A federal judge in Los Angeles on Friday denied a bid by the granddaughter of Winnie the Pooh creator A.A. Milne to reclaim the copyright to the classic children's books, dealing a setback to Milne's partner, The Walt Disney Co. . . . Disney attorney Daniel Petrocelli planned to appeal the case . . . to settle the question of whether a contract could supersede federal law.

[via Forbes/Reuters; more from Google News] Judge Florence-Marie Cooper made this determination, which hopefully will be posted at the Central District's site.

In D.C. Saturday, May 17? Catch Jerry Lawson on Web Logs (Blogs) and XML: Toys or Tools for Business?, from 1:00-3:15 p.m. at the Cleveland Park Library.

John Robb's in for the ClickZ biz blogfest.

From Steve Ballmer's Executive E-mail on DRM:

We're excited about partnering with a wide range of content owners, authors and industry vendors on these crucial technologies, particularly as broadband continues to expand the opportunities for delivering digital media content worldwide, and as rights management is recognized by businesses large and small as an opportunity to protect copyrights, confidentiality and personal privacy while promoting innovation, creating opportunity and empowering customers.

(Thanks, Gary. Now cut it out, you're scaring me.)

Tennessee Digital Freedom Network
Tony Campbell of the Tennessee Digital Freedom Network joined us on the phone from Nashville. He talked about bills in the state congress that restrict how you can use your Internet connection. If you live in Tennessee, visit the website to learn how you can participate. Also, read the EFF line-by-line analysis of the MPAA model bill.

From tonight's The Screen Savers.

That baby food flavors include squash and prune...that John Lennon posthumously markets a prodigious line of baby products...

Ducky in the Sky

For searching legal weblogs and linking cross-blog references. (Thanks, Kevin and Ernie, for pointing these out!)

He's a longtime correspondent on health and science policy for The New York Times. In his new book, Protecting America's Health: the FDA, Business, and One Hundred Years of Regulation, he chronicles the history of the Food and Drug Administration from its start during the administration of Teddy Roosevelt.

That's NPR's Fresh Air on Philip Hilts, whose new book was published in March. In his interview Hilts touched on a number of interesting historical developments we may not think much about today, such as the shift to the present prescription drug system. Hilts also has chronicled tobacco's legal battles: Smoke Screen: The Truth Behind the Tobacco-Industry Cover-Up.

Ren at trubble highlights another jurisprudential treat brought to you by none other than Ninth Circuit Judge Alex Kozinski. [via Boing Boing] Howard Bashman has more on this Second Amendment case, as does Eugene Volokh in several May 6 posts.

Two more notable additions to the ClickZ Weblog Business Strategies conference: Halley Suitt and Beth Goza.

Jonathan Pink entertainingly explodes 11 common copyright myths in a piece from this month's California Lawyer, "Copyright Myths Debunked:"

Myth 5:
Copying just a little bit does not constitute copyright infringement.
a. Maybe.
b. Maybe.
c. Maybe.

Funny, lucid and good for an hour of California MCLE credit.

Please join me in welcoming these latest miscreants to the B&B blawgroll:

• Kos of the Daily Kos offers fine political commentary in addition to being an expectant dad. [via Rick Klau]
• Joseph Gusmano is a third year associate at Weinstock, Friedman & Friedman, who also maintains separate blogs devoted to patent and trademark issues.
• Russ Wheeler is blogging Tenth Circuit criminal cases at Direct Appeal. [via Blawg.org]
• Can't say I get the title, but there's some good tainted legal love going on over at 306Taint.us.
• Dishings dishes up commentary on television business and legal affairs.
• The Electronic Frontier Foundation's Austin, TX branch has its own blog.

Law professor Lawrence Solum: "It is Tuesday afternoon, and I am blogging from the Hearing Room of the Senate Judiciary Committee . . . The Confirmation Wars are on the agenda. For months, I have been blogging about the downward spiral of politicization that has characterized the judicial selection process for the past several years. . . ." [via Howard Bashman] Some excellent stuff over there; spend some time.

In honor of today's 1-year blogiversary of How Appealing, The Academy has posted its interview with Howard Bashman. The whole thing is characteristically witty and wise—want to know which Ninth Circuit Judge Howard thinks would prevail in the judicial version of Survivor? Sure you do!—but here are a couple of nuggets that particularly caught my eye:

• Howard's blog has palpably enhanced the visibility of his firm's Web site, resulting in hundreds of new subscribers to the email version of his monthly column, and helping make the column's archive one of the site's most frequently visited pages.
• Though Howard receives much email from within the judicial branch, he does not think he has "ever received any email that a court employee should not have sent," i.e., one that would violate the mandates of confidentiality by which such employees are governed.

Both these points seem pertinent to material to be covered at the ClickZ Weblog Business Strategies Conference & Expo. (More interesting speakers: Anil Dash, Michael O'Connor Clarke, Jeff Jarvis and Elizabeth Spiers.)

My colleague Scott Baker will speak at Stanford on June 9, 2003 as part of FindLaw's Patent Strategies 2003. Your favorite in-house counsel, exec or VC definitely should seize this free opportunity for helpful insights and continuing legal education credit.

So good to have a few days to mostly just read. Still processing:

• Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson (home of the Metaverse)
• The Devil Wears Prada, Lauren Weisberger (avoid if squeamish about the senseless slaughter of Gucci suede pants)
• The Second Coming of Steve Jobs, Alan Deutschman (complete with Dave Winer anecdote; must remember to get his take)
• Linked, Albert-Laszlo Barabasi (still Advilling through all the math; still concerned how many postulates it took to get why Google could rise so quickly)

For wonders more Web based, see Howard Bashman's 20 Questions with the Ninth Circuit's Judge Andrew J. Kleinfeld, Geoffrey Nunberg's reminder of how Salisbury steaks were born, Sarah Lane's May 1 Blog Report (don't miss the Arcata Police Log), and (courtesy of my husband and Newsweek): "Have you slept under water lately?:" Jules' Undersea Lodge in Key Largo, Florida.

Finally, since you'll probably be taking in The Matrix Reloaded for the third or fourth time when the segment airs, you might also want to set that PVR for May 15, 4:00 p.m. Pacific/7:00 p.m. Eastern, so as not to miss Professor Lessig on The Screen Savers.