Page 2-Tuesday, June 15. 1982-The Michigan Daily
Supreme Court
to hear video
recorder dispute
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme
Court yesterday agreed to decide
whether millions of Americans are
illegally taping television shows.
If the court says yes, it must also
decide whether makers of home video
recorders must pay for the armchair
piracy.
THE BILLION-dollar dispute pits
movie producers against makers of the
increasingly popular machines, and it
already has led to several proposals in
Congress to end the fight.
A lower court said the video recorder
makers can be forced to pay continuing
royalties - or be penalized in other
ways - because an estimated 5 million
American families are violating federal
copyright laws by taping their favorite
TV programs.
In the dispute, the 9th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals last October held the
Sony Corp. - and, in effect, other home
video recorders makers - liable for
"contributory infringement" for en-
couraging people to reproduce
copyright movies and TV programs.
THE APPEALS court did not subject
individual recorder owners to any
penalties for their infringement,
although it said retailers of the
machines also are liable. The appeals
court sent the case back to U.S. District
Judge Warren Ferguson in Los Angeles
to consider several remedies.
Possible remedies included a court-
ordered bar on any future in-
fringement. Sony claimed that could
wipe out sales of its Betamax recorder.
THE 9TH Circuit Court also said
Ferguson should consider a potentially
enormous "continuing royalty" for in-
fringement. That cost almost certainly
would be passed on to consumers..
The Supreme Court is not expected to
decide the case until next year.
American sales of home video recor-
ders and tapes will run over $1 billion
this year alone, according to one in-
dustry estimate. Nearly 40 million
video recorders are expected to be in
use in the United States by 1990.
SOON AFTER the lower court rules,
bills were introduced in Congress to
either overturn or modify the decision.
Some bills provide for royalties, based
on sales of video recorders and blank
videotapes, to be paid to owners of the
copyright shows. None of the bills has
been passed.
Kanji Tamiya, president of the Sony
Corporation of America, said company
officials were "extremely pleased" by
the court's action yesterday.
Jack Valenti, president of the Motion
Picture Association of America, said
the issue "falls within a congressional
province, not a judicial one."
In other action yesterday, the
nation's highest court:
* Ruled 8-1 that Alaska may not
distribute millions of dollars in state
revenue dividends among its residents
based on length of state residency.
" Ruled 5-4 that labor unions may
prohibit candidates for union office
from accepting campaign contributions
from non-members.
" Said it will decide whether California
or Texas has the right to tax the estate
of Howard Hughes. The estate has been
valued at up to $1.1 billion.
Today
The weather
Take an umbrella - thundershowers will threaten campus today as
temperatures remain in the mid 70s.Q
Beep's beak, continued
B EEP, THE GOOSE whose beak saga recently enthralled America,
seems on the road to permanent recovery, officials as a Santa Ana,
Calif., pet hospital report. Beep, the pet of hospital employees. achieved
brief celebrity status by becoming the first fowl ever to receive a beak tran-
splant. Beep's body rejected the transplant, however, and vets were forced
to apply a prosthetic beak to the goose. Now, Beep seems to be accepting the
new beak without complications, according to Bunny Ickies, a part-time
employee of the Grand Avenue Pet Hospital. "She's spreading her
wings ... she's looking good," Ickies commented. The fake beak was at-
tached with dental cement and 14-karat gold screws during a half-hour
operation. Beep's ordeal has prevented her from eating properly, Ickies
said, although now the lucky bird is off gruwl and back on goose food. "She
can't wait to get home where she has a swimming pool," Ickies said. Q
Eau de pork
P OLITICIANS MAY find that pigs produce success at the polls, a former
Pentagon consultant claims. Writer Lowell Ponte, an expert on exotic
warfare, says the scent of sweating pigs influences humans favorably and
candidates for public office could use it to sway voters. The substance, an-
drosterone, could be "used as an aerosol during political rallies, or as a
fragrance in the ink of campaign literature," Ponte recommends in the
current issue of Reader's Digest. Although some medical researchers
disagree that swine sweat could affect human behavior so directly, Ponte
thinks its possibilities are endless - so much so that he recommends the
odor be outlawed before it is unleashed on the populace. L
Happenings
Films
CFT - His Girl Friday, 3:30 & 7:15 p.m., Bringing Up Baby, 5:15 & 9 p.m.,
Michigan Theater.
Miscellaneous
CEW - Informal Job Hunt Club, noon, Center Library.
Ann Arbor Go CLub - meeting, 7 p.m., 1433 Mason.
To submit items for the Happenings Column, send them in cart of
Happenings, The Michigan Daily, 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, MI. 48109.
The Michigan Daily
4
Explosion at temple
A Molotov cocktail was thrown at the
rear entrance to the Beth Israel
Congregation on Washtenaw late Thur-
sday night. A passerby noticed the fire
caused by the bomb and put it out.
About $300 in damage was done to the
doors and the exterior of the building.
Police said the incident is still under in-
vestigation.
N. Division break-in
There was a break-in in the 300 block of
N. Division Sunday morning between
5:30 and 6:30. A male of medium height
and build eentered through the front
door of the residence then went into the
bedroom, where he demanded money
from the two occupants. He stole a
wallet with $10 in cash and a knapsack.
Series of rapes
There were a series of rapes reported
over the weekend.
Police say they have arrested a man
who broke into a residence on the 2300
block of Parkwood and raped a woman
at knife point over the weekend. Police
say the man arrested is also a susect in
the rape of 30-year-old woman in the
3400 block of Edwood on May 27. The
suspect is William Siebert, who is being
held on $50,000 bond on each charge.
Police reported that another woman
was raped outside her apartment on the
2900 block of Birch Hollow. The
woman, 25, was returned to her residen-
ce last Wednesday evening at 11:45
p.m. when she was jumped by a man
wielding a knife.
A 47-year-old woman was raped early
Saturday morning in her home on the
3100 block of Lake Haven, on the west
side of Ann Arbor. According to police,
the rapist forced his way into the home
through a sliding glass door, raped the
woman, and stole $10 in cash and a pur-
se.
Another woman was abducted and
raped Friday night or early
Saturday morning, according to police.
the rape occurred when the woman, 19,
was walking near the intersection of
Eisenhower and King George. A car
stopped, and the driver asked direc-
tions. The woman walked over to the
car to give directions, was pulled into
the car, and raped. Police have made
no arrests.
Vol. XCII, No. 29-S
Tuesday, June 15, 1982
The Michigan Daily is edited and
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