A Spy Mission With a Two-Drink Minimum
Dennis Sichner traveled 400 miles to hang out at a Washington, D.C. bar on a Sunday night. There were $3 beers, 40 to 60 men and women, and a local bluesman playing three sets that evening. None of that mattered to Sichner.After waiting nearly four hours -- and with just 10 minutes until closing time -- the saxophonist from Cleveland got what he came for when three Stevie Wonder songs played over the house sound system.
Sichner was a spy for a coalition of music publishers looking to make a copyright infringement case against Madam's Organ, a popular bar in Northwest Washington. And Wonder's songs apparently did the trick.Earlier this month, a federal judge in the District ordered Madam's Organ to pay $15,000 in damages to two publishing companies for the violations, as well as $2,500 in court costs.
Madam's Organ may also have to pay $63,000 in attorneys' fees, which it says might force it to close.
Not surprisingly, folks at Madam's Organ aren't happy. "This was a shakedown," says Madam's Organ manager, William Duggan, adding that the bar may be forced to close if ordered to pay $60,000 in legal fees. "Their intention is to make a hardball example out of us and scare the shit out of everyone else."
The case also exposes the vulnerability of establishments that play music to a paying -- or dancing -- audience. Duggan of Madam's Organ argued in court papers that there were no copyright violations because the bar subscribes to Music Choice, a cable music service provider. Kollar-Kotelly, however, ruled that the copyright protections offered through Music Choice did not extend to places that charge an admission fee or allowed dancing. The judge found that Madam's Organ had done both.
Did you know that any establishment that has paying customers is violating the law if it plays copyrighted music without a license? And that includes playing a radio recieving a commercial station. In fact, that is the raison d'etre for the famous Muzak Corporation.
Comments
The CIA had an opening for an assassin. After all of the background checks, interviews, and testing were done there were three finalists - two men and one woman. For the final test, the CIA agents took one of the men to a large metal door and handed him a gun.
"We must know that you will follow your instructions, no matter what the circumstances. Inside this room you will find your wife sitting in a chair. You have to kill her." The first man said. "You cant be serious. I could never shoot my wife!"The agent replies, "Then you?re not the right man for this job."
The second man was given the same instructions. He took the gun and went into the room. All was quiet for about five minutes. Then the agent came out with tears in his eyes. "I tried, but I cant kill my wife." The agent replies, "You dont have what it takes. Take your wife and go home."
Finally, it was the womans turn. Only she was told to kill her husband. She took the gun and went into the room. Shots were heard, one shot after another. They heard screaming, crashing, banging on the walls. After a few minutes, all was quiet. The door opened slowly and there stood the woman. She wiped the sweat from her brow and said, "You guys didnt tell me the gun was loaded with blanks. So I had to beat him to death with the chair."
Posted by: Jokes | October 9, 2004 6:48 AM