Food safety bill update (and welcome readers)

S. 510, which in its various versions has been much criticized in this space, passed the Senate Tuesday by a vote of 73 to 25, but its final passage may be tripped up because it includes new taxes; the Constitution requires that revenue-raising measures originate in the House, and S. 510 didn’t. (More: Reuters, WaPo, USA Today) For more critiques of the bill’s substance, see Ronald Bailey/Reason, Greg Conko/CEI (podcast), and our extensive earlier coverage.

In the mean time there’ve been lots of pixels and ink directed at our recent Cato piece on the subject, including Jonathan Adler/Volokh Conspiracy, Ann Coulter (right-hand links column Dec. 1, flatteringly), Coyote, Michelle Malkin, Ed Morrissey, Hans Bader/CEI, and others; see also Ambreen Ali/Congress.org. Thanks!

Filed under: accolades, FSMA

Judge rebukes copyright troll RightHaven

The company says it will narrow its filing of infringement suits following a Nevada judge’s ruling that a real estate firm was within acceptable “fair use” limits in handling a copyrighted newspaper story of which it had reprinted the first eight sentences. “Righthaven does not anticipate filing any future lawsuits founded upon infringements of less than 75% of a copyrighted work, regardless of the outcome of the instant litigation,” it said in a court filing. [David Kravets/Wired “Threat Level”, Las Vegas Sun]

Filed under: RightHaven

Bowles-Simpson commission proposes med-mal reform

Like others who’ve looked at the question of how to close the federal government’s vast budget deficit, it finds promise in the idea of curbing liability payouts and defensive medicine. Trial lawyers are vowing to fight. [National Law Journal, Point of Law]

Filed under: AAJ, defensive medicine, medical malpractice

“Counsel shall not make any derogatory remarks generally about trial lawyers”

A breach-of-contract trial under way in D.C. this week “pits the trial lawyers group American Association for Justice against its would-be lender, Wachovia Bank.” [ABA Journal]

Filed under: AAJ, banks, lawyers

The new (and very activist) Obama EEOC

Jenna Greene at American Lawyer reports on the “ambitious agenda” the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has taken up lately under Chairwoman Jacqueline Berrien, and quotes me as saying the new group in charge of the commission “make the Carter [administration] EEOC look like a Chamber of Commerce operation.” Related: “EEOC reports record charge filings for 2010” [Hyman]

Filed under: EEOC

Booze-laced whipped cream

Alcohol and obesity risk, together: Jacob Sullum may have identified the next target of ire for the disapprovers of fun. [Reason “Hit and Run”] Related: “The Case Against Health” [Richard Klein, Chronicle of Higher Education]

Filed under: alcohol, nanny state, obesity, public health

Cato podcast on food safety bill

I’m interviewed by Caleb Brown in this audio feature. It’s about seven minutes long and was taped on Monday, before the Senate’s vote in favor of S. 510.

Filed under: Cato Institute, food safety

“I never thought we’d be trademarking a high school logo”

IP worries filter down to the junior football scrimmage. [New York Times]

Filed under: colleges and universities, schools, sports, trademarks

Tort liability for property losses

The Washington Supreme Court opens a product liability can of worms by abandoning a traditional doctrine that prescribes that when there was a contract between the parties, remedies for purely economic loss blamed on product defectiveness must be based on principles of contract law, not tort law. [Russell Jackson]

Filed under: contracts, product liability, Washington state

CPSIA: the new consumer-complaint database

A 3-2 vote at the Consumer Product Safety Commission last week ensures that the federal government will put its imprimatur behind allegations about supposed hazards in consumer products — whether true or not. I explain in a new post at Cato at Liberty.

P.S. Kelly Young comments: “I wonder if they’d be willing to maintain a public database of complaints against federal employees?” More: Coyote (comparing relative sophistication of Amazon, TripAdvisor consumer ratings systems with primitive nature of CPSC’s); letter from Rep. Joe Barton, PDF; Washington Post; ACSH.

Filed under: CPSC, CPSIA, CPSIA and Congress, U.S. House of Representatives