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Two From Yahoo

While much of the tech world's attention is focused on RIM (with the judge reserving his decision this afternoon), there are two Yahoo stories worth noting.  First, add Yahoo to the list of companies that are coming out against DRM.  Yahoo Music chief Dave Goldberg raised eyebrows Thursday at the Music 2.0 conference in Los Angeles with a proposal rarely heard from executives at large digital music services: Record labels should try selling music online without copy protection. According to attendees, Goldberg pointed to the experience of eMusic, which offers its subscribers access to MP3 files without any digital rights management attached.  It seems like just about everybody is reaching that conclusion except for the big four labels.

Second, Yahoo has quietly begun to notify U.S. advertisers that they will no longer be allowed to bid on competitors' trademarked keywords beginning next week. In the past, advertisers were allowed to bid on competitors' keywords if their site provided detailed information comparing the trademarked item to its own, in order to help consumers make a decision.  This issue has generated considerable legal attention with Google facing several lawsuits over matching keywords to trademarks.  Yahoo's decision suggests that those case may be having an impact.

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