TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Court OK Sought for Proposed [Sony BMG] Settlement

Court OK Sought for Proposed [Sony BMG] Settlement

Monty Solomon (monty@roscom.com)
Fri, 30 Dec 2005 02:33:48 -0500

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK (AP) -- A proposed settlement of lawsuits against Sony BMG
Music Entertainment would let consumers receive free music downloads
to compensate them for Sony including flawed software on millions of
CDs, lawyers said Thursday.

Lawyers said the deal requires the world's second-largest music label
to stop manufacturing compact discs with MediaMax software or with
extended copy protection or XCP software that could leave computers
vulnerable to hackers.

The proposed settlement was submitted to U.S. District Court in
Manhattan on Wednesday. A judge was expected to decide in January
whether to tentatively approve it.

According to terms of the settlement, Sony BMG will let consumers who
bought the CDs receive replacement discs without the anti-piracy
technology and will let them choose one of two incentive packages.

The first package allows consumers who bought XCP CDs to obtain a cash
payment of $7.50 and a promotion code allowing them to download one
additional album from a list of more than 200 titles.

The second package permits them to download three additional albums
from the list. The court papers said Sony BMG would try to offer Apple
Computer Inc.'s iTunes as one of the download services available to
the consumers.

Those who purchased MediaMax CDs would receive additional compensation
to allow them to download non-content protected versions of music on
their MediaMax CDs and to download one additional album.

- http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=54320998

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