An Australian federal judge ordered the chief executive of the company that owns file-swapping giant Kazaa to face cross-examination from recording industry lawyers about her assets pending a damages hearing in the landmark music piracy case.
In September, a federal court found Kazaa's owners and distributors, led by Sydney-based Sharman Networks, guilty of copyright infringement for failing to rein in illegal file sharing on their popular peer-to-peer network.
After months of legal wrangling, federal judge Michael Moore ordered Sharman's chief executive, Nikki Hemming, to face cross-examination by record industry lawyers over her personal assets. It will be her first court appearance since the multimillion dollar trial began last November.
In March, record industry lawyers sought a court order to force Kazaa's owners to disclose their assets after Hemming reportedly sold her Sydney mansion to Sharman's accountant, John Myers, for 2.1 million Australian dollars ($1.55 million), but then continued to live in the house.
The music industry alleged in March that Myer distributed about half of the sale proceeds to Hemming's live-in partner and transferred the remaining 1.1 million Australian dollars ($804,000) into a Sharman controlled trust fund in Vanuatu.
In his judgment Thursday, Moore said there were "several unusual features" about the sale. Moore said the timing of the sale -- five days after Hemming's lawyers received documents outlining the record industry's case -- and Hemming's stake in the Vanuatu trust were aspects that needed to be reviewed.
- - -
Hybridization: The mobile industry is ramping up for a new generation of cell phones and services combining the long-distance strengths of traditional cellular service with the short-distance, low-cost advantages of wi-fi.
Industry players at the 3G World Congress in Hong Kong this week were buzzing with expectation for future services that would marry traditional cellular with wi-fi.
Qualcomm (QCOM), a maker of wireless technology, sees a clear future for handsets that sniff the air for signals then hook up to the cheapest link. Traditional cellular's main strengths lie in its mobility, allowing users to make calls while on the move over long distances from nearly anywhere in the world.
Use of wi-fi could help companies and consumers save money by transferring their calling and file transfers to local fixed-line networks at home and in the office, allowing them to bypass more costly cellular networks.
Nearly every major cell phone and telecoms equipment maker at the congress in Hong Kong is either trialing a hybrid wi-fi service or handset, or has already launched an early model or two.
At the carrier end of the spectrum, Sprint Nextel (S), the number three U.S. mobile carrier, is preparing to introduce one such hybrid service next year.
- - -
Lonely at the top: The Blu-ray Disc group, which is trying to set the standard for next-generation DVDs, said it would not adopt a proposal from Hewlett-Packard by the launch of the technology, leading the PC maker to say it may back a rival in the looming multibillion dollar war.
That would leave HP (HPQ), the No. 2 PC maker, splitting support between the two leading technologies
Long a supporter of Sony-led Blu-ray, HP in October said if two technologies it considered important to PC users were not included in Blu-ray's specifications, it would consider backing rival standard HD-DVD, championed by Toshiba.
HP is pushing two technologies known as iHD and mandatory managed copy. Mandatory managed copy lets users legally copy DVDs and store the digital file on a home network, while iHD provides for new interactive features and is slated to be implemented in Microsoft's (MSFT) new Windows Vista operating system.
Blu-ray said it will incorporate mandatory managed copy but would launch it in spring 2006 with interactive features built on Sun Microsystems' (SUNW) Java software.
- - -
Thanks for the WiMax, bro: Wireless technology capable of letting internet users surf the web at speeds almost as fast as wired connections, even while moving about, was among innovations exhibited this week at an Asia-Pacific summit.
World leaders and other delegates to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit witnessed the first-ever trial of wireless high-speed internet access called WiBro, which is based on the emerging WiMax standard.
The service will be offered to South Korean consumers next year, in the form of WiBro-enabled phone handsets, laptop computers and expansion cards. It will permit, among other things, voice and video calling via the internet.
The star of the technology showcase at APEC was a 54-inch-tall, two-legged robot topped with a head modeled after Albert Einstein. "Albert Hubo" has 31 motors behind its face that let it laugh, blink -- and even scowl -- when someone tries to tip it over. It can also speak in sign language using its five-fingered hands.
- - -
Compiled by Keith Axline. AP and Reuters contributed to this report.
