EU reopens review of Sony-BMG music venture
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The European Commission has lifted a  suspension of its review of a venture by Japanese electronics  giant Sony and Germany&#39;s Bertelsmann that created the world&#39;s  number two music company.
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Bertelsmann [BERT.UL] expects it will cost around 370 million euros ($445 million) to bring together and restructure Sony BMG, its music joint venture with Japan&#39;s Sony (6758.
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The European Commission has opened two new antitrust investigations of Microsoft&#39;s activities.The first case is in response to a complaint from the European Committee for Interoperable Systems, a Brussels-based trade group of which Opera Software is a member, and concerns the interoperability of Windows with other software, the Commission said Monday.The second investigation is looking into Microsoft&#39;s tactic of bundling software products with its Windows operating system. This follows a complaint to the Commission by Opera, a Norwegian browser developer.Both issues featured in the Commission&#39;s landmark March 2004 antitrust decision against Microsoft, which the company unsuccessfully challenged in court.(More to come.)
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The U.S. Department of Justice has requested information from Sony BMG and Universal Music Group about their talks to launch an online music subscription service, said a record company executive on Thursday.
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The European Commission opens a probe into Microsoft and Time Warner's plans to buy anti-piracy firm ContentGuard.
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U.S. regulators said Tuesday that Sony BMG Music Entertainment agreed to reimburse consumers up to $150 for damage to their computers from CDs with hidden anti-piracy software.
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(InfoWorld) - Consumers in Europe have another group looking out for their digital rights with the opening of a Brussels office by the U.S. nonprofit group the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). The EFF has battled the U.S. government and corporations to protect the rights of consumers and technologists in areas like free speech, data privacy and digital rights management. It has brought or helped to defend cases against the U.S. Department of Justice, Apple, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, AT&T, and others. On Monday it opened an office in Brussels, home of the European Commission and the European Parliament, and said it would play a more active role in shaping European law and advocating on behalf of European citizens. The office was funded partly by Mark Shuttleworth, the South African dot-com billionaire who launched the Ubuntu Linux distribution, and by the Open Society Institute, a U.S. grants foundation chaired by George Soros. Erik Josefsson will be the EFF's European Affairs Coordinator. He was previously the head of the Swedish chapter of the Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure, which helped overturn the proposal for a unified patent system in Europe. The EFF didn't say which issues it would pick up in Europe. Areas it could potentially get involved with include the battle under way against Apple to force it to open its digital rights management (DRM) system, so songs bought from its iTunes Store can play on music players other than Apple's iPod. It has already been involved in some European cases. A few years ago it set up a defense fund for the Norwegian teenager Jon Johannsen, known as "DVD Jon," who was accused of creating an illegal program, DeCSS, to watch DVDs on his Linux computer. He was eventually acquitted by a Norwegian court. In the U.S. the group has fought the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, a controversial law that seeks to prevent people from cracking DRM systems to access copyright works, but which critics say has been misused to inhibit innovation and fair use. It also brought aÂ class action suit against Sony BMGÂ over the "rootkit" copy-protection technology used in some of its music CDs, helping U.S. and Canadian customers to get refunds. And it helped defend several bloggers who were sued by Apple for allegedly leaking information about upcoming products to online news sites. Its current cases include a class-action suit against AT&T for wire-tapping on behalf of the U.S. government, and a suit in Florida on behalf of citizens whose votes were not properly registered by e-voting machines.
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The European Commission (EC) opened an in-depth investigation on Wednesday into plans by Microsoft Corp. and Time Warner Inc. to take over U.S. digital rights management (DRM) company ContentGuard Holdings Inc.
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German media group Bertelsmann is  considering selling a part of its 50 percent stake in Sony BMG,  the music recording company it owns jointly with Sony Corp, a  source familiar with the situation said.
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The U.S. Department of Justice has  requested information from Sony BMG and Universal Music Group  about their talks to launch an online music subscription  service, said a record company executive on Thursday.
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Commission expected to resume probe over proposed deal after suspending it in April, source says. BRUSSELS  - The European Commission is expected to resume its probe of software group Oracle Corp.
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The European Commission said Friday it has resumed its antitrust review of an investment by Microsoft Corp. and Time Warner Inc. in anti-piracy software company ContentGuard Inc.
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Independent music companies are launching a legal challenge to the European Union&#39;s decision to allow the merger of Sony and Bertelsmann (BMG).
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Europe's top court said on Thursday  Japanese electronics giant Sony and Germany's Bertelsmann have  appealed against an annulment of their joint venture that  created the world's second-largest music company.
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European antitrust regulators said Monday they have extended their review of a deal between Microsoft Corp. and Time Warner Inc. to make anti-piracy software together.
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By David Lawsky BRUSSELS  - The European Commission has stopped the clock on its review of Microsoft and Time Warner's purchase of U.S. anti-piracy software maker ContentGuard, a spokesman for the EU executive said on Tuesday.
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Online music company eMusic on Tuesday said it was revamping its service to provide commentary and reviews to complement its catalog of more than 500,000 tracks from independent labels.