Bolt settles with Vivendi
p2pnet.net news:- Bolt.com is selling itself to pay for a copyright settlement deal with Vivendi Universal.
Vivendi sued both Bolt, which describes itself as a “place where you could store, organize and share all the media you create in the course of your digital life,” and Sony’s Grouper last October, over alleged copyright infringement.
“Bolt has agreed to admit that the uploads were a violation of Universal’s copyrights and to pay a settlement valued at several million dollars,” stated Aaron Cohen, Bolt’s chief executive,” said the International heral Tribune in February.
Now, Vivendi and Bolt have reached an “out-of-court, multimillion dollar settlement,” says the Associated Press, going on, “The exact amount of damages to be paid by Bolt wasn’t disclosed.”
Bolt also agreed to introduce filters within the next 60 days, says the story.
The IHT said Bolt was negotiating similar royalty arrangements with other labels including Warner Music and, “To pay for the settlement, which will combine cash, stock and advertising credits, Bolt has agreed to sell itself to GoFish, a smaller rival, for as much as $30 million in GoFish stock.”
The deal was, “economically painful to Bolt shareholders,” the IHT had Aaron Cohen, Bolt’s ceo, stating. “It is setting a precedent that companies that violate copyright at minimum risk litigation.”
The story went on that Vivendi, “hopes the settlement will set a precedent that will help its ongoing case against MySpace, the vast social network owned by News Corp., and against Grouper, a video sharing site owned by Sony. Universal has sued both for copyright.
“It will pay royalties both on complete copyrighted works, like music videos, and also on so-called mash-ups, in which users add copyrighted music to their own creations,” said the story.
The DRM (Digital Restrictions Management) consumer control system Bolt plans on using wasn’t named by AP or the IHT.
Also See:
copyright infringement – UMG goes after Grouper, Bolt, October 17, 2006
International heral Tribune – Universal Music Group poised to win royalties war with Bolt.com, February 12, 2007
Associated Press – Vivendi, Bolt.com reach settlement over music videos, March 8, 2007
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