Supreme Court Ruling Major Victory for Hollywood and Recording Industry
ST. LOUIS, (SLFP.com), June 28, 2005 - The Supreme Court ruling that file sharing companies such as Grokster can be held liable for the copyright piracy on their networks is viewed as a sweeping victory for movie studios and record labels.
"With this unanimous decision, the Supreme Court has addressed a significant threat to the U.S. economy and moved to protect the livelihoods of the more than 11 million Americans employed by the copyright industries," said Mitch Bainwol, chairman and CEO, Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
"The Supreme Court has helped to power the digital future for legitimate online businesses - including legal file sharing networks - by holding accountable those who promote and profit from theft. This decision lays the groundwork for the dawn of a new day - an opportunity that will bring the entertainment and technology communities even closer together, with music fans reaping the rewards," stated Bainwol.
The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling Monday in the case MGM v. Grokster, comes on the heels of a second wave of copyright infringement lawsuits filed, May 26, by RIAA against abusers of the specialized, high-speed university computer network known as Internet2.
The new round of litigation included lawsuits against 91 students attending the following schools: Boston University, Brandeis University, Brown University, Columbia University, DePaul University, Drexel University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Harvard University, Indiana University, Lehigh University, New York University, Princeton University, Rice University, Rochester Institute of Technology, Saint Louis University, State University of New York - Binghamton, State University of New York - Buffalo, Ohio State University, Tufts University, Tulane University, University of California - Berkeley, University of California - Davis, University of California - Los Angeles, University of California - San Diego, University of Delaware, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Massachusetts - Amherst, University of Missouri - Rolla, University of Nebraska - Lincoln, University of New Hampshire, University of Southern California, University of Toledo, and Wake Forest University.
Last April, the music industry filed lawsuits against students at 18 campuses using the file-sharing application i2hub to download and share music on the Internet2 network. Today's lawsuits - against students at a total of 33 schools - build on the industry's effort to combat theft on Internet2 - increasingly the network of choice for students seeking to steal copyrighted songs and other works on a massive scale.
"As long as students continue to corrupt this specialized academic network for the flagrant theft of music, we will continue to make it clear that there are consequences for these unlawful actions," said Cary Sherman, President, RIAA. "With the multitude of legal music alternatives available to students today, there is simply no excuse for this ongoing, illegal downloading on college campuses."
UnitedHealthcare and BJC HealthCare Reach Agreement
ST. LOUIS, (BUSINESS WIRE), June 26, 2005 - UnitedHealthcare customers will continue to have access to BJC physicians, hospitals and facilities; the two organizations commit to collaborate to advance the implementation of quality and efficiency measures.
UnitedHealthcare and BJC HealthCare have reached agreement regarding the UnitedHealthcare St. Louis, MO Performance pilot and BJC has rescinded its notice of intent to terminate its contract with UnitedHealthcare. Both parties agree to work cooperatively to develop quality and efficiency measurements and increase the availability of that information to health care consumers.
"We are pleased to work collaboratively with BJC as we continue to provide access to affordable quality care for our nearly 1 million UnitedHealthcare customers in this community," said Steve Walli, president and CEO of UnitedHealthcare of the Midwest. "We can assure our customers that we are committed to providing them with broad access to providers of their choosing with the information necessary to be better educated consumers," he said.
Specific terms of the agreement have not been disclosed. BJC and UnitedHealthcare are committed to developing solutions that benefit health care consumers by providing transparent information on the quality and efficiency of physicians, addressing health care costs and respecting the relationship between patients and their doctors. The organizations are also committed to finding more effective ways to deliver health care and ensure affordability through evidence-based medicine, best practices, research, and verifiable data.
"BJC HealthCare is pleased that we have been able to reach an agreement with UnitedHealthcare that is in the best interest of patients and their caregivers," said Steven Lipstein, president and CEO of BJC HealthCare. "This agreement ensures that patients covered by UnitedHealthcare will continue to have uninterrupted access to BJC physicians, hospitals and facilities."
Today's announcement cancels BJC's termination notice that would have been effective on August 14. It reaffirms that patients covered by UnitedHealthcare will see no change in their ability to receive health care services from the 12 hospitals and other services organizations that are a part of BJC HealthCare.
Monsanto Company to Build New Data Center
ST. LOUIS, (PRNewswire), June 23, 2005 - Monsanto Company has announced that it plans to construct a new data center on the west side of its World Headquarters campus in Creve Coeur, Mo. The $21 million, 40,000 square-foot building will be the most efficient and cost- effective approach to provide for the company's global data center capabilities well into the future.
The company has retained the services of Fox Architects to design the facility, with William Tao & Associates as the lead engineering firm. Monsanto plans to file the building plan for the data center with the city of Creve Coeur in the very near future. Groundbreaking is scheduled in early 2006, and the data center could be occupied as early as the summer of 2007.
"Today's Monsanto relies heavily on information and speed," said Mark Showers, chief information officer for Monsanto. "Whether you're a researcher who's analyzing the corn genome or a sales representative who's tracking a customer's order, the faster you can access data and make good decisions, the more competitive you can be in the marketplace. The new data center will give our 16,200 employees worldwide additional capabilities to keep us at the forefront of the agricultural technology industry."
A small team of employees has worked during the past seven months to determine the most appropriate solution to upgrade the company's current data center. The team focused on determining the most efficient and cost-effective approach to meet the company's current and anticipated future needs, as well as ensuring that the new data center would be a good fit within the community in and around the Monsanto World Headquarters campus.
Monsanto and its former parent company have owned approximately 250 acres at the intersection of Lindbergh Boulevard and Olive Street Road in Creve Coeur since the early 1950s. "We've always been proud to call suburban St. Louis our home and we're excited to solidify the World Headquarters campus with a new data center," Showers said.
|
