December 11, 2004

Supreme Court, responding to pleas from recording and film industries, agrees to hear case, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios vs Grokster Ltd, and decide whether online services that enable copyrighted songs and movies to be shared freely over Internet can be held liable for aiding copyright infringement; more than 85 million copyrighted songs and smaller but growing number of movies are downloaded from Internet every day by people using file-sharing services (M)

Winter meetings heat up as Arizona Diamondbacks sign Troy Glaus and Russ Ortiz, Anaheim Angels sign Steve Finley and Boston Red Sox look to sign David Wells; photos (M)

Federal government's $877 million project to create anthrax vaccine to protect Americans from germ warfare is undergoing significant setbacks; vaccine is unproven in humans, manufacturer VaxGen has legal and accounting troubles, and health officials are not prepared to distribute vaccine quickly if it is needed; Bush administration officials and top executives at VaxGen are confident they can fulfill their promise to inoculate 25 million Americans; vaccine contract is part of $5.6 billion effort called Project Bioshield; photo (M)

OPEC oil ministers, seeking to stem price slide, agree to cut production by million barrels a day, to 27 million barrels, and call for emergency meeting in January to consider quota reduction; price of crude oil plunges as traders question significance of reduction and whether OPEC will stick to cuts; oil for January delivery drops $1.82, or 4.3 percent, to $40.71 a barrel in New York; photo (M)

Dan Barry column on disciplinary charges brought by Park Slope Food Co-op against two members, David Meltzer and Jed Sarfaty, whom it accuses of not working full shifts required of all members and clocking in some members who did not show at all; Meltzer and Sarfaty suggest that they are victims of power struggle between co-op members and paid staff; photo (M)