Wednesday morning headlines

Tough day?: Stocks are fluctuating in early trading, with bargain hunters looking for deals and everyone else worried that problems in the credit markets are spreading beyond subprime mortgages. The latest headache: Bear Stearns has prevented investors from taking their money out of a hedge fund that put $850 million into mortgage investments. That's Bear's third hedge fund in trouble. Oh, and keep in mind that for 13 of the last 20 years, stocks have been down on the first trading day of August. (Bloomberg)

Huge hits for local companies: OK, it's still early in the session, but Countrywide Financial is down 6 percent, KB Home 7.7 percent, Ryland 8.3 percent and IndyMac 2.4 percent. All these companies are mired in mortgage lending and/or homebuilding woes. Actually, lots of local stocks are down today.

All-Murdoch day: As expected, the sale of Dow Jones to News Corp. is taking up lots of acreage in today's papers. If you're one of those people who must have every behind-the-scenes nugget, check out this morning's WSJ, which details what had been a two-year campaign by Rupert Murdoch to take control. A major turning point came after Boston lawyer and family trustee Michael Elefante succeeded Roy Hammer as one of the family's representatives on the DJ board. There were also secret meetings in Rome, Prague and of course NY. Another turning point: The ascension of Richard Zannino as DJ CEO (replacing Peter Kann, who had been staunchly opposed to a Murdoch purchase).

Debating copyright content: The Computer and Communications Industry Association, which represents Google, Microsoft and other heavyweights, plans to file a complaint today with the Federal Trade Commission, alleging that movie studios, book publishers and other content companies are overstepping their bounds with copyright warnings. Many warnings "materially misrepresent U.S. copyright law, particularly the fundamental built-in First Amendment accommodations which serve to safeguard the public interest," the complaint alleges. From the WSJ:

The conflict illustrates the shifting concept of fair use in the digital age. "Fair use" of intellectual property revolves around the question of how much, if any, of movies, books, music and other creations can be used without permission of the owners. As Internet platforms have made it easier to redistribute chunks of content without asking for approval, copyright owners have become more protective about enforcing their rights.

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Justin Hughes, a professor of law at Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University in New York, said the notion of fair use is expanding in the digital age, with consumers getting used to copying CDs, for example, as a gift for somebody. A difficulty with the concept of fair use is that while the Copyright Act establishes what fair use is, the application of the rules is still somewhat subjective, said Mr. Hughes. They call for courts to consider several factors ranging from the nature of the use -- such as whether it is public or private -- to whether the reproduced work had any effect on the market for the original.

Council butting in: Here's one sure way to encourage airlines to keep flying out of LAX: The L.A. City Council is balking at United's efforts to begin nonstop service to Shanghai. Actually, the council has little interest in the Shanghai route, but seems to be using it as leverage. You see, United is trying to get a new contract for cleaning service at LAX. The current firm is unionized, but United has said it is looking to open the bidding process to include nonunion firms. (Daily News)

Hollywood contract talks: No, it doesn�t involve the Writer's Guild, which has received lots of press in its efforts to improve its deal with studios and networks. It�s with 4,000 Teamster drivers and four craft unions whose contract expired Tuesday night. These negotiations put the WGA talks on hold. (Variety)

Monitoring power usage: Southern California Edison has told regulators that its customers could save big money with the installation of souped-up meters that would keep tabs of fluctuating power usage and prices. The savings, in fact, would be more than the program's estimated 20-year cost of $1.97 billion. But those cranky consumer advocates point out that the program initially would raise electricity rates 1 percent. (LAT)

Amp'd Mobile liquidates: Prexar Mobile says it's buying various assets from the L.A.-based wireless company, but at least 26 parties have filed objections to the sale process, including Oracle Corp., Circuit City Stores Inc., Vivendi Games Inc., and AOL. The beefs center on the sale's impact on their claims, liens and future contractual obligations. Amp'd users had until midnight on Tuesday to switch to another carrier. Prexar's Web site says that Amp'd subscribers will be able to use songs, ringtones, video and other content as long as they keep their Amp'd phones and memory cards. (The Deal)

Grauman's for sale: Well, sort of. Final bids are in for the purchase of the property beneath Grauman's Chinese Theatre. Here's the problem: The buyer will have to wait until 2023 for the theater's 99-year ground lease to expire. Then the historic landmark building - and whatever profit potential remains in its single screen - will pass to the owner of the land. For now, the new landlord will receive rent from Grauman's current operator, Mann Theatres (which has been struggling financially for years). From the WSJ:

Eastdil Secured is handling the sale for two charitable foundations that inherited the property from the theater's builder, empresario Sid Grauman. Eastdil declined to comment on the process, which participants said was winnowed down to a group of finalists and could fetch $13 million, or more. Some real-estate executives predict the ultimate winner will be CIM Group, a big Hollywood developer that owns a shopping complex abutting Grauman's theater. CIM declined to comment.