Stan's List

In Capitol Records v. Foster, in federal court in Oklahoma, a case against a mother — whose only connection to the alleged filesharing was that she was the person who paid for the internet access — has been dismissed with prejudice. Faced with the mother’s motion for leave to file a summary judgment motion dismissing the case against her, and awarding her attorneys fees, the RIAA made its own motion for permission to withdraw its case. The Court granted the motion and let the RIAA drop its case. The Court went on to hold that the defendant, Ms. Foster, is the ‘prevailing party’ under the Copyright Act and is therefore eligible for an award of attorneys fees. The link is to a pdf of the order. More …

“With prejudice” means they can not sue her on the same causes in their complaint. “Without prejudice” means they can re-file the same case anytime. The opposite of when it first meets the ear.

In a potential move against Apple’s OS-agnostic Intel-based Macs, Microsoft said this week that it will make its Virtual PC software free — not just the older Virtual PC 2004 version, but its upcoming software for Vista, too. More …

The E-Commerce Times reports that Apple is not pursuing any appeals in its case to force AppleInsider and PowerPage to divulge information sources. More …

Google has released a fresh iteration of its best-of-class (ie “free”) whole-earth visualization software, Google Earth 4b. Here’s what’s new n’ fresh in the update:

• Less Is More - A New UI
• Support for textured, 3D buildings
• Expanded KML capability
• Improvfed GPS support

Download

The Boston Globe reports that Apple may issue an earnings warning for the current quarter, as analysts predict iPod sales may fall short of company projections.

The news was enough to drive down Apple shares 5% Thursday. Analyst consensus is that Apple will post revenues of $4.6-4.8 billion, short of the $4.9 billion anticipated this quarter. This would mean 50 cents per share, rather than 52 cents. More …