June 27, 2005

'Big development' over beef Globe and Mail - Canadian ranchers are hopeful that the United States may soon be reopened to live cattle, but that optimism is tempered by the uncertainty surrounding two critical court cases being fought next month. "The frustrating part is that the positive test can't even be admitted as new evidence," Ted Haney, president of Calgary-based Canada Beef Export Federation, said yesterday. "This is a big development," he said about the U.S. government's announcement on Friday that it appears to have its first homegrown case of mad-cow disease. "I don't know how it could be ignored." 10:19:55 AM

Court rules Internet file-sharing services can be held responsible ... Boston Herald, MA - Internet file-sharing services will be held responsible if they intend for their customers to use software primarily to swap songs and movies. What The Supreme Court said is that "One who distributes a device with the object of promoting its use to infringe copyright ... is liable for the resulting acts of infringement by third parties using the device, regardless of the device's lawful uses." The promotion is the key part of that statement. So if you sell a gun, and promote it as a tool that should be used to murder people, and the gun is used to murder someone, then you can be held liable. Let us go further.  If you have a iPod (or any MP3 player) there is no way to get music on it without copying from a CD.  The act of copying, even if you bought the CD is copyright infrigment.  Apple might be considered to be promoting the use of iPods to infringe copyright.  I don't think people are ready to give up MP3 players. 10:13:48 AM