution and commitment to environmental sustainability:

Ovi - your personal dashboard to life
Nokia also gave further details of the upcoming Ovi Internet services environment. Ovi, meaning ‘door’ in Finnish, enables consumers to easily access their existing social network and content, acting as a dashboard to a person’s life.

“Ovi combines the mobile, PC and web environments into an easy to use experience with common user interface elements that provide consistency and simplicity,” said Vanjoki. “We started the Ovi services rollout with the individual services in navigation, music and games, and the next step is to provide an integrated experience. The complete Ovi environment and new services will be rolled out continuously throughout 2008.”

Towards greater environmental sustainability
Nokia also outlined its long heritage in addressing environmental issues and commitment to driving new initiatives in the mobile industry in areas such as energy efficiency, materials used in products, take back, recycling, and packaging. This was against the background of the launch of the Nokia 3110 Evolve, a mobile device with bio-covers made from more than 50% renewable material. The device is presented in a small package made of 60% recycled content and it comes with Nokia’s most energy efficient charger yet, using 94% less energy than the Energy Star requirements. More at Nokia.

Los Angeles, Calif — Dec 03, ‘07 — A federal judge on Monday threw out an antitrust lawsuit brought by the operator of the LimeWire online file-sharing service against a coalition of major record labels, concluding the firm failed to make its case that it has been harmed by the recording companies’ business practices, Alex Veiga of the Associated Press reported.

U.S. District Judge Gerard E. Lynch in New York ruled that Lime Group LLC failed to make its case that it has been harmed by the recording companies’ business practices, and he granted the companies’ motion to dismiss the claims.

Lynch also dismissed several claims brought under state laws “without prejudice,” which gives New York-based Lime Group the option to pursue the claims in state court.

Lime Group’s lawsuit was a counterclaim to a copyright infringement lawsuit brought last year against by record labels owned by the four major recording companies: Vivendi’s Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group Corp., Britain’s EMI Group PLC, and Sony BMG Music Entertainment, a joint venture of Sony Corp. and Bertelsmann AG.

That case, which is still pending, was the first piracy lawsuit brought against a distributor of file-sharing software after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2005 that technology companies could be sued for copyright infringement on the grounds they encouraged customers to steal music and movies over the Internet. More at Google/AP.

Remember last month NBC and FOX launched ad supported online video site Hulu?

The site is still in private beta and invitation only. I just received the invitation and here’s a sample clip from NBC’s 30 Rock, in which “Liz finally talks to Cerie about her inappropriate choice of clothing at the office.”

With a very quick look it sounds like Hulu have a fairly nice collection of SNL, 30 Rock, Tonight Show, The Office and other videos, considering its still in beta and the full screen resolution was  quite good.

If NBC and partners make full range of Tonight Show, SNL, 30 Rock and alike available at the full launch, the site will be booming with web viewers, making up for the market share NBC has lost in recent years.

You can sign up for private beta at  Hulu.

Seoul, S Korea — Universal Parks & Resorts and South Korea’s Gyeonggi province said Tuesday, Nov 27, that they had agreed on plans for a $3.1-billion theme park to be built south of Seoul, its largest project in terms of investment size, as it seeks to expand in Asia’s burgeoning entertainment market.

The park, in Hwaseong City in Gyeonggi province, about 18.5 miles (30 km) southwest of the capital Seoul, set to open in 2012 and will lead to the creation of more than 58,000 jobs, is expected to draw 10 million people annually from South Korea, China and Southeast Asia, said Kim Moon-soo, governor of Gyeonggi province.

The theme park, spanning 4.7 million square meters (50.59 million sq ft) and featuring hotels, golf courses and rides based on popular movies and TV shows, would be similar in scale to the Universal Orlando Resort in Florida in the United States.

“This is certainly going to be much larger than the other projects that have been announced,” Frank Stanek, who spearheaded the development of Tokyo Disneyland and is in charge of developing Universal Studios Korea, told a news conference.

Universal Parks & Resorts is also developing two other parks Singapore’s Sentosa Island and the Gulf emirate of Dubai.

Universal Studios, operated by NBC Universal Inc., a unit of General Electric Co., is joining forces with POSCO Engineering and Construction, a unit of South Korean steel giant POSCO, and state-run Korea Development Bank, among other partners.

Shinhan Bank, a unit of Shinhan Financial Group, and Korea Investment & Securities, a unit of Korea Investment Holdings are also part of the consortium.

“Universal Music Group is in discussions with other major labels to launch an online music subscription service that will be initially free with some digital players, a source familiar with the talks said on Monday.” Reuters is further reporting, “Called Total Music, the service is aimed at boosting Universal’s digital media revenue as CD sales plummet, the source said. It could also help reduce the leverage that Apple Inc has on the digital music market.”

On the same story InformationWeek writes, “The company is working with other major record labels, mobile device manufacturers, and wireless providers to give deliver music in a new way, according to a report on BusinessWeek.com. The move is the latest in a series of developments by the recording industry to shore up profits and regain control they have lost as consumers transition to downloading music — both through iTunes and piracy.”