Beatallica and Dell
Bad news, good news from today. Beatallica, a band that combines Beatles music/lyrics with Metallica lyrics, is being beaten up by Sony lawyers and has taken down its sites for the time being. Thousands of people are rallying to Beatallica's side, but it takes a lot of federal judges to decide whether something is funny — and Beatallica may not want to fight for its affirmative parody defense.
But the good news: Dell's CEO said yesterday that both Congress and the courts (and let's include the FCC) should avoid imposing restrictions on ways consumers use computers and other devices to listen to digital music and watch movies. Finally, a device manufacturer who is willing to stand up and say something about the value of innovation. There may be a business model for the content industry that is not based on litigation.