After nearly seven years of illegal detention and abuse at the hands of the U.S. government, Guantánamo Bay detainee Mohammed Jawad has won his habeas corpus case, which challenged his detention by the U.S. government. In a long-awaited ruling (PDF) yesterday, Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle of the U.S. District [...]
Joel Tenenbaum has lost his trial against the RIAA and was ordered to pay $22,500 for each of the 30 songs he shared via Kazaa. Tenenbaum, who pleaded guilty to downloading and sharing files earlier this week, will be left paying off the $675,000 to the music labels for the rest of his life.
Last week, Congress took an important step in the fight against HIV/AIDS with a historic vote on syringe exchange programs. On July 25, the House voted to remove the ban on providing federal funding for syringe exchange programs.
Since 1988, the federal government has prohibited states [...]
Update [31 July 6:50PM]: $22,500 per work; $675,000 total. More than I expected. Props to Wendy Seltzer and Mark Lemley for the update. Link is to Ben Sheffner’s write-up in Ars Technica…
The judge in the copyright infringement lawsuit against Joel Tenenbaum has issued a directed verdict on the issue of infringement liability. The only remaining [...]
Lawyers for Gary McKinnon have launched an impassioned attack on the UK justice system, following a decision to allow extradition proceedings against the Pentagon hacker to continue despite his recent diagnosis with Asperger’s Syndrome.
Last week, we commended the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security for doing a markup of the long-awaited Fairness in Cocaine Sentencing Act of 2009 (H.R. 3245), sponsored by Rep. Robert Scott (D-Va.). This week, we have even more to cheer about: yesterday, the full House Judiciary [...]
Today is System Administrator Appreciation Day.
Check out the official web site. And ThinkGeek has some gift suggestions.
A US company has been granted a patent that it claims gives it rights over podcasting technology. Volomedia says that its patent, for “a method for providing episodic media”, covers all episodic media downloads, or podcasts.
A claim that one food mixer violated the trade mark rights of another by being similar in shape has failed. The Court of Appeal said that any similarity in shape between the machines had not given Kenwood an unfair advantage over Whirlpool.
EDITORIAL: In the first case of its kind, the Court of Appeal has endorsed website disclaimers. Mistakes can be excused by warning notices, it ruled. However, the judges based their decision, at least in part, on a misunderstanding.