SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (Aug. 4) -- The music industry settled its
federal lawsuit against Diamond Multimedia Systems Inc., marking
the end of a campaign to block the company from selling its portable
Internet music players.
Terms weren't disclosed. The Recording Industry Association of America
and the Alliance of Artists and Recording Companies went to court in
October, seeking an injunction to stop sales of Diamond's Rio, the
first commercially available portable device for playing songs
downloaded from the Internet. The injunction and a later appeal were
both denied by federal judges.
The RIAA, whose members include the world's five largest music companies,
and the AARC had claimed that Rio, which went on sale in November, is
a tool for Internet music bootleggers who exploit new technology for
copying, distributing and playing compact disc-quality music converted
into computer files. Since the lawsuit, Diamond has said it will incorporate
security technologies in future players and software.
The security technologies, made by Intertrust Technologies Corp. and Microsoft
Corp., would allow music sellers to track the online distribution of
their songs and prevent illegal duplication.
The San Jose, California-based company also has participated in the Secure
Digital Music Initiative, a standards group that includes record companies
Time Warner Inc., Sony Corp., Seagram Co. Ltd., EMI Group Plc and Bertelsmann AG
and top technology companies such as Microsoft Corp. and America Online Inc.
The group's aim is to develop standards for encryption and so-called ''watermarking''
of digital music so it can't be duplicated and distributed by music pirates. |
