Ludlow Music has withdrawn its demands that JibJab Media stop using Woody Guthrie's THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND tune in the Web short, THIS LAND, because it was discovered that Ludlow does not own the copyright, reports WIRED. JibJab's lawyers discovered that anyone can record their own version of the song, because the copyright has expired.

Los Angeles-based family entertainment company PorchLight Entertainment has been acquired by its senior management and Beringea through Global Rights II, a media, brand and intellectual property rights fund.

Discovery Communications has acquired the Charles W. Clark Co. Inc., doing business as Rainbow Educational Media – an award-winning publisher and distributor of high-quality core-curriculum educational videos, CD-ROMs and DVDs for children and young people in kindergarten through eighth grade. This acquisition further expands the vast digital library of Discovery's newly formed Discovery Education business unit, providing video content to enhance the classroom learning environment.

In an effort to grow the animation industry in the country, China has announced that it will encourage private investors developing and creating animated films and TV series, reports CHINA DAILY. In terms with the “Opinions Regarding Development of Animation and Comic Industry for Film and TV Programs in China,” the State Broadcasting and Radio Administration promised that “trustworthy, privately-financed cartoon making agencies would be treated equally with state-backed animation and comic production organizations.”

ESC Ent., formed by Warner Bros. in 2001 to work on THE MATRIX RELOADED and THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS and function as an in-house vfx facility, slashed its staff on Friday the 13th and is going on hiatus.

Toon Boom Animation Inc. has appointed two new resellers in China and Korea. As part of its new distribution strategy in Asia, Dison Computer Graphics & Image Company Ltd. will now take care of Toon Boom's products throughout Mainland China, while CS M&C Technology Inc. will do the same in Korea. Both Dison and CS M&C will also provide first-line support to Toon Boom's local customers within the same time zone and language.

As part of the release of YU-GI-OH! THE MOVIE, Warner Bros. Pictures handed out one of four new YU-GI-OH! trading cards to people who attended the film. Like the same type of promotion for the original POKEMON movie, fans were hot to get their hands on the collectibles. However, two fans in Chino, California took it to a criminal extent. The two posed as Warner Bros.

Taffy Entertainment, the new business unit of Mike Young Productions (MYP) has launched its brand new licensing division to be headed by veteran licensing specialist Eric Stein as vp of licensing.

Stein is a former licensing exec with Lucasfilm and MGM/United Artists and the founder of consulting firm Eric Stein Entertainment (ESE). Topping on his agenda is to develop and implement the licensing strategy and program for the company’s groundbreaking 3D, CGI-animated character-comedy PET ALIEN.

In its first major step since becoming an indie, Alias will acquire Kaydara, maker of Motionbuilder and FBX, providing leading realtime 3D character animation and motion editing solutions. Alias was recently acquired by Accel-KKR and Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan from SGI.

According to TrendWatch, previsualization is rapidly gaining acceptance among producers and directors, with 39% of all studios/facilities currently doing previs tasks along with eight out of 10 vfx studios.

This TrendWatch Fast Fact is good news in terms of shrinking budgets and shorter production cycles.

TrendWatch Inc. (www.trendwatch.com) is a market research firm located in Mill Valley, California.