Scour.net

Scour Inc. emerged from the halls of UCLA in December 1997, founded by a group of computer science students including Dan Rodrigues, Vince Busam, Michael Todd, Jason Droege, and Kevin Smilak. Travis Kalanick, who would later co-found Uber, joined the founding team in mid-1998. The company initially operated out of an apartment, fueled by the founders' technical expertise gained from internships at major tech firms like Microsoft and Intel.

The venture began as a multimedia search engine, Scour.net, which specialized in finding audio, video, and images online by scanning the web for multimedia file links. This addressed a growing demand for a precise way to locate compelling digital content. The company gained significant traction and in June 1999, received a pivotal investment from former Disney president Michael Ovitz and Ron Burkle's Yucaipa companies, who acquired a controlling 51% stake for $4 million. This investment facilitated a move to a Beverly Hills office and an expansion of the team.

In response to the rise of Napster, Scour developed a peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing service called Scour Exchange. Unlike its competitor, Scour Exchange supported the transfer of video and image files in addition to audio, integrating all users into a single network. However, this technology positioned the company in a legally precarious space. In the summer of 2000, the Motion Picture Association of America (RIAA) and other industry bodies filed a massive copyright infringement lawsuit against Scour, seeking $250 billion in damages. The lawsuit deterred potential investors, leading to severe financial distress. Scour laid off most of its staff and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October 2000 to shield itself from the litigation. The company's assets were ultimately sold at auction in late 2000.

Following Scour's collapse, some of the founders pursued other ventures. Travis Kalanick, along with members of Scour's engineering team, went on to found Red Swoosh in 2001, another P2P company that was later acquired by Akamai Technologies. Dan Rodrigues later co-founded Tebra Technologies Inc. in 2004. The Scour.net domain was later relaunched in 2008 as a metasearch engine that aggregated results from Google, Yahoo!, and Live Search, and included a system to reward users with points for searching, though this program was later discontinued. The domain also became associated with a browser redirect virus.

Keywords: Scour, Scour Exchange, peer-to-peer, P2P, file sharing, multimedia search engine, Dan Rodrigues, Travis Kalanick, Michael Ovitz, dot-com bubble, copyright infringement lawsuit, RIAA, MPAA, bankruptcy, Red Swoosh, UCLA, internet history, digital media, entertainment technology, Napster competitor