What to Get For the Person Who Has Everything

The perfect gift:  A Magical Unicorn Mask.  Especially if it's as good as some of the reviews -- this one, for example:

I'm going to be honest, I have tried several different unicorn masks in the past. I have about 6 masks from various retailers around the internet and I've gotta say, this is the right one for me. When I put it on, I feel the rush of pretending I am a real-life unicorn! It is so realistically styled that there's a connection I feel deep inside when I put it on.

As mentioned in other reviews, the mask is very durable. The latex holds up well against brush and other woodland undergrowth. However, I found that when I tried to spear some pineapple from a tree or defend myself from approaching predators, the rubbery material of the horn just didn't hold up as well as I needed it to. More times than I'd like to admit, I had to gallop away from an attacking bear instead of standing proud and defending my honor like an actual unicorn. The solution I came up with was to simply reinforce the hollow inside of the horn with steel rods welded in a cylindrical shape. I just gorilla glued the metal into place (making sure a longer, pointed rod stuck out of the end so that I can pierce the hearts of my enemies) and voila!

Now I have a sweet unicorn mask that lets me fulfill all of my unicornical fantasies. You will not be disappointed in this mask.

"2001: A Space Odyssey" Trailers -- Then and Now

Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey" is one of the all-time classics.  It was released in 1968.  To get an idea of how movie trailers have changed between then and now, watch either this trailer or this other trailer from 1968 -- and compare them to someone's 2012 rework of what the movie's trailer would look like now.

Bored of the Regular Olympics?

Watch the Lego Olympics.

Internet Defense League

Today I signed this blog up for the Internet Defense League.  If you have a web site or a blog, you might want to look into it.

Relativistic Baseball!

What happens if a baseball was pitched at 90% of the speed of light?  "A careful reading of official Major League Baseball Rule 6.08(b) suggests that in this situation, the batter would be considered "hit by pitch", and would be eligible to advance to first base."

Regional Patent Office to Open in Silicon Valley

The U.S. Patent Office announced today that it will open a regional office in Silicon Valley, California.  Hooray!

Further Briefing in UMG V. Veoh

A few weeks ago the Ninth Circuit asked for further briefing in UMG v. Veoh, which I wrote about in this post.  As I explained, in response to UMG's petition for rehearing, the Court asked the parties to brief the effect of the Second Circuit's Viacom v. YouTube decision.  Both the Ninth Circuit and Second Circuit opinions largely interpreted the DMCA in ways that favored the user-generated content (UGC) websites, Veoh and YouTube, and that disagreed with interpretations requested by UMG, Viacom, and other content providers.  However, on a few issues, the Second Circuit had different views than the Ninth Circuit.

The parties have now filed their briefs.  UMG's brief is here; Veoh's brief is here; a separate brief by Shelter Capital Partners (the Veoh investors that UMG also sued) is here.  Not surprisingly, Veoh argued that it was still entitled to summary judgment under the Second Circuit's standard, should the Ninth Circuit choose to agree with the Second Circuit in those few areas where the courts initally disagreed.  UMG had a more difficult task.  UMG disliked the legal rules proposed by both the Ninth and Second Circuit.  Thus, UMG's brief asked the Ninth Circuit not to adopt the Second Circuit's views, but rather arguments that both circuit courts had already rejected.

My prediction is that sometime in the next two to six months (depending on how busy the Judges are with other matters) we will see an amended opinion in UMG v. Veoh, adopting some if not all of the reasoning of the Second Circuit.  Doing so might or might not require a remand to the district court for more summary judgment proceedings, as the Second Circuit ordered in Viacom v. YouTube (my guess is not).  UMG would then have to try to persuade the Supreme Court to hear a case where the two circuit courts that hear most of the nation's copyright appeals are in substantial or complete agreement -- it's unlikely the Supreme Court would act in such circumstances.