Making a Federal Case Out of Peer-to-Peer Internetnews.com has this report on the Piracy Deterrence and Education Act, a piece of proposed legislation that would instruct the FBI to "develop a program to deter members of the public from committing acts of copyright infringement," and would require the DoJ to formulate programs to educate the public on the copyright laws.

Supreme Court OKs Requirement for Porn Filters in Libraries The AP has this report.

Court Rejects Bid by Original "Roe" to Revisit Roe v. Wade The AP is reporting that a federal district court has rejected the now anti-abortion Norma McCorvey's motion for relief from judgment. McCorvey sought to have the case reopened after 30 years to adduce evidence that abortion hurts women.

Sixth Circuit Rejects Likeness as Trademark The New York Times is reporting that the Supreme Court has rejected a claim by Tiger Woods' licensing agent that a painting of Woods' 1997 Masters victory violates the Lanham Act. Upholding the lower court's decision against Woods' claims, the Court held that "as a general rule, a person's image or likeness cannot function as a trademark."

Congress to Hold Hearing on Controversial Provision of DMCA Reuters is reporting that Sen. John McCain, chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, has agreed to hold a hearing on a proposed bill that would require copyright owners to file a formal lawsuit before ISPs would be required to turn over subscriber information on accused copyright infringers. Currently, under the DMCA all that is required is a court clerk's signature.

Rowling to Fanfic Writers: Not So Fast The Washington Post is reporting on J.K. Rowling's efforts to reign in NC-17 themed fanfic, discussing the copyright implications of such work. And they quote Wendy!

Can You Say "Conflict of Interest"? Rep. Mary Bono, major proponent of the Sony Bono Copyright Term Extension Act and founder of the new Congressional caucus on piracy and copyright issues, has announced she would like to be chief executive of the RIAA.

Lessig in the News CNet has an interview with Lawrence Lessig about his Petition to Reclaim the Public Domain.

RIAA: 2, Verizon: 0 The AP is reporting that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has rejected Verizon's motion to delay turning over the names of four subscribers suspected of copyright infringement. Additional reporting by Reuters at Wired.

If At First You Don't Succeed... Wired is reporting that the RIAA has filed yet another lawsuit against Streamcast Networks, the company which distributes the popular file swapping software Morpheus. In its complaint, the RIAA alleges that Streamcast, in preparation for a Web radio service that never launched, copied thousands of CDs into a digital database without the permission of the copyright owners.

Supreme Court Rejects Bid to Extend Copyright Protection Via Trademark Law The Washington Post has this report about the Supreme Court's recent decision in Dastar Corp. v. 20th Century Fox Film Corp.. At issue in the case was whether or not Dastar committed "reverse passing off" by modifying footage from a 20th Century Fox World War II documentary, which was then sold under a new title and with new production credits, with no attribution to the makers of the original series. Interpreting the meaning of "origin" in the Lanham Act's prohibition on false designation of origin, the Supreme Court in an 8-0 decision authored by Justice Scalia determined that "origin" does not refer to the source of the ideas or communications embodied in the work, but instead refers to the source of the physical product (in this case, the videotape). The Court held that a contrary interpretation would result in an irreconcilable conflict between the trademark and copyright laws. A copy of the opinion can be found here.

Lessig Sounds Call to Arms Lawrence Lessig has issued a call for support in the fight to introduce a bill to soften the blow from the Sony Bono Copyright Term Extension Act into the U.S. Congress. Via the Trademark Blog.

Shoot First, Ask Questions Later CNet is reporting that the RIAA erroneously mailed out dozens of infringement notices last week, including one to Penn State University's astronomy and astrophysics department. The RIAA has attributed the letters to an over-zealous intern.

California Town: DMCA Compliance Criminal CNN is reporting that the City Council of Arcata, California, in a mostly symbolic move, has passed an ordinance making it a misdemeanor for any city department head to voluntarily comply with investigations or arrests under the Patriot Act. Violation of the ordinance carries with it a $57 fine.

Latest Challenge to DMCA Appears Unlikely to Succeed Law.com is reporting that the federal judge in the newest case to challenge the DMCA, 321 Studios v. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios has indicated that she is leaning towards the studios. The case involves a challenge to the DMCA by 321 Studios, which distributes two programs, DVD X-Copy and DVD Copy Plus, that crack the encryption on DVDs to allow users to make copies. 321 Studios is arguing that its programs allow users to make backup copies, and that such uses of their program are fair use under copyright law. The AP has a report here, and Wired has a report here.

DVD In the News, Part II Again on Law.com, the California Supreme Court has refused to dismiss as moot the appeal in DVD Copy Control Association v. Bunner. The DVD Copy Control Association had sued Bunner for linking to the code for DeCSS, a program that circumvents the encryption found on DVDs, allowing the DVD to be copied and played on "unauthorized" devices like Linux boxes, claiming that Bunner's actions amounted to dissemination of stolen trade secrets.

DVD Wars, Part III Reuters is reporting that the Hollywood studios have filed an additional five lawsuits in New York against the makers of DVD copying software. Background information on the DVD battles can be found on the Berkman Center's Open DVD site.

Spawn of DMCA: Law of Unintended Consequences? The AP has a report on the state-versions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, or Super DMCAs, and what many fear is overly broad language that could criminalize something as innocuous as security software.

Wonder What the Class Action Would Look Like... The New York Times is reporting that the recording industry is quietly financing the development of a number of technological "self-help" measures, which vary in degree of maliciousness, as well as legality. Yet another reason to oppose Congressional attempts to legalize copyright infringement self help.

What's Good for the Goose Despite blocking scores of Clinton judicial nominees, the Republicans are now so upset over the Democratic filibusters of Bush nominees Owens and Estrada that they're considering filing a lawsuit, seeking a judicial determination that failure to vote up or down on a judicial nominee is unconstitutional. (Never mind the holds that Sen. Helms exercised on judicial nominees for years.)