US Senators pressure Canada on copyright laws

Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Joseph Harper, has received a letter from US senators Dianne Feinstein and John Cornyn, drawing attention to the issues of copyright protection efforts in Canada. The letter brings up the issue of people recording copies of motion pictures in theaters in Canada, which reportedly accounts for a large number of pirate movies available worldwide "We are writing to call your attention to the explosive growth of pirating of movies from theatres through the use of hand-recorders known as 'camcorders.' The theft and sale of newly-released movies has always been a serious threat to the motion picture industry. Now, the advancements of digital technology and improved camcorder capabilities have compounded the problem." the letter states. The letter goes on with details about laws that are currently enforced in the United States that criminalize the unauthorized recording of movies in theaters using camcorder equipment.

3M causes havoc with battery patent

BITS AND BOBS manufacturer, 3M, has suddenly noticed it holds patents on lithium ion batteries and has filed a lawsuit against multiple leading laptop PC suppliers in the USA. Nokia could easily be the next target.
Lithium ion batteries are used by many different types of portable electronic/electrical devices including MP3 players and camcorders as well as notebook PCs. But mobile phones sell in their billions and Nokia is by far the biggest supplier. The company refused to comment on the issue, however.
The move is curious because the patented technology covered in the suit relates to cathode materials developed by 3M The cathode being the postive electrode in this kind of battery.
More puzzlingly still, the lawsuit alleges 'willful infringement' by the parties involved which include CDW, Hitachi, Lenovo, Matsushita (Panasonic), Sony and others.