LISNews: Librarian News

Story on NPR about a recent court decision about the resale of promo music CDs. Legal issue involves the first sale doctrine and the piece has this line in it - "First Sale is incredibly important if you believe in things like libraries and used-book stores."

'For Promotional Use Only - Not For Resale' — Oh Yes It Is

The central legal question of the FCC’s new net neutrality rules is whether or not the Commission even has the authority to regulate the internet, which is classified as an information service. Net neutrality advocates wanted the web to be reclassified as a telecommunication service before any new rules were made so the FCC would have more power to regulate it. Democratic Commissioner Michael Copps voted for the new regulation, but says he has reservations about its legal foundation.

A dreadlocked lawyer famous for his work on prominent criminal cases in Toronto's black community -- including those of Jane Creba witness Richard Steele and alleged police beating victim Junior Alexander Manon -- has won a discrimination case against the Peel Law Association after a librarian singled out him and two black colleagues and demanded their identification in a room full of lawyers.

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New York Times reports: BRUSSELS — Europe opened a formal antitrust investigation on Tuesday into accusations that Google had abused its dominance in online search, exposing the company’s zealously guarded technology to unwelcome scrutiny.

The investigation by the European Commission follows complaints from smaller Web businesses, which claim that Google downgraded their sites in its search results to weaken potential competitors for advertising. The commission said it would also look into whether Google might have given its Web services “preferential placement” in search results.

Google’s dominance on the Internet has been a sore point in Europe, where it controls more than 80 percent of the online search market, compared with about 66 percent in the United States, according to comScore, a research firm.

Google already faces antitrust inquiries, as well as investigations of its privacy and copyright protection policies, in several European countries. In addition, other American companies have fought lengthy legal battles with European regulators in the past.

In a statement, Google said it had strived to “do the right thing by our users and our industry.”

“But there’s always going to be room for improvement,” the company said, “and so we’ll be working with the commission to address any concerns.”