We just received a tipoff that Bolt.com, the online video site that settled a lawsuit with Universal in March, has ceased operations and closed its website. More on this as it develops, but for now this is the message on Bolt's website:
]]> The FT reported in March the details of the Universal-Bolt.com settlement:"Please be advised that the operations of Bolt, Inc. and Bolt.com have ceased. Net Revolution, Inc. and Bolt, Inc. have executed an Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors effective as of August 14, 2007. Please direct any creditor related questions or comments to the Assignee's office to the attention of:
Development Specialists, Inc.
345 California Street
Suite 1150
San Francisco, California 94104-2664
Att: George E. Shoup, III
Email: gshoup@dsi.bizThe Notice of Assignment will be mailed to all known creditors in the near future. If you are interested in acquiring this site or other assets of Bolt or Net Revolution please contact, gshoup@dsi.biz."
"Under the terms of the deal, Universal agreed to drop a lawsuit against Bolt that it filed in October.
In return, the music company will take a multimillion-dollar share of the proceeds of Bolt’s recent sale to another site, GoFish, as damages for past copyright infringement, according to people familiar with the settlement.
Universal will also receivea small licensing fee each time one of its songs is played on GoFish in the future, as well as a share of associated advertising revenue.
GoFish will implement filtering technology on Bolt within 60 days, which will allow Universal to easily determine when its materials have been posted on the site."
It seems that this is the first major fallout of the YouTube copyright controversies that surfaced once Google acquired YouTube. While Google has the resources to fight the big media companies, a small company like Bolt.com does not. More on this as the story develops.
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