Blackhacker

BetaNews | iTunes may finally get The Beatles
United Press International posted a report on Saturday stating that a $400 million agreement had been reached between ex-Beatle Paul McCartney and Apple’s iTunes over the distribution of The Beatles’ back catalog.

Profits made from the deal and subsequent sales will be split between McCartney, Ringo Starr, the estates of George Harrison and John Lennon, Sony, EMI, and pop star Michael Jackson, each of whom owns some form of rights to the songs, be it in publishing, recording, or reproduction.

The battle between “Apple Computers” now called Apple Inc. and Paul McCartney’s Apple Corps Ltd., of the trademark “Apple” was the STUPIDEST feuds in the history of Intellectual Property. At the time, the two Apples where no where NEAR each other core businesses, and and all it did was cause bad blood between the two organizations that delayed the largest distributor of digital music from providing to the public one of the most recognizable and sough after collection of music.

I’m not much of a Beatles fan, I just hate stupidity. I’m sure there are many people who want to buy their music. I’m also sure iTunes wants to sell it to them and it would make Paul, Ringo and the Estates of the John, and George a a lot of money. That’s why its stupid. It’s an obvious win for everybody, so why can’t they just get together to make a few million dollars. I guess when you are a billionaire, you don’t bother stoop down to pick a few million dollars, when you don’t have too.

BackupBluray rip utility released » WesleyTech.com -> HD DVD, Blu-ray, CD info and more
The person (muslix64) behind the infamous BackupHDDVD utility and the subsequent appearance of HD DVD torrents is at it again, this time with his sights set on the Blu-ray Disc format.

Dap: /.

Apparently, the Recording Industry Association of America, does not understand the industry the represent. This is apparent in the arrest of DJ Drama, a prominent mixtape artist.

On Tuesday night he was arrested with Don Cannon, a protégé. The police, working with the Recording Industry Association of America, raided his office, at 147 Walker Street in Atlanta. The association makes no distinction between counterfeit CDs and unlicensed compilations like those that DJ Drama is known for. So the police confiscated 81,000 discs, four vehicles, recording gear, and “other assets that are proceeds of a pattern of illegal activity,” said Chief Jeffrey C. Baker, from the Morrow, Ga., police department, which participated in the raid.

The point of this post is not about the legality of Drama’s trade. It is probably illegal. Especially when he uses copyrighted content, or signed artists without permission. But lets face it, mixtapes ARE a firm part of the Hip-Hop culture, and if you are going to trade in Hip-Hop culture you should understand all of its aspects. Not only that but Drama was doing what the Industry should have been doing, which is identifying and cultivating new talent, and providing publicity, and more importantly credibility to artists. Recording companies benefited from what Drama was doing.

I must admit DJ Drama could have avoided jail altogether. The moment he received a C&D letter he should have closed shop, hired a GREAT IP lawyer, and started negotiating profit sharing with the industry.

The most interesting comment is below:

There have been mixtape busts before: in 2005, five employees of Mondo Kim’s, in the East Village in New York, were jailed after the store was found to be selling unlicensed mixtapes. But the arrest of a figure as prominent as DJ Drama is unprecedented. Record companies usually portray the fight against piracy as a fight for artists’ rights, but this case complicates that argument: most of DJ Drama’s mixtapes begin with enthusiastic endorsements from the artists themselves.

The Cat’s out of the bag. The RIAA anti-piracy campaign is about protecting the income of record companies, not artists. Moral of the story: don’t use signed artists for your mixedtape.

NTP: A Taste of Its Own Medicine
Oren Tavory, a 43-year-old software developer living in West Palm Beach, Fla., says he got there first. Tavory says he did much of the work developing the technology behind NTP’s patents. And since NTP has spun those patents into a big payday with hopes of another, Savory says he deserves part of the credit for the patents, and some of the payouts, too.In September, Tavory filed a lawsuit against NTP in U.S. District Court in Richmond, Va., demanding that a judge issue a court order naming him as co-inventor on seven NTP patents, and accusing NTP of copyright infringement and unjust enrichment.

3 Notes and Runnin’ | Downhill Battle