Cell Phone Termination Fees

A California Superior Court judge ruled that early termination fees for cell phone users is an illegal practice under state law. The preliminary judgement orders Nextel to pay customers some $18.2 million in reimbursement, and enjoins the collection efforts of $54.7 million. This ruling is going to affect everything from the current rates to hardware costs. Many companies use hardware discounts as an incentive to lock in long term contracts.

Subpoenas

Judge John Bates ruled that senior Presidential advisors must oblige Congressional subpoenas, going against a couple of decades of arguments re executive privledge.

Speeding Traps with GPS

What is the latest in high tech fighting of law enforcement? Using GPS technology to question radar guns is coming to the forefront in California. GPS systems can now track the velocity of a vehicle with a significant degree of accuracy and using those GPS records could be evidence against the police radar guns.

See the Ars Technica story here.

SAG Fight

The upcoming SAG strike basically centers around made-for-internet content and the rights of its union members to participate in residuals. I feel sorry for some of the actors; after all, how can you live in just a small mansion?

Table Top Fusion

Purdue found misconduct by physicist Rusi Taleyarkhan in his behaivor since 2002 when he first claimed he produced nuclear fusion. For example, he published a paper in 2006 in Physical Review Letters that claimed his 2002 was independently verified, but failed to disclose that the "independently verified" work was extensively done by him.

The Most Important Case Ever!!!!

A jury decided that Barbie and Bratz dolls are sisters and that the Bratz dolls were created at Mattel, Inc., and not MGA Entertainment. Still outstanding is whether Mattel owns the copyrights to the original Bratz design drawings, and whether the dolls infringe on the copyrights.

FCC and Indecendy

The 3rd Circuit held that the FCC overreached its bounds by fining CBS $550,000 for a "fleeting, isolated or unintended" image when Justin Timberlake accidently exposed Janet Jackson's breast.