IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 12 October
12-10-2010
by Deirdre McArdle
Record labels lose UPC filesharing case | Salesforce.com creates 100 Dublin jobs
The Irish Times reports that students who chose higher-level maths in the Leaving Cert will receive only 25 additional CAO points as agreed by the country's seven universities. While Minister for Education Mary Coughlan will welcome the new scheme, there will be a question mark over its capacity to draw more students to higher level maths. A bonus of 25 CAO points may not be enough to significantly change student choice. The scheme will be reviewed in 2014.
The paper also reports on High Court proceedings on Monday where Justice Peter Charleton strongly criticised UPC Ireland over its failure to act against music pirates, but said the legislative response to the problem of internet piracy, the Copyright and Related Rights Acts 2000, made no proper provision for the blocking, diverting or interrupting of internet communications intent on breaching copyright. He said internet piracy was "devastating" the recording companies' business in Ireland, but explained that the only relevant power the courts have is to require an internet hosting service to remove copyright material. The record companies, EMI Records (Ireland), Sony Music Entertainment Ireland, Universal Music Ireland, Warner Music Ireland and WEA International had wanted UPC to take action against "peer-to-peer (P2P) infringers" illegally downloading music. The companies said they had given UPC details of those involved in illegal downloading but UPC had done nothing about it. UPC claims it has no liability because it is merely a conduit for illegal downloading.
The same paper reports that Minister for Communications Eamon Ryan, reacting to the High Court decision, said he would meet representatives from the music industry and internet service providers to formulate an agreed approach to illegal downloading. Responsibility for tackling the issue is split between the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources which is responsible for internet service providers and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Innovation which is responsible for copyright infringement. Irish Recorded Music Association chairman Willie Kavanagh said the record labels will meet Tuesday morning to decide whether to appeal the judgment to the Supreme Court.
The paper also says that cloud computing company Salesforce.com announced that it is creating more than 100 jobs in Dublin. Salesforce.com, which already employs almost 300 people in Dublin, said it is recruiting across all areas in order to meet new business demands and facilitate its continued expansion in Ireland. The positions to be created include multilingual sales and technology roles, and will be based at its European corporate sales headquarters in Sandyford.
The same paper reports that global healthcare group Covidien announced a EUR900,000 investment in medical technologies research projects with NUI Galway. This collaboration represents the first stage of a EUR1.8 million investment in Irish universities which Covidien revealed in July, and will mean the US company supports two R&D projects at the Galway university.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Microsoft has launched its new Windows Phone 7 operating system along with nine new handsets that will be released in time for the holiday period. The Microsoft software, which has been praised by commentators for its originality, displays commonly used applications on a home screen in large blocks -- dubbed tiles -- which are constantly updated with fresh content from the internet, such as status updates or new photos from a user's Facebook friends. Microsoft said phones using its software will be available in 30 countries from 60 carrier partners; in the US, AT&T and T-Mobile USA will start selling the devices in November.
The paper also says that Wal-Mart will start selling Apple's iPad on Friday at hundreds of stores throughout the US. Retail rival Best Buy has been selling the iPad since its launch in April, while Target began carrying it this month. Wal-Mart said it would slowly ramp up the number of its US stores carrying the iPad to more than 2,300 by the height of the holiday season in mid-November. Analysts expect Apple to sell 11 million to 12 million iPads this year, more than twice what was initially estimated.
The same paper says that Oracle plans to call Leo Apotheker, Hewlett-Packard's newly appointed chief executive, as a witness at a November trial between Oracle and competitor SAP over intellectual property. Apotheker, a former SAP executive, appears on a witness list exchanged late Friday between the legal teams representing Oracle and SAP. HP's incoming chairman, Ray Lane, defended Apotheker in a letter to the New York Times, which HP circulated Monday to reporters. "Oracle has been litigating this case for years and has never offered any evidence that Mr. Apotheker was involved," he wrote.
Staying with Lane's letter to the New York Times, the Financial Times reports that Lane issued a number of public accusations that ex-HP CEO Mark Hurd "repeatedly lied" to the company's board during the investigation that led to his ousting. Lane made the fresh accusation more than two months after HP forced out the well-regarded Hurd, who more recently signed on as a co-president at Oracle. A HP spokeswoman would not elaborate on Lane's accusation.
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