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We reported a few days ago that Justice O’Connor “last week agreed to the California-based DVD Copy Control Assn.’s request for the stay, giving the court time to collect more arguments.” Having collected more arguments, she changed her mind Friday, per Declan McCullagh in CNET: The U.S. Supreme Court has …

“Urban legend” researcher Snopes.com explains the retardation that has led to the ubiquitous six-note ditty being protected until 2030! The Hills’ catchy little tune was unleashed upon the world in 1893, when it was published in the songbook Song Stories for the Kindergarten. (The composition of “Good Morning to All” …

The kids are taking online gaming a bit too seriously in LA, Reuters reports: Los Angeles City Councilman Dennis Zine said on Thursday he plans to introduce a motion at a hearing next week asking for a report from the Los Angeles Police Department on recent outbreaks of violence at …

Our good friend and Blogcritic John Scalzi has great and interesting news: he published a sci-fi novel in serial form on his website last month, now the book has been picked up by a publisher for “traditional” publication. This is excellent news for John and for the free publication of …

Newsday reports Cablevision has threatened broadband customers about file sharing: Cablevision’s high-speed Internet service, Optimum Online, has warned its customers that uploading files using baby Napsters could violate the terms of service. Optimum Online’s warning emphasizes that Napster’s successors strain its network. But, without even mentioning the word “copyright,” the …

We routinely bash Europe for a litany of sins and ills including anti-Semitism, moral relativism, spaghetti spines, bureaucratic nonsense, status quo-worship, etc, etc., but when it comes to copyright, Europe has it all over the US: European copyright protection is expiring on a collector’s trove of 1950’s jazz, opera and …

Copyright coming to China: In a triumph for China’s capitalist ambitions over its leftist history, the country’s revolutionary museum has lost a copyright lawsuit over a painting of communist founder Mao Zedong. The Museum of the Chinese Revolution – a major landmark in central Beijing – and a Shanghai company …

Just because we have trouble defining “evil” doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. We have trouble defining a lot of things, including pornography, yet we have no doubt that they exist: we may disagree on this or that instance, but some instances almost all of us agree upon. “Evil” has been …

The Future of Music Coalition’s Jenny Toomey (also former leader of Tsunami, solo artist) blasts the results of corporate radio consolidation since the 1996 Telecommunications Act in the Nation, using evidence derived from the FMC’s recently released study. Toomey writes: Radio is a public resource managed on citizens’ behalf by …

This story would seem to fit in with thoughts on McDonald’s from the other day: reports of US cultural hegemony throughout the world are greatly exaggerated: “Whereas American TV shows used to occupy prime-time slots, they are now more typically on cable, or airing in late-night or weekend slots,” said …