Infinite Loop: Should US$1.99 get you ad-free television? Apple's not entirely sure.

The image of Steve Jobs making a Vader-like motion to a choking Comedy Central exec and telling him menacingly "There was an advertisement in Chappelle's Show, Admiral," certainly makes me giggle.

With Online Music, It's a Buyer's Market

"The demand for music has never been as big as it is today."
'Nuff said.

How To Swing - The United States Patent Office explains it all for you. By Timothy Noah

Looking back from the 22nd century, future historians will marvel at the current era's obsession with extending intellectual property rights well past any reasonable limit. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the United States Patent and Trademark Office's determination to grant a patent to even the most absurd claims that cross its desk.

TechCrunch » Blog Archive » TV from three major studios to go P2P

Downloads will only be viewable for a 24-hour viewing period and prices will start at 99 cents per episode.
Much more reasonable than a flat $2 per like iTMS.

Wired News: Consumers Don't Want Flexible DRM

The main problem with Navio's proposed digital locker idea is that it lacks breadth of catalog. Consumers haven't exactly been clamoring for a reason to surf the websites of multiple labels looking for a particular artist (or, because catalogs change hands, finding the label that has the right to distribute a given album at that particular time).

As net neutrality fails, Senator threatens to block legislation without it

Net neutrality proponent Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) announced via e-mail yesterday that he has placed a "hold" on the legislation, due to its lack of an "effective policy" on net neutrality.

Broadcast flag makes it through committee

Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation has left both the audio and video broadcast flags unmolested.

Time Warner pushes movies, TV content out through Usenet video specialist Guba

Time Warner is leaving no stone unturned in its experiments in online video sales. After last month's BitTorrent distribution announcement, the studio has now followed up with another nontraditional video reseller known as Guba.
USENET!  Whodathunkit....

Supreme Court to look at "obviousness" in patents

In a move that could have huge implications for the US patent system, the Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments in the case of KSR v. Teleflex. The case centers on the question of obviousness: when is a patent so... patently obvious that it should not be granted?

Satellite Radio company addresses music industry concerns

In an open letter to musicians published last week, XM Radio affirms its respect for artists and responds to criticism from the recording industry. Last month, several recording companies sued XM Radio for producing a satellite radio receiver with recording functionality, contradicting the RIAA's previously stated position regarding satellite radio recording devices.
In other news, makers of combined tape decks and radios sued.  30 years of backlogged lawsuits follow.

Slyck News - RIAA Shifts Lawsuit Strategy

Yet three years and over 18,000 lawsuits later, the strategy of launching a continuous barrage of monthly lawsuits aimed at approximately 750 individuals is being retooled.

Spain outlaws P2P filesharing

A Spanish intellectual property law has finally banned unauthorized peer-to-peer file-sharing in Spain, making it a civil offense even to download content for personal use.
SNIU concept more important than ever.

Slashdot | Font Raid Spells Trouble for Publisher

The Register is reporting on a publishing firm that got fined for using unlicensed fonts. The firm claimed to only be actively using one font, but was found to be using approximately 11,000.
Font piracy.

Slashdot | Songbird Source Released

Rob Lord, CEO of Pioneers of the Inevitable, released the source for the not-yet-0.2 version of the music player, which integrates a music library and the facility to purchase and download music from a variety of vendors. If you haven't heard of it, read the features list and try it out

Slashdot | $5 Social Wi-Fi Router

BBC News is running a story about the Spanish firm Fon, selling subsidized Linksys WRT54GL Wi-Fi routers for $5, in exchange for the buyer agreeing to a 12 month contract of providing access to other Fon users within range.
Too bad Spain just banned P2P in all forms.  SNIU

Slashdot | Canadian Gov't Gives Big Bucks to Copyright Lobby

The Toronto Star is reporting that the Canadian government is providing hundreds of thousands of dollars to a copyright lobby group that claims that education groups are 'devoted to abolishing creators' rights on the Internet.'

--Ari