— President Obama’s choice for the Supreme Court, Judge Sonia Sotomayor, issued at least one major opinion on copyright. Wrote Ben Sheffner at his Copyrights and Campaigns blog, “All in all, Judge Sotomayor’s Castle Rock opinion is very solid, and demonstrates a deep understanding of copyright. She may be on the left politically, but nothing in this opinion suggests she is on the copyleft.” (Copyrights and Campaigns)
— More on Judge Sotomayor and clues to how she may approach issues important to media companies. This post looks at her career in the late ’80s and early ’90s as an IP litigator. The firm where she worked, Pavia and Harcourt LLP, made headlines for its representation of handbag maker Fendi and actions against counterfeit manufacturers. (Washington Wire)
— The latest scourge of record labels and publishers? Farkie, a Web site that allows users to rip streams from YouTube videos. (Digital Noise)
— The European Union has sued Sweden because the country never passed into national law the EU’s Data Retention Directive that was passed in 2006. The directive requires EU members to implement laws to force ISPs and search engines to retain data so user account may be used in legal cases. (Ars Technica)
— The death of the CD is one of the decade’s grandest overstatements. One technology writer took a look at recent UK sales statistics and realized a great share of consumers still desire a physical product. “It really goes to show,” he wrote, that despite the huge publicity surrounding iTunes and its competitors, that in actually fact, 90% of consumers (those actually paying for music, anyway) still want a physical product. While we may talk incessantly about the rise of digital distribution, these figures show that in the real world, the CD has some life in it yet.” Yes. That is the reality in the real world. Annual sales of a few hundred million units in the U.S. alone means there is still ample demand for the CD. Pundits who and are unable to identify with the less tech-savvy are not in the “real world.” (This Is London)
— The Virgin Megastore at Hollywood and Highland in Los Angeles will be replaced by a Hard Rock Cafe after it closes in late June. (Los Angeles Times’ Pop and Hiss blog)
