Em n' Apple

The Eminem v. Apple copyright trial started on Friday in Detroit Federal District Court. See Law.com. To the right is a photo of Slim Shady with his legal team.

The Pirate Bay Four Convicted of Copyright Violations

News out of Sweden: The founders of The Pirate Bay have been found guilty of Copyright violations by the Swedish court and have been sentenced to one year in prison and ordered to pay a $2.5 million fine.

I have to admit that I've only followed this case from a distance, but I find it very interesting. I'm not a copyright-guy at all, but it seems as though the copyright laws are SO far behind the times that they no longer serve their initial purpose-- providing property rights protection in order to encourage development of creative endeavors. Now, the copyright laws only function seems to be to insulate the music industry from any form of cost-competition.

Tell us, BBL-uminati: where do you see the role of copyright (particularly for software and music) in the 21st century?