DRM Anticircumvention Law

The Parliament of Finland on Monday passed a revision to the country's copyright laws that makes circumventing DRM a crime. This helps finally bring Finland into line with the European Union Copyright Directive (EUCD); its tardiness in adopting the EUCD earned it the threat of a fine from the European Commission back in March of this year.

iPod tax...?!

A Japanese government committee is mulling a copyright law revision to charge royalties on digital music players, but the opinion is so divided on the so-called ``iPod tax'' that it isn't likely to be imposed, officials said Wednesday.

Double tax on Net music...

European consumers are being forced to pay usage rights on legal copy-protected music downloads multiple times because of outdated private copy levies, according to a study.

European copyright to boost online music

The European Union called on Europe's music industry Wednesday to create EU-wide copyright licenses for online music, saying this would boost demand for legal downloads.

Fingerprinted music...

Acoustic fingerprinting firm Audible Magic announced on Monday that it will integrate audio watermarking technology from Seattle-based Activated Content into its CopySense Network Appliance, a solution for detecting copyrighted music on P2P networks. The resulting technology will combine two definitions of "fingerprinting" in a single solution.

Digital music sales surge

The music industry cheered a tripling of digital music sales in the first half of 2005 that was spurred by mobile phone ring tones and online services and offset persistent declines in overall sales.

MS breaks off talks with record labels

After weeks of negotiations, Microsoft Corp. has suspended talks with the four major record companies over the licensing terms for a new online music subscription service, according to people familiar with the talks.