Crackdown on piracy

The recording industry’s top lobby group launched a new wave of legal action against the illegal sharing of music over the Internet, which it says hits sales and steals money from music artists. The International Federation for the Phonographic Industry said it was launching 2,100 legal cases and extending the action to five new countries in Europe, Asia and, for the first time, South America.

It said file sharers in Sweden, Switzerland, Argentina, Hong Kong and Singapore faced prosecution for the first time.

IFPI said 900 million unauthorized music files were on the Internet, which was hitting sales of music compact discs. In the application filed with the Ontario Securities Commission and its Quebec counterpart, PBB requested a cease- trade order that would prohibit take up of PBB units under Livingston’s offer until the alleged deficiencies are rectified.

In the filing, PBB said the Livingston offer is “ coercive, does not provide adequate disclosure of potentially different tax consequences for tendering and non- tendering PBB unitholders and provides Livingston with unfettered discretion to dictate the terms of a subsequent acquisition transaction.” PBB wants Livingston to amend its offering circular and extend the offer’s expiry date to allow its unitholders adequate time to evaluate the revised offer documents. run- up in energy prices has yet to spill over into more widespread inflation. The commerce department reported that retail sales dipped 0.1 per cent in October. However, the weakness was concentrated in a 3.6 per cent decline in auto sales as the boost from summer sales incentives waned and consumers shunned gas- guzzling sport utility vehicles. Excluding autos, retail sales rose by a solid 0.9 per cent last month.