Andrew P. bridges, State Bar No. 122761

richard nessary, State Bar No. 180682

jennifer a. golinveaux, State Bar No. 203056

terri y. chen, State Bar No. 209854

alexander d. macgillivray, State Bar No. 212770

WILSON SONSINI GOODRICH & ROSATI

Professional Corporation

650 Page Mill Road

Palo Alto, CA  94304-1050

Telephone:  (650) 493-9300

Facsimile:   (650) 493-6811

 

CINDY A. COHN, State Bar No. 145997

FRED VON LOHMANN, State Bar No. 192657

ROBIN D. GROSS, State Bar No. 200701

ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION

454 Shotwell Street

San Francisco, CA  94110

Telephone:  (415) 436-9333 x 123

Facsimile:  (415) 436-9993

 

JOSEPH R. TAYLOR, State Bar No. 129933

JEFFREY K. COMPTON, State Bar No. 142969

LINER YANKELEVITZ SUNSHINE & REGENSTREIF

3130 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 200

Santa Monica, CA  90403

Telephone:  (310) 881-2192

Facsimile:  (310) 453-5901

 

Attorneys for Defendants

MusicCity.com, Inc. (now known as StreamCast Networks, Inc.) and MusicCity Networks, Inc.

 

 

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

Western division

 

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, et. al.,

 

Plaintiffs,

 

v.

 

Grokster, Ltd. et. al.,

 

Defendants.

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Case No.: 01-08541 SVW (PJWx)

 

DECLARATION OF SEAN L. MAYERS IN SUPPORT OF MUSICCITY.COM, INC.’S AND MUSICCITY NETWORKS, INC.’S MOTION FOR PARTIAL SUMMARY JUDGMENT

 

 

I, Sean L. Mayers, hereby declare:

1.             My name is Sean L. Mayers.  I reside in Toronto, Canada.

2.             I am the co-founder and the Chief Executive Officer of J!VE Media Technologies, Inc. (“J!VE Media”), a company incorporated in 2000 under the laws of the Province of Ontario, Canada, and having its registered office in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

3.             I hold a Masters in Business Administration from Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, and Certification in Competitive Marketing Strategy from Wharton Business School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

4.             Before joining J!VE Media, I was the Business Development Manager for Hotline Communications Ltd, a company that focused on file-sharing software applications.  Before that, I was the Marketing, Media and Sales Director of Ticketmaster in Canada.  I have over ten years of business experience in the internet entertainment industry, during the last four years of which I have specialized in business opportunities in the peer to peer and distributed computing communities of the internet.

5.             J!VE Media is the creator of a suite of digital video packaging, digital rights management, and media delivery services, which enable content providers to distribute their video content via file-sharing on open, decentralized peer-to-peer networks and instant messaging communities.  We specialize in three types of services: first, safeguarding and customized digital packaging of clients’ video content; second, distribution of enhanced video content using the file sharing software of our Syndicated Distribution Network Partners; and third, tracking of our clients’ enhanced video content.

6.             J!VE Media relies on the file sharing software of the members of our Syndicated Distribution Network to distribute content provided by our clients. J!VE Media’s Syndicated Distribution Network Partners include LimeWire, Grokster, MusicCity, and other peer to peer technology leaders.  By using the file sharing software of its Syndicated Distribution Network Partners to distribute content, J!VE Media is able to distribute our clients’ content to the 17 million computers that currently use peer to peer file-sharing networks.

7.             J!VE Media’s clients are content providers who are willing to have their J!VE Media protected content distributed by users of peer to peer file sharing software, including the millions of users of the Morpheus, KaZaA and Grokster applications. 

8.             Existing open, decentralized peer to peer file-sharing networks, when combined with the services offered by J!VE Media, offer content owners distinct business advantages over alternate online distribution technologies.  Streaming and centralized downloads represent the two most common forms of online distribution used by content owners today.  Each has distinct drawbacks.

9.             Distribution via streaming usually involves repeated access to content by consumers, which in turn results in network congestion, degraded content quality and high bandwidth costs for content providers.

10.         Similarly, offering downloads from controlled websites entails considerable bandwidth, data storage, and maintenance costs, as the burden of providing these resources falls entirely on the content provider.

11.         By utilizing existing peer to peer file-sharing networks, in contrast, content owners are able to rely almost entirely on users to provide the most costly computing resources involved in digital distribution: data storage and bandwidth.  J!VE Media’s technology, meanwhile, provides the elements of security and control that content owners desire.

12.         The flagship product of J!VE Media is the J!VE Player Portable Media File format.  This product allows J!VE Media to individually package music videos, television and movie segments provided by content providers, with commercial sponsorship and advertising selected by our clients.

13.         J!VE Player Portable Media Files are unique in several respects.  First, they are designed to be downloaded by consumers, played and shared.  The files are compressed to make them attractive to consumers and to facilitate sharing between internet consumers of peer-to-peer networks, instant-messaging communities or via an email link.

14.         Second, digital rights management in the files protect our clients’ valuable video content. J!VE Media also tracks the distribution of our digitally wrapped content and reports on content distribution and promotional penetration to our clients.

15.         Third, J!VE Player Portable Media files allow content providers to incorporate weblinks to e-commerce sites and can embed commercials which dynamically change, depending on the content being viewed by the consumer.

16.         Finally, since J!VE Media distributes only authorized content, J!VE Player Portable Media Files provide consumers with the experience of watching very high-quality, first-generation video content.

17.         A variety of content owners have recognized and embraced the opportunities presented by combining open, decentralized peer to peer file-sharing networks with J!VE Media’s technology.  J!VE Media has concluded agreements:

(a)          With the Priority Records division of the EMI Recorded Music Group to package and distribute the promotional music video track “My Baby” by the well-known musical artist Lil’ Romeo.  J!VE Media seeded the Gnutella/ LimeWire peer-to-peer network with the enhanced video file.  The file then spontaneously spread to the FastTrack users’ network (comprised of users of the Morpheus, KaZaA and Grokster software).  This promotion was extremely successful.  By November 2001, over 400,000 unique downloads had been recorded, of which 60% took place on open, decentralized peer-to-peer networks;

(b)          With Koch International, the world’s third largest independent music label;

(c)          With CHUMCity Interactive, the media arm of Canada’s CHUM Television, which owns the 24 hour music channel MuchMusic, to package and distribute several of its proprietary television programs, including the Movie Television and Fashion Television channels;

(d)          With The Comedy Network, Canada’s 24 hour comedy cable channel, for television content; and

(e)          With Icebox Animation, the creators of the popular animated hits “Zombie College,” “Mr. Wong” and “ Starship Regulars” to package and distribute selected works.

18.                  J!VE Media is also currently exploring promotional and distribution opportunities with contacts from several major motion picture studios and large United States’ and European television networks.

19.                  J!VE Media’s business depends upon peer to peer file sharing networks, including the networks formed by the community of users that employ the software produced by the defendants in this case.

I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States of America that the foregoing is true and correct and that this declaration is executed in Toronto, Canada on _________________________, 2002.

 

 

                                                      ______________________________

                                                      Sean L. Mayers