"Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it's off to shred we go!" or "Who forgot to shred the videotape?"
"Jurors in Arthur Andersen's ongoing obstruction of justice trial watched a video Monday in which audit team managers were told destroying documents before litigation is filed is "great" because "whatever might have been of interest to anybody is gone and irretrievable." The video was among prosecution evidence demonstrating how Andersen partner Michael Odom urged compliance with the policy as the Enron scandal loomed." via [Law.com]
Ah, shredding. This is the kind of stuff that the media loves, and which, I'm guessing now, the defense lawyers for Andersen hate. Ouch!
6:22:59 PM
Find electronic transcripts of the Arthur Andersen trial at RealLegal Exemplaris Web site. via [TVC Alert]
RealLegal makes the E-transcript software (and the E-Binder), which is what our firm uses. The transcript is available through its Exemplaris site (which you can sign up for for free), but the transcripts cost money. How much? Apparently each volume (and a day's worth of trial is several volumes) costs about $42 (sorry 'rich"). It looks like they have lots of federal case transcripts. Oh well, just more information added to the galactic cluster.....
6:14:45 PM
The first criminal trial under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act will begin Aug. 26, a federal judge decided. ElcomSoft Co. Ltd. of Moscow could be fined $500,000 if convicted of selling a program that let users circumvent copyright protections on electronic-book software made by Adobe Systems Inc. via [GigaLaw]
I wonder what Rich thinks about this lawsuit? He's a criminal defense lawyer so hopefully he'll provide some running commentary....
5:57:19 PM
"Lawyers are seeking compensation on behalf of people addicted to tobbaco? No this week it is..... video lottery terminals. Last week, a judge allowed a class-action lawsuit against Loto-Quebec to go forward. Sheesh." via [MyFreePress.com]
The Register had this story first, but I didn't quite believe it. Now Reuters has picked it up and confirmed it in great detail. Sony has taken to screwing with its music CDs so that they won't play on computers. God only knows how much they spent developing or licensing the technology.
Here's how to beat it: take a common marker (a Sharpie is probably best), and draw a line around the edge on the non-labelled side. Presto! a disc that will play. Millions of dollars to protect, 39 cents to defeat. No wonder retail CDs cost $19. via [Over the Edge]
And even if that doesn't work you can always feed the pristine audio sound into the microphone input and make an MP3 that way. That's the problem with copy protection schemes: anything that is analog can become digital, and once it does it keeps on going, and keeps on going....(just like the Energizer Bunny).
5:53:22 PM
Keith Teare received a letter from Microsoft, which he published on his weblog, which among other things, demands that he stop publishing his weblog. [via Scripting News]
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is drowning in paper, but plans to convert some of its paperwork to electronic form are meeting with resistance. At a hearing, the Patent Office heard comments about its proposal to eliminate certain paper record searches at its public facilities in Virginia. via [GigaLaw]
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that states can be sued in federal court for their part in bringing competition into local telephone markets. The ruling means states must deal with potentially lengthy federal court litigation from companies angry over how state utility boards or other regulators are following the 1996 Telecommunications Act. [Law.com]
And Speaking of the 1996 Telecommunications Act...
In 1996 Congress passed the Telecommunications Act, a tome that spans over one hundred pages, and has the ostensible purpose of opening markets to competition through deregulation. However, as Peter Huber points out in Law and Disorder in Cyberspace the process of deregulating "seems to require more regulation than ever. The FCC no longer aspires to immortality through its work. Like Woody Allen, it aspires to immortality through not dying."
Huber continues: "What do we need to do now that we are entering the new age of technological innovation? First, throw open the markets. For wireless, this means privatizing the critical asset--spectrum--by giving it away or (better still) selling it. For wires, it means letting anyone deploy new metal and glass alongside the old. Contrary to what Congress assumed for half a century, no commission is needed to protect against 'wasteful duplication,' 'ruinous competition,' or 'inefficient deployment of resources.' Markets take care of that."
And now the States can face litigation just like other market players. Welcome to the new world of deregulated telecommunications. You got to love it...
11:28:17 AM
Biotech companies are doing an end-run around the patentability of DNA sequences by transcoding them as MP3s. Since MP3s, as music, enjoy a 95 year monopoly under the Sonny Bono Anti-Public-Domain Act of 1998, this will give the companies a 95 year "copyright" on the sequences they identify. "It's taking artistic copyright laws and using them to get around scientific issues," he said. "I think it stinks." But a copyrighted genetic-based song could serve as a safe way to transfer DNA sequences between scientists, according to Don Pelto, an intellectual property lawyer with Washington firm McKenna Cuneo. Link via [bOing bOing]
11:23:32 AM
Fish Out Of Water - The CARP Dies
"The United States Copyright Office on Tuesday rejected an arbitration panel ruling on Webcasting royalty rates, a decision that is sure to rankle the recording industry and bring smiles to the face of Internet radio executives nationwide."
More from the Librarian of Congress: "The Register of Copyrights recommends, and the Librarian agrees, that the CARP's determination must be rejected. A final decision will be issued no later than June 20, 2002." 'Scuse me, I'm going to tune in some Internet Radio." via Denise
NPR was all over this story yesterday, and I was surprised to hear that the guys from Arbitron were critical of the proposal. And so were artists (who of course always want exposure). It's interesting to me the shift that is occurring between artists and publishers/distributors. That is to say, when Copyright laws were first created it was to benefit publishers (with the assumption that there would be a derivative benefit to authors). Now we see that authors have a direct market and it is the publishers (or music companies) that are trying to lock down the distribution channels. Now, let's do the math. If the point of copyright is to promote the arts (and that's what the Constitution says) and artists want to create and distribute their work then shouldn't the law favor the widest possible distribution?
Oh, I forgot. The artists usually sign away their copyrights to the publishers and music companies in exchange for their promotion efforts. Say, does anyone remember why John Fogarty got sued? Hint: he had signed away his copyrights early on (the Creedence Clearwater stuff) and so when he made his big comeback and started writing music again, Fantasy Records, which controlled the Creedence stuff, sued him for writing songs that sounded too much like his old stuff.
So, where is thepromotion of creativity in our current music distribution scheme?
11:06:57 AM
DNA in the Public Domain. So, you sleep around a little. You're an international playboy. You love the women and the women simply adore you. You're a golden boy. You're living it large. But... Nights of wild, passionate fornication have a nasty habit of coming back to haunt. A fierce debate is currently raging in the UK over the legality of so-called, `DNA Theft'. Steve Bing, the US multimillionaire and former boyfriend of Elizabeth Hurley, is its latest high-profile victim. Employed by an anxious American eager to know who his son's father was, a private investigator sifted through Bing's rubbish and stole a piece of dental floss which was later analysed. Mr. Bing and Miss. Hurley are already involved in a seperate paternity case. [kuro5hin.org]
8:58:02 AM
First the Paparazzi's were taking their pictures, and now it's their DNA
So, you sleep around a little. You're an international playboy. You love the women and the women simply adore you. You're a golden boy. You're living it large. But... Nights of wild, passionate fornication have a nasty habit of coming back to haunt. A fierce debate is currently raging in the UK over the legality of so-called, `DNA Theft'. Steve Bing, the US multimillionaire and former boyfriend of Elizabeth Hurley, is its latest high-profile victim. Employed by an anxious American eager to know who his son's father was, a private investigator sifted through Bing's rubbish and stole a piece of dental floss which was later analysed. Mr. Bing and Miss. Hurley are already involved in a seperate paternity case. [kuro5hin.org]
Does one have the right to control their own DNA? I don't know, but add that to the list of possible new legal issues that our brave new world will have to deal with.
8:56:46 AM
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission on Monday proposed fining AT&T Wireless Services Inc. $2.2 million for not providing services on time to more precisely pinpoint the location of those who dial 911 for help on mobile telephones. Via [New York Times: Technology]
How about fining the TV Broadcasters when we they (inevitably) fail to meet the deadline for HDTV broadcasts?
12:03:26 AM
