Time to Send in My Check CNN has this article about a recent lawsuit filed by the ACLU challenging the constitutionality of the USA Patriot Act. The New York Times also has a report here.

Pac Bell Joins P2P Fight The AP is reporting that SBC Communications Inc. has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in San Francisco challenging the constitutionality of the RIAA's subpoenas under the DMCA. C-Net covers the suit here.

Use of Trademark in Metatags Affirmed as Infringement The Trademark Blog has this report on the recent Ninth Circuit decision.

Lesson To Writers: Never Use a Real Person's Name... ... especially for a villain. The AP is reporting on Antonio "Tony Twist" Twistelli's lawsuit against the creators of the "Spawn" comic book.

Rather Like Closing the Barn Door After the Horse Has Already Left The AP has a report on Hormel's efforts to reclaim the name "spam." (Yes, I know they claim to be "defending" the name rather than "reclaiming" it, but I think that almost ten years of inaction in the face of increasing use of the name to mean unsolicited e-mail on the Internet gives rise to a pretty good claim that Hormel has acquiesced in the usage.)

Another Typosquatting Case Reuters is reporting that WIPO has awarded the domain name arifrance.com to Air France.

Do You Know the Secret Handshake? CNN has an article about private file sharing networks that are popping up on the Internet in the wake of the RIAA's crackdown on open file sharing networks like Grokster and Kazaa. The networks employ strong encryption schemes to keep out prying record association eyes.

Electronic Evidence Ruling According to C-Net, a federal District Court Judge for the Southern District of New York has issued a ruling in a gender discrimination case against UBS, setting forth rules to determine which party should bear the cost of restoring and producing lost e-mail in discovery. Based on the plaintiff's $650,000 salary before her termination and the possibility of a multi-million dollar payout from the case, the judge determined that the plaintiff should pay 25% of the cost of the restoration costs.

Canadians, You're Out of Luck The AP has an interesting story about the geographic restrictions on music download sites like iTunes and Rhapsody.

My First Link to Fatmixx About time I returned the favor. Anyway, Sujal has an interesting post about a recent article on CNN.com entitled "Why I've stopped sharing music."

Expecting to be the Subject of an RIAA Subpoena? Then you might want to check out SFGate.com's advice on how to avoid a copyright infringement lawsuit. The New York Times has a follow up on the RIAA subpoenas entitled "Subpoenas Sent to File-Sharers Prompt Anger and Remorse." And Denise tells you how to find out if the subpoenas contain your IP address or P2P handle.

Check it Out James Grimmelmann has an interesting response to a recent note in the Duke Law & Technology Review entitled "iBRIEF: Eldred v. Ashcroft: How Artists and Creators Finally Got Their Due." Courtesy of Donna.

Next Bag and Baggage has posted a compilation of reviews of the new BuyMusic.com download service. I think I'll wait until iTunes migrates to the PC.

Good Practice Tips for DMCA Notices The Trademark Blog has some helpful practice tips about sending infringement notices under the DMCA.

Libraries Get Brief Reprieve C-Net is reporting that the FCC has agreed to extend the CIPA deadline by which all libraries that accept federal funds must install Internet filters. The new deadline for installing the filters is July 1, 2004.

Universities and RIAA Team Up Wired is reporting that universities are teaming up with the RIAA to curtail peer-to-peer file sharing, while attempting to develop downloading services geared to the university market.

Be Careful Who You Let Use Your Internet Account The AP has this report on the targets of the first round of RIAA subpoenas. Among those subpoenaed are the father of a 23-year-old who used the family Internet account to download copyrighted songs (the father wins the prize for head furthest in the sand: "I don't think anybody knew this was illegal, just a way to get some music."), and the roommate of a West Virginia college student that downloaded more than 1,4000 music files.

It's Spreading Wired is reporting that a Spanish law firm has announced plans to file copyright-infringement lawsuits against 4,000 people who downloaded copyrighted music off of peer-to-peer networks in that country. The firm is seeking jail terms of up to 4 years for each infringer.

Boston Colleges Fighting Back The AP is reporting that Boston College and MIT are seeking to have the RIAA's subpoenas quashed, on the grounds that they didn't allow for adequate time to notify the students whose identities were being sought.

Time to Get on the Media Consolidation Bandwagon I guess I've left this topic to Lessig long enough. Reuters is reporting that the White House has promised to veto any bill that reimposed the media-ownership caps that were recently relaxed by the Federal Communications Commission.