Amazon does an about face on licenses for cloud music, and we go three for three in matters legal, including an eye-rolling patent suit against Apple and a surprise antitrust complaint. The remainders for Thursday, March 31, 2011 demand a retrial.
Amazon in Big Push to Clinch Music Deals (Wall Street Journal)
Amazon has apparently rethought its stream-first, don’t-ask-for-licenses later approach to online music by, er, asking the music industry for licenses. They say it’s better to ask forgiveness than permission, but given the record companies’ history of extreme litigiousness, maybe that wasn’t the best approach.
Exclusive: Apple Global Marcom VP Allison Johnson Leaving Company (All Things D)
The name Allison Johnson may not mean much to you, but as Apple’s vice president of worldwide marketing she managed much of the company’s iconic ads and other branding. Now Johnson is moving on from Apple and founding a marketing firm; we wish her the best and hope she doesn’t have that Get a Mac music stuck in her head for the rest of her life.
AP, WaPo, Other Big Media Companies Send Cease & Desist Over Zite App (paidContent.org)
Several major content providers, including the AP and the Washington Post, have fired off cease-and-desist letters at iPad app Zite, which they claim is reformatting and republishing their content without permission. “Plus,” one letter concluded, “how do you even pronounce ‘Zite’ anyway? Does it rhyme with ‘kite’? Is it ‘zeet’? What is up with these crazy app developers? Why can’t they use real words?”
Apple, 31 other companies sued for patent infringement (The Loop)
Continuing in the legal vein, a company called H-W Technology sued Apple and 31 other companies on Wednesday over—you guessed it—a software patent. For what amounts, essentially, to a smartphone. Allow me to propose something I like to call Moren’s Theory of Patent Trollosity: I posit that the trollosity (J) of a company suing over patents (r) is directly proportional to the number of companies sued times the vagueness of the patent (k) multiplied by the factorial of the number of lawsuits the company has previously filed (s!). Or, in other words, J=rks!
Adding our Voice to Concerns about Search in Europe (Microsoft on the Issues)
We’re shooting for the courtroom trifecta: Microsoft, of all people, has filed a complaint with the European Commission over alleged antitrust violations by Google. Well. Isn’t that the pot calling the kettle, uh, Microsoft?
Product News:
tappr.tv 3.0 – Version 3.0 of deeje’s free iOS music visualization software lets you add visuals to music from your iPod library.
Boom 1.1 – An update to this Mac volume-boosting software can now boost audio in video files and save them, accept dragged-and-dropped folders and files, and adds channel balance support. $9.
Web Albums 2.1.2 – Pixite’s Picasa client for the iPad has been updated with support for the iPad 2’s cameras. $3.