Apple's Uncanny Timing

Apple's Uncanny Timing: Corante > Between Lawyers >

Denise Howell says:

* Monday, June 27. Grokster decision issues from U.S. Supreme Court. Court concludes that "statements or actions directed to promoting infringement" should trump the safe harbor represented by the Sony-Betamax decision. Applies to secondary liability for user infringement in connection with all products "capable of both lawful and unlawful use." Fact of probable "staggering" scope of direct infringement by users, while not controlling, undeniably shades the analysis.
* Tuesday, June 28. iTunes 4.9 debuts, now with podcasts. The good news: many podcasts are copyright friendly. The bad news: many, not so much.
* Wednesday, June 29. The Wall Street Journal reports that "Apple will weed out podcasts that include full-length songs for which [sic] podcasters don't have permission to use," and that "Mr. Jobs says Apple has an agreement from music companies that allows podcasters to play 30-second song clips in their shows."
* Thursday, June 30. Apple Podcast Subscriptions Top A Million.