Copyright

BlueBeat claims it owns copyright in Beatles tracks

Hank Risen, the owner of BlueBeat.com, which was found last week to be selling MP3s of the Beatles' catalogue for as little as 15p per track, has defiantly stated that he owns the copyrights in the songs that he's selling.

EMI filed a lawsuit against the company,...

Disney sells millions through iTunes

Figures have been released from The Walt Disney Company's most recent fiscal quarter, and the company have reported very strong sales through Apple's iTunes store, totalling 23.7 million television episodes and two million movies, according to Disney CEO Bob Iger.

Viacom orders YouTube to take down 100,000 clips

Cable channel provider Viacom has demanded that YouTube remove more than 100,000 video clips that it says violates its copyright after talks between it and Google proved fruitless.

The clips are from Comedy Central shows as well as those on Nickelodeon, MTV,...

YouTube user claims to have cracked HD DVD copy protection

A YouTube user claims to have done what no one has done before by cracking the AACS copy-protection used on both Blu-ray and HD DVD discs.

Going by the name of Muslix64, the hackers has posted a video on YouTube advertising his code cracking methodology, and...

Makers of Roxio sue rival Nero over patent infringement

SONIC Solutions, makers of the Roxio disc burning software has reported that it has filed a Patent Infringement Complaint Against its German competitor Nero AG and Nero Inc. for infringement of one of Sonic's video editing patents.

The complaint, filed in...

MySpace employs new technology to prevent copyright violations

MySpace.com is bowing to pressure from record companies and is integrating newly-developed technology to detect and block unauthorised copyrighted music uploading on to the website.

The technology is licenced from private company Gracenote, and allows MySpace...

ippr urges Chancellor to change music copyright laws

UK copyright law should be changed to include a "private right to copy" that protects users of the iPod and other MP3 players, according to a new report published today by the Institute for Public Policy Research (ippr).

According to the Institute, the UK’s...

Microsoft plugs hole in DRM software

Microsoft sprang into action after a technology blog published a story about a piece of software that could strip the DRM from downloaded Windows Media files.

After engadget writers posted a story to say that they had successfully stripped the DRM from tracks...

Dixons group to sell its shares in The Link to O2

Dixons Stores Group (DSG) is to sell its share in The Link stores to O2 in a deal worth £30 million.

DSG owns a 60% stake in The Link, while O2 has the remaining shares.

The sale is another move by DSG to concentrate more on online retail than on highstreet...

DRM causing difficulties for libraries

The British Library's Chief Executive, Lynne Brindley, is warning that DRM systems are creating unintended consequences that affect how digital material can be stored and disseminated by libraries, which have traditionally been protected by special exceptions under IP law.

Google to Wi-Fi San Francisco

Google has won its bid to cover San Francisco with blanket Wi-Fi access suggesting that a series of similar schemes could soon be rolling out across the US and beyond.

In a statement by the Department of Telecommunications and Information Services (DTIS) in San...

Google update Google Toolbar for Firefox

Google has updated its toolbar for Firefox users boosting feed integration with the Google Personalised Home and a number of other feed readers.

“We've made searching better by including previous queries, spelling corrections, and suggestions for popular choices”,...

Google to sell a further 5.3 million shares

Got a spare $2,093,394,000 to hand? Thought so. Well rather than blowing it on the biggest beer fest you could ever possibly imagine, you can use it to buy the 5.3million new shares that are to be issued by Google.

Google announced today that it intends to issue...

Google blog taken over by student

Thousands of fans of the Google Blog awoke this morning to see the latest post on the site was one titled " Google, fix your blog pleeasssee!"

But rather than a disgruntled employee upset with the search engine it transpired that Google had accidentally deleted...

Google launches Google Finance site

Google has launched Google Finance to compete against Yahoo and MSN's financial service offerings.

According to the new site “Google Finance (finance.google.com) is an early beta product that offers a broad range of information about North American stocks, mutual...

Google voted favourite online brand in new survey

Consumers have voted Google as their favourite online brand and the bbc.co.uk as the most trusted online brand in a new survey to discover which sites are the Superbrands of the net.

Research commissioned by the global independent authority on branding, Superbrands,...

Google buy 3D company behind 3D sketching software SketchUP

Google seems to be on the buying rampage this month with the news that the search engine has bought @LastSoftware, the company behind SketchUp, a 3D shape designer that among other things, allows people to build 3D models for Google's Google Earth application.

Google maps Mars with new service

Google has branched from offering just maps of this planet to maps of others with the launch of Google Mars.

“We here on Earth have long held a fascination with the planet Mars. From Percival Lowell's sketches of its surface, to the countless books and movies...

Google buys online word processor site Writely

Google has made the headlines again this week with the news that the search engine has bought the Web-based word processor Writely from the Silicon Valley startup Upstartle.

In a blog entry on its website, Google said the deal was completed Monday, but didn't...

Surfing the net is more popular than TV

Surfing the net is more popular than TV according to a new survey.

The perhaps slightly bias survey by search engine giant Google has found that Britons with internet access now spend more time on the web than watching the box - and hopefully reading Pocket-lint.

Google rumoured to be about to offer online storage

Google is reported to be preparing to offer online storage to web users according to company documents mistakenly leaked online.

According to Reuters, the search engine reveals that the GDrive would allow users to store their all of their files within the space.

Disney buys Pixar for $7.4bn

Steve Jobs, Apple founder and CEO is to become one of the most powerful men in Hollywood following Walt Disney's agreement to buy Pixar, the company behind animated hits such as Toy Story and Monsters Inc for $7.4bn.

In a statement on Pixar's website the company...

20 pirates walk the plank over 50,000 pounds BPI legal action

The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) looked overseas to see what the RIAA were doing to combat illegal filesharing. When they saw teenagers being dragged through the courts to recover the “losses” generated from downloading, they decided to copy the move over here. The...

Are the Apple iFlash rumours true as Apple starts suing?

Apple Computer is suing anonymous people who leaked details about new products by posting information on the internet, courtroom documents, according to Reuters.

In recent months rumours have seen a number of websites speculating about a range of Apple products...