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Technology Stocks : RealNetworks (NASDAQ:RNWK) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dale Baker who wrote (4742)	12/28/1999 7:59:00 AM
From: swisstrader	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 5843

Also sold no shares...in fact, picked up a sizeable chunk at 126 7/8 yesterday...a complete no brainer for me...more on Streambox from WSJ...these guys must now halt any development of product arising out of the suit...today's the day: WSJ: December 28, 1999 RealNetworks Sues Streambox, Alleging Infringement of RealPlayer Copyrights By KHANH T.L. TRAN Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL RealNetworks Inc., best known for software that transmits and plays back audio and video clips over the Web, is suing Streambox Inc., alleging that the start-up is in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. In a lawsuit filed last week in U.S. District Court in Seattle, RealNetworks alleged that Streambox (www.streambox.com), of Redmond, Wash., has infringed on its copyrights by manufacturing software that enables users to copy audio and video intended for broadcast by RealNetworks software, something RealNetworks software doesn't allow. The Streambox software also allows users to convert the files to other formats, such as MP3 and those played by Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Media Player, the lawsuit said. RealNetworks, of Seattle, said the company's Streambox Ripper, Streambox VCR and Streambox Ferret products are designed to decode audio and video files intended to be heard or viewed only by users of its popular RealPlayer software. RealNetworks asserted that the computer program and graphical display of its RealPlayer contain wholly original material that is owned by RealNetworks and protected by U.S. copyright laws. Moreover, because Streambox allows users to download and install the Ferret software as an add-on component on the RealPlayer, RealNetworks asserted, Streambox undermines its licensing agreement with Snap LLC of San Francisco. Snap, a joint venture of CNET Inc. and General Electric Co.'s NBC unit, has the exclusive right to perform searches conducted through RealPlayers and pays RealNetworks a fee for each search, RealNetworks said. Streambox Chief Executive Bob Hildeman said he was "very surprised" by the lawsuit. He disputes RealNetworks' claims that his company's products encourage piracy and were designed primarily to circumvent RealNetworks' technology that protects the rights of owners of audio and video files to control whether a user can copy and distribute the owners' works. While Streambox's VCR software works in the same way that a regular VCR records TV shows, he said its Ripper software decodes audio files transmitted through a RealPlayer. Mr. Hildeman said Streambox's Ferret search function doesn't replace Snap's search service but merely adds to it. "The whole point is consumers have a choice," Mr. Hildeman said. "It shouldn't be RealNetworks that has rights to that content." Moreover, Mr. Hildeman said, his company is caught in an escalating battle in the digital audio and video field. "The shift is going to the other big guy in town," Mr. Hildeman said, referring to Microsoft, Redmond, Wash., whose Windows Media Player competes with the RealPlayer. "We're in a field with two large giants. We're just a small start-up. But we do have some innovative technologies." Alex Alben, RealNetworks' v