Downloading songs to sample them is not fair use. Download 30 songs and pay $22,500.
After reading the opinion it's rather obvious that the judge is punishing Gonzalez for the 1300 songs on her harddrive, many of which consisted of songs she already owned. He looks at the 4th requirement for fair use which states, "the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work." Under his analysis, the 30 songs is sufficient evidence coupled with the Grokster decision to show that Gonzalez did not intend fair use. Earlier the Court points out that Gonzalez had purchased music after she had downloaded the songs from Grokster and Aimster.
So, out of 1300 plus songs with some discrepancies only 30 songs were illegal. The rest were all songs Gonzalez owned because she had the cd, or she downloaded the song, sampled it, and decided to buy it. There's definately a market there. Unfortunately for Gonzalez she just spent $750 for each of those songs.
Via How Appealing
update: Fixed the link to the case.

The IFC will screen This Film is Not Yet Rated uncut on its channel and at Sundance. The film is a documentary that focuses on the ratings board for the MPAA. They're anonymous, and they deem sexual content ten times more harmful than gratuitous violence. This is why a movie like Aeon Flux can get away with a PG-13 but had there been a nipple shot it would have jumped up to R.
Interestingly enough the documentary just received an NC-17 for sexual content.

I'm a December baby. Sometimes it sucks. Sometimes it doesn't. My youngest brother shares my pain because he was born five days earlier than my birth date. And yet we are still of the opinion that December babies rule. For instance, did you know that around this time of year hospitals used to deliver newborn babies to their parents in Christmas stockings? Too cute.
Drs V. Surprise! Here's one very afflicted girl child. Good luck on the next 18 years of her life. May I suggest you put her in a home instead.
I insist that the stocking is cute. If I ever have a December baby he/she will be just as lucky as me. The 'rents of course didn't listen, and oh my goodness I'm so much closer to thirty next week! Where is the alcohol!
The amazon wishlist. Buy me something. Dec. 19th is D Day.

A judge has ruled that Sambucks sounds too similar to Starbuck's Coffee, and this violates the coffee chain's trademark. Let's forget a second that Sam Buck is the owner's actual name.

The court ruled that Buck abandoned her maiden name by getting married, but Rylander disagrees.
"Women don't abandon their maiden names," he said. "They can still use them when they get married."
He presented two witnesses who testified that Sam Buck is known to community members as just that, but their accounts were ignored in the court's opinion, he said, providing possible grounds for an appeal.

So many women use their maiden names these days. Rather, many refuse to drop their maiden name for their husband's name. Call it that stigma about being a man's property. Now it's more recognized as a professional distinction or a personal choice. The point is not every woman changes her name. Strange how some courts fail to recognize this.

An anonymous male managed to sneak a razor onto a plane without getting caught by authorities. What did he do with the razor? No throats were slashed, no handsome flight attendants were threatened, and the marshall was clueless. Brownie points awarded everywhere.
The sad thing is if he had been caught he would have been charged as a terrorist or with some crime with the word 'terror' in it.
On the other hand, if we disagree so much with keeping our planes safe, what's next, should a gun be snuck through security just to prove a point. So some things have been taken too far, but where do we cross the line?

So it's going to be the Irish against the Buckeyes. The last time they met I saw ND lose in the stadium, and it was so sad. It was also an introduction to another rivalry, one that was just as intense as ND v. USC. I've been waiting for weeks to see if the matchup would fall into place. Now I have to see if I can go! I have one more day to fill out my ticket order form. Things just have to fall into place.
Regardless, the Irish are going to pummel the Buckeyes.

BAR/BRI has been sued! Strangely enough many in the industry are not surprised when the course costs close to $3000, and the would be lawyer isn't even guaranteed a live lecture. Are the claims it makes even true?
The Times article focuses more on the company's tendencies to eliminate all the competition.

In 2003, BAR/BRI and L.S.U. agreed that BAR/BRI would provide a bar review course in place of one that L.S.U. offered. BAR/BRI promised to pay L.S.U. $100,000 over a three-year term, as well as $20,000 annually for use of L.S.U.'s facilities. BAR/BRI agreed to charge discounted tuition of between $545 and $645 to L.S.U. law students who had signed up for the school's bar review course. But for new review students, tuition was set to rise to $1,095 in the first year, $1,195 in the second year and $1,295 in the third year.
The agreement also contained this provision: "L.S.U. Law Center agrees that it shall not, without the prior consent of BAR/BRI, undertake for itself or engage any third party to manage or administer any course that could be competitive with BAR/BRI."
John J. Costonis, the chancellor of the L.S.U. law center, said the deal with BAR/BRI made sense. Before he arrived at the school in 1998, he said, "The student bar association at the law school in past years had offered a bar review course and frankly it wasn't very good."
He said he tried to overhaul and improve the program, but his efforts rested heavily on the ability to attract students in New Orleans in addition to those at L.S.U.'s campus in Baton Rouge. When few students enrolled, he said it quickly became clear the program was not viable.
Mr. Costonis, who said that as a practicing lawyer he had gotten to know executives at BAR/BRI, called the company to see if they could work out a deal. Raising the percentage of students who pass the bar was a top priority, he added. "My concern was reasonable price and best quality," Mr. Costonis said, adding that the agreement had a three-year term so that if the bar passage rate did not improve, then L.S.U. could get out of the arrangement.
The move did not go over well with students, said Ms. Gintz, the L.S.U. law graduate. "They kind of just announced it to us all of a sudden: 'L.S.U. is no longer going to have a bar review, all you guys are going to have to take BAR/BRI,' " she said. "There was a huge uprising among the students."

When I was at St. Mu the school advertised two review courses: BAR/BRI and PMBR. If you considered not taking either you were told flat out by the administration that you were going to fail. Frankly, I know people who passed without those course, but it makes you wonder.

::phew::

Listening to: Dispatch
Today is my last morning in El Paso, which has been unseasonably warm for this time of year. I'm not complaining. I prefer cool rather than freezing. Of course when I'm back here in three weeks it will probably snow. Just once, but it's all done to spite me. Anyway...
A friend from St. Mu drove down yesterday from Alburquerque and we hung out. Had Wendy's and caught a movie. J. is a sweetie, but watching movies with him can be an experience.
The Ice Harvest had it all. Dark humor, boobs, blood, and John Cusack. It still falls under the heading of guy movie, but I don't think J. liked it. I can't decide. The humor I liked. I especially love dark humor, and the movie was loaded with it until it turned gory. Then I was just puzzled, which is why I think I need to sit on it some more. Some critics compare it to Bad Santa, and I always flashback to Billy Bob and Lorelai enjoying themselves in a hysterical fashion. Anyone who does not laugh at that scene is insane. In this movie there are just as funny scenes. And Cusack, well think Gross Point.
Yesterday was interesting.

This just in via Boing Boing. The EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) is bringing a class action lawsuit against Sony because of their DRM schemes. According to BB, this is the seventh lawsuit. Chances are more are on the way, and probably from a few other states.