RPK SECURES CASH

E-commerce and encryption outfit RPK SecureMedia has bagged $8 million in funding from Sony, Macrovision, CB (Berkman) Capital LLC and Trans cosmos.

The company's software answers to entertainment-industry fears about piracy come at a time when unsanctioned file-sharing, reverse engineering and other Net-based activities threaten plans to distribute content digitally on a transactional basis--and when several large e-tailers are facing serious financial straits.

"We believe RPK SecureMedia media commerce platform has developed something really unique and significant," pronounced CB (Berkman) Capital LLC's Craig Berkman. "Of course, we're just bankers—you could tell us this thing was a boob-job machine and we'd believe you."

Meanwhile, after getting a boost from their association with the security-heavy BMG download plan announced last week, Liquid Audio and InterTrust both followed the general NASDAQ plunge on 4/10, closing down 2 3/16 at 16 13/16 and 8 3/8 at 41 , respectively.