Supremes (U.S.) To Supremes (CA), in Pavlovich: Not So Fast

The California Supreme Court's docket in Pavlovich reflects that on December 26 it received faxed notice from the U.S. Supreme Court that a stay of the opinion (PDF) reported at 29 Cal. 4th 262 (discussed previously here) would be granted. On December 31, the Court further was notified of additional briefing due to the U.S. Supreme Court by today's date. This case may supply the vehicle for the U.S. Supreme Court to provide guidance on thorny Web jurisdiction issues. (One should not assume that the U.S. Supreme Court's intervention means the CA Pavlovich decision will not stand.) For further reading, see:

MSNBC News ("High Court Steps Into DVD Fight")
internetnews.com ("High Court Grants Hollywood's Christmas List") [via Howard]
Globe and Mail-AP ("High Court Urged To Settle DVD Dispute" -- eek, unfortunate headline. As though some sort of mediation program were involved; it ain't.)
Washington Post ("Supreme Court Intervenes In DVD Dispute") [via Howard]

Big tip o' the hat to Howard Bashman for the alert on the federal develpments.

[Update] An additional article at The Chronicle of Higher Education discusses the standard for granting a longer stay pending the U.S. Supreme Court's decision whether to grant cert: "To grant that stay, Justice O'Connor would have to find both that the full court probably would overturn the California decision and that the DVD industry would suffer irreparable harm without the stay." [via Donna]