Further Dealings: Vimeo Won’t Dodge Copyright Lawsuit, Univision Considering IPO, Radio Disney + TuneIn
A federal judge in New York won’t allow user-generated-video site Vimeo, owned by Barry Diller’s IAC, to dodge a copyright lawsuit. Capitol Records and other labels brought the legal action in December 2009, alleging that Vimeo copied, performed and distributed sound recordings by acts including the Beatles, Daft Punk, Radiohead, Beyoncé and the Beach Boys. Vimeo responded that it was free of liability thanks to the “safe harbor” provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams, however, has denied that defense with respect to 55 of 199 videos in question-clips with which employees had some interaction. The ruling is another major one on the liability of Internet service providers, the second in the past month following the Motion Picture Assn. of America’s win over cyber locker Hotfile. But Vimeo can point to some significant victories in the 56-page ruling: It escapes liability on 144 videos. Among other things, the judge granted the plaintiffs’ motion on summary judgment with respect to pre-1972 recordings. In the lawsuit, there wasn’t any dispute that videos on Vimeo’s network contained copyrighted music recordings. The question on summary judgment motions by each side was more to whether Vimeo had sufficiently taken actions upon knowledge of infringements to escape being punished.
Univision is considering an initial public offering next year, according to reports. The Spanish-language broadcaster has been private since a $12 billion buyout from Thomas H. Lee Partners, TPG Capital, Providence Equity Partners and Madison Dearborn partners in 2007. Mexican media company Televisa, which provides programming to Univision, owns 5% of the company, with enough of its debt to take up to a 30% stake. While Univision hasn’t made a decision, an IPO is a consideration for the second half of 2014. Univision has been riding high in the ratings and in July reported quarterly earnings that jumped 28% to $41 million on a 10% rise in revenue to $677 million. Cesar Conde, who in 2009 was appointed president of Univision, recently resigned to join NBCUniversal.
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Radio Disney has announced plans to partner with online radio player TuneIn, whose users will now be able to hear Radio Disney content anywhere in the United States on more than 200 platforms, including mobile, tablets, smart TVs and cars, further widening the exposure of its content. With a target audience of children, tweens and families, Radio Disney has launched a bevy of A-list talent in the past, including broadcasting young unknowns Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez. With the partnership, TuneIn hopes to offer family-friendly programming to millions of Americans free of charge.
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