The British music industry’s feathers have already been ruffled by leaks from the soon-to-be released Gowers review of intellectual property  in the UK indicating that it will not, despite the pleading of cash-strapped stars like the millionaire Sir Cliff Richard, extend copyright on music beyond the existing 50 years.  Sir Cliff’s first hits were in the ’50s.

Meanwhile, fears are growing that not only the copyright system but the internet itself could "implode" under the strain of dealing with digital developments. Prof. Roger Wallis of the Stockholm technical university who has been researching this topic for years, told an invited audience in London on Thursday that if measures to prevent illegal down and up loading  under the EU’s i2010 strategy were implemented rigorously, Google, all peer-to-peer networks and every email system would have to be shut down: "In other words" he said "The Net would grind to a halt."  Wallis, a composer himself, believes that if you want creativity in a society sometimes you have to be a bit illegal.  He should know: years ago he co-wrote the winner of the Eurovision song contest.

Alan Cane, London.

I’ve been shopping around for a high-definition television now that prices seem to have fallen around 30 per cent in the past few months and there are bargains galore.

The consumer electronics experts say that 1080p (1,920 dots across the screen and 1,080 down, scanned progressively) or “Full HD” is the way to go if you want to “future-proof” your investment.

Imagine my surprise then to learn at a briefing by the folks at HDMI – the audio-video cable interface – that their latest version, 1.3, caters for 1440p (2560 x 1440) and that Apple and Dell have already brought out monitors featuring this resolution, known in the business as WQXGA (2560 x 1536).

Okay, so this is the PC world, but sooner or later this has to start showing up on HDTVs and what are they going to call it then – Fuller HD? I think we should be told.

Incidentally, the briefing took place at Dolby Labs in San Francisco – their folks were talking about Dolby TrueHD sound – inside their mini-movie theatre.

This was a story in itself: it’s detached from the rest of the building and sits on neoprene rubber pegs. The chairs resemble humans in the way they act as sound baffles – meaning Dolby can test its latest systems properly even if the theatre is empty.

The air conditioning is virtually silent, but when they want to simulate real movie theatre conditions, they actually pipe in just the sound of normal air conditioning.

This could be an industry-wide thing though – I’m sure we’ve all worked in offices where you can hear the air conditioning blasting away but can’t feel any effect.

Chris Nuttall, San Francisco