All articles tagged with #licensing
The Home Office has blanket-extended licensing hours in England and Wales so venues can stay open long enough to broadcast the entire England-Norway World Cup quarter-final, even if kickoff is delayed by heat, and to keep serving for 30 minutes after the final whistle; no venue-by-venue approval is needed.
Netflix has inked a licensing deal with Penske Media’s PMX, bringing top video content from brands including Variety, Rolling Stone, Billboard and others (BuzzFeed Studios, Condé Nast, Hearst, People, Tastemade) onto the platform starting Aug. 3. The pact covers a range of genres and formats—from travel and fashion to entertainment features—spanning short-form clips to longer pieces, with programs like BuzzFeed Celeb’s “30 Questions,” Vanity Fair’s “Lie Detector,” Harper’s Bazaar’s “Burning Questions,” Billboard’s “24 Hrs With,” Travel + Leisure’s “Travel Unfiltered,” Tastemade’s “Struggle Meals,” and Variety’s “Know Their Lines?”. Netflix says the goal is to deepen fandom and enable cross-platform discovery as it broadens beyond traditional scripted/unscripted fare, with plans for games, podcasts and live events.
An Xbox-exclusive rhythm game Boom Boom Rocket has been delisted from the Xbox digital storefront due to licensing, making it unavailable for new buyers; owners can still play via backward compatibility, but there was no warning, and licensing issues make a future return unlikely.
Pubs across England and Wales will be allowed to stay open until 5 a.m. for England’s World Cup match against Mexico after an emergency licensing measure, overturning the usual 11 p.m. limit. The move, praised by hospitality groups but criticized by police for potential violence and policing challenges, aims to keep fans together and support venues, with questions about sleep, school on Monday, and worker attendance lingering.
Dbrand unveiled a Companion Cube/Portal-inspired Steam Machine wrap without obtaining a Valve license. Valve demanded an immediate takedown, pre-orders were refunded, and the project will not ship. Valve also offered design docs for the Steam Machine’s magnetically attached front plate for DIY recreations.
Dbrand released a Companion Cube–themed Steam Machine case without Valve's permission, shipped samples for press, and after Valve demanded takedown and proper licensing the product and its launch film were pulled and refunds issued; the episode recalls the company's history of hardware controversies.
Dbrand's Portal-inspired Steam Machine Companion Cube was removed after Valve asserted IP rights and denied a license; refunds are being issued to customers. After seven months and thousands of hours of development, Valve's takedown ends the project, with Dbrand publicly explaining the licensing misstep and Valve's rights over its IP.
dbrand removed its Portal-themed Steam Machine enclosure after Valve stated they did not have a license to use Portal IP. Refunds are being issued to customers, and Valve declined to license the project, underscoring the importance of IP clearance before bringing licensed hardware to market.
The $40 re-release of Dead or Alive 6 Last Round bundles five new characters but keeps 2019 bugs, omits rollback netcode, and forces players to repurchase DLC they already own. Steam lists roughly 440 DLC items (many duplicates or carryovers), with licensing preventing transfers for two KoF characters (Mai Shiranui and Kula Diamond) and all DLC prices rising from $8 to $11; some costumes from the original game are inaccessible after delisting of older versions, though a workaround exists by purchasing from the 2019 version if you still have it.
Sony PlayStation will pull hundreds of StudioCanal-published films from users' digital libraries on September 1, 2026 due to licensing, affecting about 551 titles including Terminator 2 and The Deer Hunter.
Sony’s PlayStation Store will remove access to certain Studio Canal titles that users already purchased (e.g., Terminator 2, Moonlight, Hot Fuzz) starting September 1, 2026, after the licensing deal expires. No refunds or apologies have been offered, and the notice appears UK-specific. This underscores the fragility of digital ownership and echoes past licensing expirations that wiped content from PS accounts.
PlayStation has begun notifying users that 551 StudioCanal-published films will be removed from their libraries on September 1 due to licensing deals, with no refunds or compensation offered, underscoring that most digital purchases aren’t truly owned but rented.
Sony is removing all Studio Canal titles from UK PlayStation libraries on September 1, 2026 due to licensing agreements, continuing a pattern of purchased-content removals after earlier moves in 2022 and 2023 (and Discovery TV shows in 2023); there will be no refunds, and while some content purchases remain via Sony Pictures Core, removals are driven by licensing terms across regions.
Butterfly Network (BFLY) shares surged after Midjourney unveiled a medical imaging platform powered by Butterfly’s Ultrasound-on-Chip technology. The system combines hundreds of thousands of ultrasonic elements with advanced software and computational resources to produce high‑resolution 3D full‑body scans in about a minute using the Midjourney Scanner, signaling potential new licensing and revenue opportunities for Butterfly beyond handheld devices. Analysts highlighted the collaboration as a proof point for Butterfly’s licensing/embedded platform, with management expected to discuss details on a TD Cowen conference call as investors weigh the long‑term impact on the company’s addressable imaging market.
G7 and the U.S. signalled willingness to license Ukraine-based firms to manufacture long-range missiles and air-defence systems domestically, tapping European capabilities to supplement dwindling stocks; licenses could extend to deep-strike capabilities, aiming to boost Kyiv’s air-defence capacity ahead of EU talks and the Ramstein defence meeting as Ukraine seeks additional military funding.