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Sony sells most of its media editing tools
Sony's quest to get rid of unnecessary businesses continues. The electronics giant has sold off the "majority" of its creative software suite to Magix, a German firm that revolves around pro imaging apps. That's right -- Vegas Pro, Sound Forge Pro and other well-known Sony media editing apps are now in someone else's hands. Sony will still offer its Catalyst broadcast and production tools, but Magix will be handling development and support from here on out.
Disney troubled over early offering of John Carter DVD by Netflix and Redbox
Well, well, the warrior from Mars seems to have stirred some problems over in the US of A. According to the LA Times, Disney isn't exactly happy with Netflix and Redbox, mainly because they're both offering the hot-off-the-press John Carter DVD ahead of that 28-day rental window -- granted, the parties never agreed to a deal in the first place, and thus it shouldn't cause any legal troubles. The conundrum started after Walt's movie studio couldn't close a pact with Netflix and Redbox that'd see them offer new rentals after the aforementioned time frame. This eventually lead to the services buying discs off of retailers like Walmart and Target for more than twice as much as they would from the studio, but allowing them to have it up for grabs on release date. Chances are this saga won't end here, though, so we'll keep you in the loop if this takes a turn for the worse.
Zediva ordered to permanently shut down operations, pay $1.8 million to MPAA
The last time we checked in with Zediva, the DVD streaming service was reeling from a court-ordered preliminary injunction that effectively brought its operations to a halt. At the time, the California-based company was still pinning its hopes on the promise of a forthcoming appeal, but those hopes were summarily quashed on Friday, when US District Judge John Walter rendered the injunction permanent. Zediva had previously exposed an apparent loophole in US copyright law, by allowing users to stream movies from physical DVDs located in Silicon Valley. This strategy allowed the firm to offer newly released movies well before other on-demand services, but according to Judge Walter, it was also illegal. Zediva will now have to cease all operations and pay $1.8 million in damages to the MPAA. The defendant has yet to comment on the decision, but MPAA Associate General Counsel Dan Robbins seemed understandably delighted: "This result sends a strong message to those who would exploit the studios' works in violation of copyright law, on the Internet or elsewhere, and it is an important victory for the more than 2 million American men and women whose livelihoods depend on a thriving film and television industry."
Google demos Android Movie Studio for Honeycomb
Google won't let anyone take pictures during its MWC 2011 keynote, so you'll just have to trust us when we say Eric Schmidt just demoed a new video editing application called Movie Studio for Honeycomb tablets. The app was built from the ground up for tablet devices, and it features everything you'd expect: a timeline-style editor, picture effects, soundtrack and audio support, and of course, HD support with uploads to YouTube. Unfortunately we don't know much else about it, but we'll be digging for more details, so stay tuned. Update: We snuck a picture! You can see the timeline and the playback controls -- it looks really nice, don't you think?
