The Motion Picture ASsociation of America (MPAA) is suing RealNetworks over software that they created that copies DVDs. RealNetworks did not expect the MPAA to sue them for the software. The MPAA is suing RealNetworks for marketing the DVD copying software. The claim is that RealNetworks’ RealDVD software was illegally designed to make it easy for users to get around technology that prevents the copying of DVDs.
Yesterday RealNetworks made the surprise claim because under the rules of evidence, a company must retain records if they have knowledge of a potential upcoming lawsuit. The MPAA has reason to believe that RealNetworks destroyed documents that relate to the production of the RealDVD software. The MPAA believes that RealNetworks did this well before they sued the software company in September.
“We didn’t think litigation was probable,” stated Leo Cunningham, one of RealNetworks’ attorney. Cunningham reported this to U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel during a hearing. The MPAA generally sues all companies that they believe is a threat to DVD sales.
The MPAA alleges that RealNetworks trashed a senior project manager’s “engineering notebooks” and “actual code files.” Cunningham stated that the disapperance of the notebooks are a mystery.
Bart Williams, an attorney for the MPAA stated that it was obvious that the MPAA wuld sue RealNetworks. RealNetworks should have expected it from the time of the product’s initial development two years ago.
Within a few days of the RealDVD software hitting the market, about 3,000 copies were sold. Judge Patel blocked further distribution in October until an outcome was decided. MPAA believes that RealNetworks is directly violating the Digital Millenium Copyright Act.
RealNetworks said that they are not violating the DMCA because they allow users to store copies of their own movies on their hard drives which is fair use. One of the biggest disputes in the case is whether a DVD should be playable without the need for the actual disc with built-in encryption code.
A health club chain called Fitness First wants to remind you how overweight you are by putting a weight scale at a bus stop. The bench at the bus stop works as the scale and the advertisement on the side of the bus stop facing you displays the weight. This marketing campaign was slapped together by advertising company N=5. It can be seen in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Below is a video demo of the bus stop weight scale being used:
Samsung is taking a page out of Apple’s book in the part where it says you can make money by selling movies on mobile devices. This past Thursday Samsung opened up a beta version of Samsung Movies. Anyone using a supported device will be able to move rental movies and TV shows. Everything will be in DVD quality and will also support Windows Media format for the desktop.
There are currently about 500 titles in the Samsung store from major studios, but they are expecting it to double by end of March and hit about 2,000 by July.
Some of the phones that are supported include the Tocco Ultra Edition, C180, S7330, B2700, Beat s, Samsung EA, Tobi, and the Pixon. The service will be available initially in the UK and in Germany. Rentals cost between £2.49 to £3.99. Purchases start from £4.99 and go up to about £13.99.
Sohu’s gaming division Changyou.com is planning to file for an IPO. Changyou.com will trade under the NASDAQ with the symbol CYOU. Changyou.com will issue 7.5 million American depositary shares at about $14-$16 per share. The underwriters of Changyou.com are Credit Suisse and Merril Lynch.
Sohu recently had a reorganization and made the gaming division a separate unit. Changyou.com has a net income of $108 million on revenues of $202 million. Sohu will remain as the majority shareholder in Changyou.com even after the IPO. Changyou.com created a game called Tian Long Ba Bu and is also known as Blade Online. On April 1, Changyou.com will price the deal of the IPO.
Twilight the movie based on the book series by Stephenie Meyer has achieved quite a substantial milestone. The Twilight movie, created by Summit Entertainment announced today that the DVD release of the movie sold 3 million units on the first day of release. The DVD was released this past Monday and an event centered around it. The event was called “TWILIGHT at midnight.” This allowed retail companies to stay open late and fans were able to line up in numbers to purchase the DVD.
The stars of the movie appeared at different locations in promotion of the movie going on sale. Rachelle Lefevre (Victoria) appeared in Salt Lake City, Ashley Greene (Alice Cullen) appeared in Los Angeles, Edi Gathegi (Laurent) appeared in New York, and Nikki Reed (Rosalie Hale) appeared in Chicago.
Twilight beat the record of the top five best first day DVD releases in the past two years. This record beat Pirates of the Caribbean, At World’s End, The Dark Knight, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and Transformers.
Twilight arrived in theaters on November 21, 2008 and made $69.6 million in the first weekend domestically and $380 million worldwide.
The last time I wrote about Twilight it was because Stephenie Meyer decided to postpone the 5th book in the series since it leaked on the Internet. The update since then is that Meyer will make Midnight Sun her next project and has not finished writing it yet. She definetely plans on still publishing it. Once Breaking Dawn is released, Meyer will have more time to finish Midnight Sun.
“We came to the realization that there are many $4 drug programs out there and Wal-Mart got a lot of the hoopla when they introduced them,” stated Bruce Liebowitz, the COO of Medtipster in an interview with The Detroit News.
MedTipster is a web startup company based out of Troy, Michigan. The concept of the service is that a user enters in their zip code and prescription. The site will then find local pharmacies that offer the prescriptions at discount prices.
Liebowitz is an industry veteran in the pharmaceutical industry. He used to own a pharmacy benefit management company called 4D Pharmacy Management Systems in the city of Troy.
MedTipster launched in beta around February and plans on launching fully next month. The site has funding from another pharmacy benefit manager. MedTipster plans on earning revenue by eventually charging pharmaceutical companies listings to the search engine. MedTipster currently searches for the deals from websites listing the deals.
MedTipster currently searches for the deals from websites listing the deals.
MedTipster isn’t the only organization in Michigan to offer this service. The Michigan Department of Community Health offer a similar service called “Rx Price Finder.” However Leibowitz stated that MedTipster offers a more friendly user interface. MedTipster even offers a live chat tool that allows users to IM questions to pharmacists. MedTipster plans on launching a mobile version shortly.
Yvonne Wong, a dentist in California is suing a husband and wife that left her a negative review on Yelp. Judge William Elfving of the Santa Clara County Superior Court allowed Wong to continue pursuing the lawsuit after the couple. The judge ruled that Wong had shown a “a probability of success on the merits.” The couple that left the negative review are Tai Jing and Jia Ma.
However the couple may appeal the decision that Elfving made.
Wong believes that she was defamed by the complaint on Yelp about the treatment of their son. The couple’s son was treated by the dentist when he was 4 years old and he felt lightheaded after receiving a dose of laughing gas and received a filling with mercury contained in it. Wong stated that the complaint on Yelp left her emotional distress.
Wong was previously considering suing Yelp directly, but the review website is protected by the Communications Decency Act. The comments left by the site are not the responsibility of the website itself.
This isn’t the first case where a doctor decided to sue a former patient for leaving a negative review on Yelp. This past January, Dr. Steven Biegel filed a lawsuit against Christopher Norberg. Norberg left Biegel a negative review because he felt his bill was too unfair.
The moral of the story here is that if you leave a doctor a negative review on Yelp, take extreme precaution. Try to avoid making extremely harsh claims and make sure that the review is politically correct.
Tata will start taking orders shortly for the world’s cheapest car, the Nano. The car retails for just over $2,000 and will be accessible to people living in India. The cars will actually begin shipping in July. Why is the car so cheap? There is no air conditioning, the steering is manual, the car doesn’t have any airbags, the body of the car is made of sheet-metal and plastic, and the engine is a 624cc two-cylinder. The car maxes out at about 43MPH.
Tata is hoping that people would rather buy this car than motorcycles. Tata is believed not to make a profit from these until about 6 years from now.
“I think we are at the gates of offering a new form of transport to the people of India and later, I hope, other markets elsewhere in the world,” stated Ratan Tata, Chairman of the Tata Group. “I hope it will provide safe, affordable four-wheel transportation to families who till now have not been able to own a car.”
A bigger European version of the car is expected to hit the markets in 2011. It would be called the Nano Europa and would cost roughly £4,000.
While being able to sell a car at such a low cost is quite a milestone for the Indian conglomerate company, it won’t do much for the overall revenue of the company. If Tata is somehow able to sell 250,000 Nanos per year, it would add only about 3% of the company’s overall revenues.
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