Adobe Makes ‘Love’ Not War in Dispute With Apple
NEW YORK (AP) – Adobe is firing back at Apple with love.
Adobe Systems Inc. is countering Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs’ recent jab at Adobe’s Flash technology for Web video and games. Jobs had described Flash as buggy and unfit for Apple’s iPhone and iPad gadgets.
Adobe is running advertisements in major newspapers saying “We Love Apple” – with a bright red heart in place of love.
The ad begins, “We love creativity,” ”We love innovation,” ”We love apps.”
“What we don’t love,” it continues, “is anybody taking away your freedom to choose what you create, how you create it, and what you experience on the Web.”
Adobe co-founders Chuck Geschke and John Warnock, highly regarded in Silicon Valley, also posted a statement criticizing Apple.
“When markets are open, anyone with a great idea has a chance to drive innovation and find new customers,” they wrote, adding that Apple’s “opposite approach” could undermine a future in which mo bile devices outnumber traditional computers on the Internet.
In a statement, Apple said that it, too, believed in openness. The company said that is why it favors the emerging HTML5 programming standard rather than Adobe’s proprietary Flash product for Web video.
LimeWire Loses Copyright Case in Fight with Labels
Ryan Nakashima, Business Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) — File-sharing software company LimeWire has lost a long-running court battle to the major recording companies.
A judge with the U.S. District Court in New York ruled this week that the company and its chairman, Mark Gorton, were liable for inducing copyright infringement.
The decision in the case, which began in 2006, doesn’t mean the site will shut down right away. The record labels and LimeWire are to meet with Judge Kimba Wood on June 1 to determine the next steps, such as a possible deal to work together going forward and a potential award for damages.
Recording Industry Association of America Chairman Mitch Bainwol said in a statement Wednesday that the ruling was “an extraordinary victory” against one of the largest remaining file-sharing services in the United States.
The RIAA said more than 200 million copies of LimeWire’s file-sharing software have been downloaded so far, including 340,000 in the last week alone.
The ruling could pave the way for a deal, similar to the way Napster was sued out of existence in 2000 but was reborn and is now under the ownership of Best Buy Inc. with licensing deals with all the major recording companies.
“This isn’t about getting something shut down, it’s about getting something licensed and legal,” said Steve Marks, general counsel for the RIAA.
LimeWire CEO George Searle said in a statement that while it “strongly opposes” the court’s decision, the company held out hope for a deal. The company sells an “Extended Pro” version of its free software for $34.95 a year, leaving open the possibility that a new business model could emerge in cooperation with the music industry.
“LimeWire remains committed to developing innovative products and services for the end-user and to working with the entire music industry, including the major labels, to achieve this mission,” Searle said.
Cannes Directors Sign Petition Supporting Polanski
CANNES, France (AP) — Top directors with films at the Cannes Film Festival have signed a petition in support of director Roman Polanski, who is under house arrest in Switzerland.
Signatories of the petition include French New Wave director Jean-Luc Godard, French actor-director Mathieu Amalric and Cannes best director laureate Bernard Tavernier.
The petition is posted on a Web site overseen by French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy.
Polanski is under house arrest in Geneva in a 33-year-old sex case.
He pleaded guilty in 1978 to unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl. But after a judge said he would renege on the plea bargain, Polanski fled to his native France. He has been a fugitive since then.
Sarah Silverman’s Show Axed by Comedy Central
NEW YORK (AP) — On her Comedy Central show, Sarah Silverman got drunk on cough syrup, mocked the abortion rights debate and seduced none other than God.
That’s all over now.
The network says “The Sarah Silverman Program,” which recently ended its third outrageous season, won’t be back for a fourth.
Inspired by Silverman’s persona as a standup comic, the scripted show featured her as a flighty, self-consumed slacker living in the fictional town of Valley Village.
Audience erosion was deemed the main reason for canceling the show.
NBC Seeks to Fan Enthusiasm with Social Networks
Lynn Elber, Television Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Fans who share their passion for NBC shows online could earn the network’s appreciation — and prizes — in return.
“Fan It,” an initiative aimed at turning social-media users into an ad hoc promotional team for the network, will launch Monday, NBC said Thursday.
“A recommendation from a friend is infinitely more powerful than any message we can put out through conventional marketing channels,” said Adam Stotsky, president of NBC Entertainment Marketing.
After signing up on NBC’s website and logging in to their Facebook, Twitter, MySpace or MyNBC accounts, participants earn points through activities such as chatting about series and steering friends to NBC-related links.
The points can be redeemed for rewards including sneak previews of shows, NBC merchandise and entry into a sweepstakes to win big-ticket items such as attendance at the finale of “The Biggest Loser” or a prop from “The Office,” the network said.
A social-media promotion this season for “Chuck” gave a fan, David Paul of Turlock, Calif., the chance to have his photo included in one of the title character’s flash-of-brilliance sequences in the May 25 finale.
The “Fan It” initiative extends through the 2010-11 season and will involve new and returning shows. NBC will present its fall schedule to advertisers Monday in New York.
Research shows that friends represent one of the top sources of information about new programming, said Vivi Zigler, president of NBC Universal Digital Entertainment.
Social networks are a means of capitalizing on that.
“Digital media is a growing area and is our No. 1 medium outside of our own air,” said Stotsky.
There’s no sneaky corporate co-opting intended with Fan It, he and Zigler said.
“It’s no secret NBC is building an experience in which fans can express themselves,” Stotsky said, adding, “if you create a respectful relationship with the audience and reward them in a respectful way, viewers appreciate it.”
The intent isn’t pretending “it’s something else,” Zigler said. “We’re NBC, here’s some neat shows. We hope you like them and, if you do, tell your friends.”
Facebook Not Enough to Bring Betty White to Oscars
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Facebook fans brought Betty White to “Saturday Night Live,” and now they’ve got their eyes on the Oscars.
A page on the social networking website, called Official Page for Getting Betty White to Host the Academy Awards, has collected more than 56,000 fans.
One commenter wrote that “Betty White would be one of the best hosts ever!!!!!”
But the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences says it isn’t ready to let Facebook make casting decisions for film’s biggest night.
Spokeswoman Leslie Unger says the academy plans to continue with its protocol of allowing the producers to select the host that will best serve the show they’re trying to put together.
McHale, Vergara to Announce Emmy Nominations
LOS ANGELES (AP) — TV stars Joel McHale of NBC’s “Community” and Sofia Vergara of ABC’s “Modern Family” are handling announcement duties for the prime-time Emmy Award nominations.
McHale and Vergara will be joined by TV academy Chairman and CEO John Shaffner for the early morning ceremony on July 8 to reveal the nominations.
Shaffner said Wednesday that Spike Jones Jr. will produce the nominations announcement. Don Mischer is producer of the main awards show, airing live Aug. 29 on NBC.
The ceremony gives NBC the chance to showcase network talent, with its late-night host, Jimmy Fallon, previously announced as host of the 62nd annual Emmys.
