The music publisher Sony BMG Music Entertainment has reached a tentative settlement of lawsuits that accused it of violating consumers' rights and trading in malicious software.
Under the proposed settlement, lawyers said yesterday that Sony BMG would let some consumers receive free downloads to compensate them for Sony having surreptitiously included spyware on millions of CD's.
Lawyers said the deal would require Sony BMG to stop making 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 Federal District Court in Manhattan on Wednesday. A judge was expected to decide in January whether to tentatively approve it.
Under the settlement, Sony BMG, a venture of the Sony Corporation and Bertelsmann, will let consumers who bought the CD's receive replacement discs without the antipiracy technology and will let them choose one of two compensation packages.
The first package would allow consumers 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 would permit them to download three additional albums from the list. The court papers said Sony BMG would try to offer Apple's iTunes as one of the download services available to the consumers.
Those who bought MediaMax CD's would receive additional compensation.
Elizabeth C. Pritzker, a lawyer for the consumers, said the settlement provided for the compensation to be paid beginning as early as mid-January, even before the court grants final approval of the deal.
Sony began including MediaMax on some discs in August 2003 and introduced XCP in January. Both programs limited the number of copies of a disc that a user could make.
Beginning in November, more than 20 lawsuits were filed after a computer security research specialist a month earlier traced a hidden software program on his computer to an XCP disc he had bought and installed, the settlement said.
The Texas attorney general, Greg Abbott, had also sued Sony.
The company had said it had provided consumers with a one-click "uninstall" application that let them remove MediaMax.
AP - nytimes.com
Technorati Tags: Jazz, SmoothJazz, Music
Under the proposed settlement, lawyers said yesterday that Sony BMG would let some consumers receive free downloads to compensate them for Sony having surreptitiously included spyware on millions of CD's.
Lawyers said the deal would require Sony BMG to stop making 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 Federal District Court in Manhattan on Wednesday. A judge was expected to decide in January whether to tentatively approve it.
Under the settlement, Sony BMG, a venture of the Sony Corporation and Bertelsmann, will let consumers who bought the CD's receive replacement discs without the antipiracy technology and will let them choose one of two compensation packages.
The first package would allow consumers 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 would permit them to download three additional albums from the list. The court papers said Sony BMG would try to offer Apple's iTunes as one of the download services available to the consumers.
Those who bought MediaMax CD's would receive additional compensation.
Elizabeth C. Pritzker, a lawyer for the consumers, said the settlement provided for the compensation to be paid beginning as early as mid-January, even before the court grants final approval of the deal.
Sony began including MediaMax on some discs in August 2003 and introduced XCP in January. Both programs limited the number of copies of a disc that a user could make.
Beginning in November, more than 20 lawsuits were filed after a computer security research specialist a month earlier traced a hidden software program on his computer to an XCP disc he had bought and installed, the settlement said.
The Texas attorney general, Greg Abbott, had also sued Sony.
The company had said it had provided consumers with a one-click "uninstall" application that let them remove MediaMax.
AP - nytimes.com
Technorati Tags: Jazz, SmoothJazz, Music
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