Spy v Spy

Not really. MPAA v Torrentspy. Via infoworld:

In its filing Monday seeking to dismiss the case, Torrentspy argued that the MPAA might as well have sued Google, since Google does what Torrentspy does, only better. Torrentspy is a search engine that helps visitors find torrent files, which are often music or movie files stored in an easily shared file format.

"There is nothing alleged to distinguish defendants' website from that maintained by Google," Torrentspy said in its filing. "Everything alleged about defendants' website is true about Google, and even more so, because Google outperforms the allegations in the complaint," the filing reads.

Copyright

Another Keyword Trademark Dispute Makes It Past Summary Judgment

via CNET:

A court has ruled that a lawsuit over a company purchasing a rival's trademark as a search keyword should go to trial, in what could be the first case to scrutinize the trademark infringement liability of keyword purchasers.

Edina Realty sued rival real estate company TheMLSonline.com, accusing it of false advertising, trademark infringement and trademark dilution. According to the suit, MLS used "Edina Realty" in search terms purchased on Google and Yahoo, in the text of the MLS ads that appeared on the two search sites, and in hidden links and text on the MLS Web site.

* * *

A ruling issued last week by the U.S. District Court in Minnesota said evidence of actual trademark dilution had not been provided in the case but that the case could go to trial because there were disputes on material facts with regard to whether the use of the trademark was causing confusion among consumers.

Trademark

Swedish Pirate Bay Thrives As BitTorrent Sites Are Targeted

Via wired.com:

According to "Anakata," one of the site's operators, subsequent MPAA lawsuits have continued to drive more users to The Pirate Bay, which today boasts 1 million unique visitors a day. The Pirate Bay's legal adviser, law student Mikael Viborg, said the site receives 1,000 to 2,000 HTTP requests per second on each of its four servers.

That's bad news for the content industries, which have fired off letter after menacing letter to the site, only to see their threats posted on The Pirate Bay, together with mocking replies. Viborg said that no one has successfully indicted The Pirate Bay or sued its operators in Swedish courts. Attorneys for DreamWorks and Warner Bros., two companies among those that have issued take-down demands to the site, did not return calls for comment.

Viborg credits The Pirate Bay's seeming immunity to the basic structure of the BitTorrent protocol. The site's Stockholm-based servers provide only torrent files, which by themselves contain no copyright data -- merely pointers to sources of the content. That makes The Pirate Bay's activities perfectly legal under Swedish statutory and case law, Viborg claims. "Until the law is changed so that it is clear that the trackers are illegal, or until the Swedish Supreme Court rules that current Swedish copyright law actually outlaws trackers, we'll continue our activities. Relentlessly," wrote Viborg in an e-mail.

P2P

The GPL and Sarbanes-Oxley

The Software Freedom Law Center just published a white paper dismissing accusations (particularly from Wasabi Systems) that distributers of open source code licensed under the GPL are at greater risk of violating the corporate compliance provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act:

Some have recently argued that corporate executives face increased risk of criminal liability under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) if their companies develop and distribute code licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL). The argument, as it has been made, raises significant concerns about SOX compliance, but it fails to clarify the scope and context of these points. We have reviewed these issues and, as discussed more fully below, there is in fact no special risk for developing GPL'd code under SOX. Under most circumstances, the risk posed to a company by SOX is not affected by whether they use GPL'd or any other type of software. Arguments to the contrary are pure anti-GPL FUD.

Open Source

Update on GPL Update

via CNET:

A major revamp of the General Public License is scheduled for public release next week, a move that's expected to kick off a long and vocal debate over the key foundation of open-source programming.

The Free Software Foundation will release and describe the first public draft of version 3 of the document on Jan. 16, at the First International Conference on GPLv3 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the organization said.

And other recent news on the open source front, "Open source battens the hatches."

And a review on a recently book from O'Reilly entitled Producing Open Source Software:

Throughout Producing Open Source Software, Fogel hits the reader with the stark reality of software development. He then follows up with easy and clear pointers, as well as some detailed instructions, as to how to avoid such pitfalls. The book begins with a concise history of free and open source software. This, in itself, will be useful to a great number of people who, like me, may be well aware of most of the concepts, but were not there at the time and will have gaps in their knowledge. It is great to be reading and think - Oh, that's what GNU stands for - when you would usually be too embarrassed to ask. It's also good to get a feel for where the soft (and hard) politics of the free and open source software community have come from.

Open Source

OUR BHOY KEANO!

"I have not come up here on an ego trip or to unwind. I am here to win matches."

A few thoughts on RK16's arrival at Parkhead:

Tosh McKinley via Evening Times: "ROY KEANE has to be one of the best signings Celtic have ever made. You can't underestimate what a lift his arrival will do for everyone at the club.

It isn't just the players in the dressing room who will be delighted to see a player of genuine world-class ability come through the doors. Everyone, from the fans who go every week to those working in and around the club, will have a spring in their step today."

Ronnie Cully in the Evening Times: "ROY KEANE has revealed he elected to sign for Celtic, foregoing all other offers, because he wants a new challenge.

His much-heralded arrival in Paradise provided that immense challenge - but not just for the controversial 34-year-old.

Gordon Strachan, the man charged with integrating this unique talent into a game plan which was going along nicely, recognises that he, too, has had a gauntlet thrown down to him."

Jungle G via eTims: "Personally, I have to admit to being fairly impressed by how plain-speaking and realistic Keane was about the situation he finds himself in at Celtic. Of course, there is little doubt that sheer untold reserves of self-belief wash over this particular player to begin with, but even still this was an impressive performance. Keane is an extremely intelligent individual - relative to standards within his profession - and is surely aware that there is a sizeable chunk of the Parkhead support who harbour reservations over his signing, and will also know fine well that at a club like Celtic, a player such as he is only ever a few hiccups away from a media storm. Given all that, he was wise in steering clear of the 'boyhood dream' angle as he faced his latest public, or at least those weak and venal enough to constitute his latest public's media."

Tom via Sporting Almanac: "It is rather more likely that Keane sees in Celtic (and has done for some time) embodiments of values that he holds dear. Anyone visiting Parkhead must be struck by the fundamentally
proletarian passion still pervades and defines the nature of the club. It has often been mentioned how Keane's background in working class Cork provided him with the steel and backbone which coloured his career. It has also been well documented how it pained him to see the soft, apathetic culture which developed at Old Trafford as affluence sated his colleagues' hunger.

And, indeed, that of United's supporters.

Perhaps Keane wants to taste again that feeling of a success that means something. A success that provides supporters with meaning to the very fibre of their being. Success that makes men walk tall for a week. If he stays fit and capable to take his place in a Celtic team in next year's Champions League, he will know a fulfillment of his ideals that he was never going to retrieve at Old Trafford."

The Medical Industrial Complex

Krugman via NYT:

The past quarter-century has seen the emergence of a vast medical-industrial complex, in which doctors, hospitals and research institutions have deep financial links with drug companies and equipment makers. Conflicts of interest aren't the exception - they're the norm.

The economic logic of the medical-industrial complex is straightforward. Prescription drugs and high-technology medical devices account for a growing share of medical spending. Both are products that are expensive to develop but relatively cheap to make. So the profit from each additional unit sold is large, giving their makers a strong incentive to do whatever it takes to persuade doctors and hospitals to choose their products.

healthcare

Implied-In-Fact Claim Against EA Gamemaker

via CNET:

In his lawsuit filed Nov. 28 with the California Superior Court in San Mateo County, Calif., Virtual Jam owner Pernell Harris said he met with EA in late 2003 to discuss "Heart of a Champion," a football game he was developing in which players guide an athlete from high school to professional football.

Among other things, players pick the athlete's parents and handle all kinds of daily experiences from sports practice to school homework.

Harris said features from that game appeared in "Madden NFL 2006" when it was released earlier this year. He accused EA of breaching an "implied in fact contract" when it used those features without compensating him and said EA had violated a confidentiality agreement.

Harris is seeking unspecified damages, attorney's fees and restitution.

IP

UK Rethink on IP Laws

via CNET:

The British government has launched a review of the laws protecting intellectual property, an issue of growing importance to the technology industry.

Chancellor Gordon Brown has asked Andrew Gowers, former editor of The Financial Times, to lead an independent review into intellectual-property, or IP, rights in the United Kingdom. The Labour Party manifesto in the last election included a commitment to "modernize copyright and other forms of IP so that they are appropriate for the digital age."

According to the U.K. Treasury, this review will consider how well businesses are able to negotiate the complexity and expense of the copyright and patent system, including copyright and patent-licensing arrangements, litigation and enforcement. It will also look at whether the current technical and legal IP infringement framework reflects the digital environment and whether provisions for "fair use" by citizens are reasonable.

IP

Drug Benefit Disaster

via washingtonpost.com: "Good policy can make for good politics, and bad policy can make for bad politics. Republicans may be about to discover this truism with their Medicare drug benefit, passed by Congress in 2003 and scheduled to take effect in January. As policy, the drug benefit is a calamity. It worsens one of the nation's major problems (paying baby boomers' retirement costs) while addressing a nonexistent 'crisis' (allegedly oppressive drug costs for retirees). Its purpose was mostly political: to bribe the elderly or soon-to-be-elderly to vote for Republicans in 2004. Now it may backfire on Republicans."

Intellectual Property Protection Act of 2005

via Technology News Daily: "If enacted, the proposed Intellectual Property Protection Act of 2005 would enhance the Department’s ability to pursue crimes and protect the intellectual property rights of citizens and industries. The Act includes provisions to: Implement broad forfeiture reforms to ensure the ability to forfeit property, including illicit proceeds, derived from or used in the commission of criminal intellectual property offenses; Criminalize intellectual property theft motivated by any type of commercial advantage or private financial gain; and Strengthen restitution provisions for victim companies and rights holders in order to maximize protection for those who suffer most from these crimes."

Courting Spyware

via Traceroutes: "Cyberlaw Clinic, we’ll have no shortage of claims to pursue against our chosen defendants. However, focusing on the data gathered will allow us the unique chance to establish some precedent for interpretation of the California Consumer Protection Against Computer Spyware Act, the California Online Privacy Protection Act of 2003, and the federal Wiretap Act (part of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986). Click to read more about the claims that Sasha might enable us to make regarding these statutes….."

7 Steps to Help you Better in Writing

via lifehack.org : "Do you want to be a fast writer? Do you want to write effectively? Does it take you hours to think of what to write and when you get something on paper, and then you tear it off? Well, if you’re interested in writing faster, more effectively and efficiently, then you have come to the right place."

Secrets of organized families: Insider strategies for getting your house in order

via some site: "In this increasingly hectic world, the phrase 'organized families' can seem like a contradiction in terms. But you know they exist: They're the ones who show up at school on time each day, remember the Little League coach's birthday, and file their taxes in January. And though they make everyone else look bad, you secretly wish you were more like them, together and in control.

Why get organized? Because you can't afford not to, especially when you're juggling work, school, and competing schedules. To get you on the road to efficiency, we asked families and professional organizers to share their secrets, room by room. "

Geek to Live: The Usable Home

via Lifehacker: "As a computer programmer in a new apartment, I’ve taken the same approach to setting up my home as I would developing a software application: with a focus on usability. Like any good software package, my home should be a tool that helps me get things done, a space that’s a pleasure to be in and a launch pad for daily tasks as well as my life goals.

Whether the task at hand is to relax after work, phone a family member, or keep track of a dry cleaning receipt, there are lots of simple ways to create a living space that makes getting things done a breeze.

I’m no home organization expert, but here are a few tips I’ve gleaned over time that can help make your house a Usable Home."

OSDL Launches Patent Commons Site

via CNET News.com: "Concern has grown over the past year that Linux could be under legal threat from claims it infringes certain software patents.

No court cases have been filed, but the issue is serious enough that several companies have pledged not to use their patent portfolios against the open source operating system.

An industry consortium devoted to Linux, Open Source Development Lab (OSDL) has decided to coordinate this process. OSDL launched a Web site last week to help developers check which patents have been pledged. Patent Commons contains more than 500 patents so far, but that may not be enough to significantly affect the problem.

Some activists have claimed that the whole concept of patent pledges is misguided. ZDNet UK spoke with OSDL Chief Executive Stuart Cohen to understand the wider aims of the project."

The Shaver Wars

via brandchannel.com: "In May 2004 Gillette released M3Power, the first battery-operated shaver, and launched a global campaign with testimonial superstar David Beckham. Late November 2004, the District Court of Hamburg, Germany, granted an interim injunction against Gillette and in favor of Wilkinson Sword. In the challenged M3Power advertising campaign, Gillette claimed that the new M3Power wet shaver uses electrical micropulses and guarantees a closer shave than any other wet shaver. Wilkinson Sword presented test results that showed a thoroughness advantage of 0.0143 mm of the M3Power compared to the Quattro; however, the resulting time advantage of 1.27 hours in 24 hours using 0.27 mm daily beard growth as a base is neither visible nor noticeable to the consumer, and therefore too slight to justify a superiority claim. The District Court of Hamburg judged this superiority claim as misleading and competitively undue, and released a cease and desist order concerning Gillette’s advertising campaign.

A superiority claim is admissible and not misleading if it is based on facts, if the advertiser has a distinct lead over competitors, and if this lead is of certain duration.

Wilkinson Sword filed a similar lawsuit in the Netherlands, whereupon Gillette reacted with a countersuit attacking Wilkinson's Dutch ads for the Quattro shaver, which said “Independent tests and consumer research have shown that no other shaving system shaves smoother and softer than Quattro.” The judge allowed both ads, but said they would not necessarily be believed. 'By a good legal tradition, some exaggeration is permissible, as long as it is not misleading in nature, because it will be skeptically received by the average consumer,' Judge Schepen said in his ruling, adding that the buying public has become practically immune to the tendency for commer"

Man on Fire--Not!

Larry Johnson via TPMCafe: "I think Dick Cheney has been watching too many Hollywood flicks that glorify torture. He needs, instead, to get on the ground and talk to the folks he is ostensibly trying to empower to torture. Unlike Dick I have spoken with three CIA operations officers in the last three months--all who have worked on terrorism at the highest levels--and not one endorses torture or believes it will help us. In fact, they believe it will hurt us on many levels.

Two of my friends served in Afghanistan in the immediate aftermath of 9-11. If the suicide bombing of the World Trade Centers was not enough justification for hooking Haji up to battery cables, I don't know what is. My friends recognized correctly that their mission was to gather intelligence not create new enemies. If you inflict enough pain on someone they will give you information, but, unless you kill them, they will hold a grudge. As far as the information goes there is no guarantee it will be correct.

What real CIA field officers know from their work with actual sources is that whatever short term benefit can be derived from torture will be offset by the new enemy you have created. It is better to build a relationship of trust, no matter how painstaking, rather than gain a short term benefit that puts you on par with a Nazi concentration camp guard."

In e-mails, consultant claims link to Cornyn

via statesman.com :

WASHINGTON -- Former Christian Coalition director Ralph Reed claimed in a 2001 e-mail to a lobbyist that he choreographed John Cornyn's efforts as Texas attorney general to shut down an East Texas Indian tribe's casino.

The lobbyist was Jack Abramoff, who is under federal investigation, along with his partner Michael Scanlon, on allegations of defrauding six Indian tribes of about $80 million from 2001 to 2004. The e-mail, along with about a dozen others, was released last week as part of the investigation.

In 2001, Abramoff was working as a lobbyist for the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana to prevent rival gaming casinos from siphoning off its Texas customers. He paid Reed as a consultant, and Reed lobbied to get the Alabama-Coushatta and Tigua casinos closed in Texas.

In the Nov. 30, 2001, e-mail, Reed told Abramoff that 50 pastors led by Ed Young, of Second Baptist Church in Houston, would meet with Cornyn to urge him to shut down the Alabama-Coushatta tribe's casino near Livingston. He said Young would back up the request in writing.
* * *
The Senate Indian Affairs Committee blocked out references to Cornyn in the e-mails it released last week. But in previous Reed e-mails released by the committee, Cornyn's name was not removed.

The previously released e-mails showed that in 2002, Abramoff and Scanlon secretly funneled millions to Reed to help fund the campaign to get the Tigua casino shut down. The lobbyists then persuaded the Tiguas to hire them to reopen it.

That Marginal Revolution guy asks: Could I ever become a Democrat?

Unlikely. He's a moron.

Marginal Revolution: Could I ever become a Democrat?: "I suspect Mr. Cowen has a nice fat corporate health insurance policy and thinks that is the result of 'economic laws', you know, the one that says, 'Them that has, gets.'

Out here in the real world, if you lose your job, you lose your insurance (if your previous job even offered insurance). If you get divorced, you often lose your insurance. If your employer's insurance company decides to raise premiums 50% in one year and your employer balks, you lose your insurance. If you're self-employed, you very likely can't get insurance for less than $1000 a month per family, and that insurance will usually exclude nearly everything that you'd go to a doctor for. (Mine excludes any prescription that doesn't happen during a hospital stay, that is, all prescriptions I get. But then, it's also got a $10K deductible even for hospital stays, so ...) If you have any illness or condition at all, and you can't get group insurance, you will probably either get a policy that excludes that condition forever... or they won't give you a policy at all and you are uninsured. When you're uninsured, you not only have to pay every penny of your healthcare, you generally pay twice as much as the insured pay because your provider has negotiated deals with all the insurance companies to charge them less, and the doctor has to make it up somewhere, hence charging me $160 for a routine office visit that my insured friend's insurance company pays $60 for.

People die because they don't have insurance or have inadequate insurance, because health costs are so astronomical that many hospitals can no longer afford to treat you without you paying in cash ahead of time. Sure, there are public hospitals, and they'll stabilize you and send you home-- they're not going to give you a kidney transplant for free.

Hmm. Now what economic law created a system like this, where employers are responsible for insurance, huh? "