RealNetworks just lobbed its appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals in the case revolving around its DVD-copying software, RealDVD.
A U.S. District judge issued a preliminary injunction against RealNetworks in August to stop sales, and renewed it in October.
In the appeal, which is embedded after the jump, RealNetworks said the judge was using the wrong legal standard and more.
Essentially–although AOL is located in New York and not California–it’s going to be like tremors before the Big One at the online company today as about 100 employees are set to be laid off by management.
It is part of AOL CEO Tim Armstrong’s “Project Everest”–the code name for cost-cutting across the company. After this small cut, there could be a call for voluntary departures, followed by a much more drastic layoff.
The action comes in the same timeframe as the online site’s spinoff from Time Warner.
The Seattle area is going to get another jobless jolt today, with RealNetworks planning to lay off four percent of its workforce, sources said.
That’s a small number–just about 70 people out of its 1,700-person staff–but the move comes on the heels of layoffs of another 800 employees at nearby Microsoft yesterday.
The reasons for the layoffs at RealNetworks are, as was the case at Microsoft, to realign the workforce after the recent economic downturn and to control costs.
Former Bebo CEO Joanna Shields and Shine Group Chairman and CEO Elisabeth Murdoch have formed a content start-up to produce across media platforms, both online and offline, with a focus on social engagement, according to sources.
The new venture, which does not have a name, is being financially backed by both Shine and Shields.
Based in London, it will invest, develop and partner to create a variety of content offerings that also incorporate interactive and social networking elements.
Former Facebook exec Owen Van Natta will take the CEO job at a music discovery site called Playlist, a move that had been speculated last week, after he did not end up taking another position as head of MySpace Music.
Van Natta’s arrival at Playlist was not the only news for the Palo Alto, Calif.-based start-up–former AOL exec Bob Pittman’s Pilot Investment Group is also investing an undisclosed amount of money in Playlist, and Pittman will join its board.
The site, which has been called Project Playlist, had previously raised several million dollars. The new round of funding super-sized that, sources said, hovering at about $18 million.
“Discovery around music is exploding on the Internet,” said Van Natta to BoomTown, in an interview this afternoon, giving it as his main reason for joining Playlist.
When he debuted his company’s new DVD copier at DEMOfall recently, called RealDVD, RealNetworks’ Rob Glaser did a video interview with BoomTown about it.
And now that RealNetworks and Hollywood are cross-suing each other over RealDVD–in the latest clash over the still-contentious copyright issue that separates the tech and entertainment industries–it’s time for a replay!
At DEMOfall yesterday, RealNetworks’ Rob Glaser chitty-chatted with BoomTown about a lot of things, such as the Presidential race (he is a big Obama supporter), his twins and more.
But in this video interview, Glaser talked about RealDVD, the company’s new “legal” DVD copier, which was launched here in San Diego yesterday.
At an introductory rate of $30, buyers can use the software to rip all the parts of a DVD, including cover art.
To avoid violating digital rights management schemes, RealDVD adds its own DRM layer, preventing ripped DVDs from being copied and shared and imposing further barriers to piracy. But there are still possibilities for illegal ripping, of course.
Over the last two days, BoomTown has been enjoying the perfect Pacific Northwest summer weather, visiting several Seattle-based companies and also Microsoft HQ in nearby Redmond.
Seattle is still essentially Silicon Valley North, except a lot more laid back and with less of an egregiously opportunistic, what’s-the-next-hot- start-up tone one feels any day of the week in Palo Alto.
Last night, Walt Mossberg and I co-hosted our annual holiday gadget fest for the Churchill Club in Silicon Valley.
Now in its fifth year, it was called “Making a List: The Fifth Annual What’s Hot and What’s Not in Personal Technology” and took place in Palo Alto, Calif. Our guest were Marissa Mayer of Google and [...]
OK, I am definitely not Princess Grace-worthy (well, who is?). But I am headed right now to her glam neck of the woods for the Monaco Media Forum, which is set to take place from tomorrow through Saturday in Monte Carlo. Hosted by HSH Prince Albert II, its subhead this year is “Leadership for the Digital Revolution,” and the group gathered is pretty heady and packed with American Webheads, as well as from around the globe.
Here’s a nice MarketWatch interview with RealNetworks CEO Rob Glaser on the recent deal to let users of its Rhapsody music subscription service access it on TiVo:
Have you ever wanted to save that dumb dog-skateboarding video airing on YouTube to your own computer? That’s the premise and promise of RealPlayer 11, which RealNetworks founder Rob Glaser demoed onstage.
Using the software, you can download online videos from Web sites with one click, organize them and burn them to DVD and CD. [...]
I am not sure what to think of this wacky video from Google that Tinu Abayomi-Paul wants to be able to download off the Web. It’s a video made by the search giant to show off the new Street View feature in its maps product, except using a guy in an orange suit who gears [...]
The first video Mischael Cetoute said that he wanted to download was a bit too “Chongalicious” for our Web site (you can look that video up yourself on YouTube), although he noted, “It’s really popular down here in Miami.”
Gallantly, he sent us another one, embedded below, which is called “How To Crank Dat Soulja Boy,” [...]
I’ll admit it–I had never heard of the Swingle Singers until Srinivasan Rajagopal sent me a link from India, where he lives as a self-described “music nut” and “YouTube maven.” Indeed, he also provided me with 16 clips he would download from the Web were he to get his hands on new software to do [...]
Kara Swisher started covering digital issues for The Wall Street Journal's San Francisco bureau in 1997 and also wrote the BoomTown column about the sector. With Walt Mossberg, she co-produces and co-hosts D: All Things Digital, a major high-tech and media conference. Read more »
Here is a statement of my ethics and coverage policies. It is more than most of you want to know, but, in the age of suspicion of the media, I am laying it all out.
D is unlike any other executive conference. Since its debut in 2003, D has brought to life the energy and excitement of the digital revolution in an unscripted, upfront and unparalleled way. Read more »
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