With the General Election looming ever closer it seems increasingly doubtful the Digital Economy Bill, with its controversial three-strike provisions for combating online piracy, will become law before parliament is dissolved for the big vote. Nevertheless, those lobbying in favour of the legislation seem optimistic it can be pushed through the House Of Commons in time.

But doing so will probably need the cooperation of opposition parties, and the Tories, while basically supporting most of the Bill's copyright provisions, have issues with other aspects of the proposed legislation, which, as a real mish mash of a proposals, covers all sorts of things relating to the media, internet and telecommunications.

Nevertheless, the debate about the Bill's copyright section, in and around parliament, continues. Yesterday a letter signed by an eclectic bunch of creative industry men, including Simon Cowell, was sent to MPs and peers urging the political types to ensure the legislation gets through parliament before the election. Alongside Cowell, other signatories of the letter included author Terry Pratchett, Working Title Film chief Tim Bevan, film director Paul Greengrass and TV producer Stephen Garrett.

For a very brief moment yesterday it seemed that perhaps the efforts of that five, and a multitude of lobbyists from across the content industries, had been unsuccessful when 10 Downing Street responded to a petition on its website against the disconnection of file-sharers by saying the government would not allow those who access music off the internet illegally to have their internet connections disconnected.

Though that was a rather political statement allowing the prime minister's office to seem like it was responding to the petition but without having to change any policy. Unlike in France (and, for a time, Hull), full-on disconnections of internet access have never been part of the three-strikes proposals in the UK, where the ultimate sanction would be the suspension of a file-sharer's net access, not disconnection.

Well, as you probably know, it was the film Baftas last night. Hey, you probably watched it on the telly. But it would still be wrong not to report on it here, so here goes. Iraq drama 'The Hurt Locker' was the big winner on the night, which could bode well for its Oscar chances.

The film took six awards, including Best Film, and the Best Director gong for Kathryn Bigelow, the first woman ever to win it. The film's biggest competitor of the awards season, 'Avatar', directed by Bigelow's ex husband James Cameron, missed out on the bigger awards, but was rewarded for production design and visual effects.

Brits Colin Firth (pictured) and Carey Mulligan triumphed in the acting stakes, the former taking the Best Actor award for 'A Single Man', the latter the Best Actress gong for 'An Education'. Firth made what was probably the best speech of the night, ie, not one that made everyone listening cringe, so that was nice. US comedienne Mo'Nique was named Best Supporting Actress for her role in 'Precious', whilst Christoph Waltz took the Best Supporting Actor honour for his turn in Quentin Tarantino's 'Inglourious Basterds' – probably one of the least surprising results of the night, as he has proved a very consistent winner in that category during this awards season. 

There were also awards for the film 'Fish Tank', named Outstanding British Film, six times nominated George Clooney film 'Up In The Air', which won in the Adapted Screenplay category, and 'The Young Victoria', which was rewarded for costume design, as well as make-up and hair. Pixar's 'Up' emerged victorious in the Animated Film Category, Duncan Jones' 'Moon' was pronounced Outstanding Debut By A British Writer, Director Or Producer, and that Kristen Stewart from those vampire films got the Orange Rising Star Award.

Vanessa Redgrave got this year's fellowship, and spent a long time on stage talking about not much, but she is a great actress and outspoken activist, so everyone patiently listened, as they ought, really.

Jonathan Ross's hosting left a lot to be desired, if you ask me. Of course, nobody ever does ask me about such things. If they did, we'd have good hosts for award ceremonies.

The Evening Standard Film Awards have taken place, and Andy Serkis has taken the Best Actor award for his role as Ian Dury in biographical feature 'Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll'.

Other winners included Anne-Marie Duff, who won the Best Actress gong for her portrayal of John Lennon's mother in 'Nowhere Boy', and director/cinematographer Nicolas Roeg, who was given a special award for his contribution to film. Sacha Baron Cohen, meanwhile, was presented with the Peter Sellers Award - for his 'Bruno' portrayal - from the director and 'Monty Python' star Terry Gilliam, and 'Fish Tank' was judged Best Film.

Judging panel member Andrew O'Hagan commented: "This has been the best year for film in at least a decade. At every level of the business, from the poetic, independent feel of a great film like Fish Tank to the beautiful, humane brilliance of Disney Pixar's Up, there has been a flourishing in the cinematic arts that has everyone excited".

James Cameron's new sci-fi film 'Avatar' has won the gong for Best Film Drama at this year's Golden Globes, and Cameron himself was also named Best Director. As you may be aware, success at the Globes is generally regarded as a sign that success will follow at the Academy Awards, so it looks like the 'Titanic' director might be in with a chance of another Oscar or two to add to his collection. Of course, it doesn't always follow, but we'll see.

The event, as previously reported, was hosted by Ricky Gervais and took place at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles at the weekend. Other winners on the night included Sandra Bullock and Meryl Streep, who won Best Actress (Drama) and Best Actress (musical or comedy) respectively, and Jeff Bridges and Robert Downey Jr, who were presented with the male equivalents.

Comedy star Mo'Nique won best supporting actress for her serious role in 'Precious', whilst comparative unknown Christoph Waltz took the best supporting actor gong for his part in Quentin Tarantino's 'Inglourious Basterds'. Pixar's 'Up' took two awards, Best Animated Feature and Original Score, but George Clooney vehicle 'Up In The Air', nominated for six awards, only managed to take home one, for its screenplay.

Bono reckons that over the next decade it will be the movie industry who will finally put an end to illegal downloading, in the US at least, as easier access to higher bandwidth and larger disk drives makes it far more viable to get films off the net for free. Once this becomes as widespread as downloading music, says the U2 frontman, studio bosses will wade right in and stamp the whole thing right out.

And you know what? He might (sorry, I just need a moment before I type these words in relation to some Bono said) be right. Luckily, he's said some other stuff that makes him sound like an arse.

Writing in his New York Times column, Bono said: "The only thing protecting the movie and TV industries from the fate that has befallen music and indeed the newspaper business is the size of the files. The immutable laws of bandwidth tell us we're just a few years away from being able to download an entire season of '24' in 24 seconds. Many will expect to get it free".

This fact, he reckons, could be what causes the tide to turn. He continues: "Perhaps movie moguls will succeed where musicians and their moguls have failed so far, and rally America to defend the most creative economy in the world, where music, film, TV and video games help to account for nearly four percent of gross domestic product".

Of course, it's not like Bono is some sort of visionary on this subject. First the movie industry has already stepped up its anti-file-sharing efforts, and is widely expected to become increasingly proactive in this domain. And second, while the movie industry might have more money and better connections than the music business, some doubt they'll be able really stop clever kids from employing new technology to hide their file-sharing. Still, they might be able to rally more political support for three-strikes style file-sharer disconnection systems that put more onus on the internet service providers in the anti-piracy battle.  

And it's the ISPs that Bono reckons are to blame for the file-sharing problem. In fact, he goes so far as to claim that the service providers' "swollen profits perfectly mirror the lost receipts of the music business". I'm not sure "perfectly" is quite the word, but I'd be quite happy to take a look over the stats Bono is using the back that up.

He also adds that "we know from America's noble effort to stop child pornography, not to mention China's ignoble effort to suppress online dissent, that it's perfectly possible to track content". And there's that 'perfect' word again. As we say, there is much debate over how easy it is to actually track the sharing of illegal music content - given the development of new technology to hide the sharing - and tracking piracy certainly isn't the same as tracking down porn sites and blog posts. But whatever.

Bono finishes up by referring to himself as an "over-rewarded rock star" in that way I'm sure he thinks makes him look selfless and humble, but just makes him sound smug. Oh, Bono.

The chairman of the Entertainment Retailers Association has called on the film, gaming and music industries to be just a little bit more innovative in 2010, urging them to rely less on sequels, heritage acts, back catalogue and Simon Cowell.

Paul Quirk noted that 2009 had been a better year for entertainment retail than most predicted, given the demise of both Woolies and Zavvi at the end of 2008, but he points out that most of the big sellers in terms of DVDs and video games were sequels, while music relied on established acts and the Cowell-led telly talent show machine. This, he fears, is not sustainable long term.

Bigging up his own team, Music Week quote Quirk thus: "Despite the collapse of Woolworths and Zavvi a year ago, 2009 was far better than many expected. More than anything that has been down to a renewed investment by retailers in making product available to the consumer. We've seen new entrants to the music market like Game and Waterstones and Peacocks. We've seen HMV investing in pop-up shops, some of which have now become permanent openings".

But turning his attention to the other parts of the home entertainment industry, he continued: "Retail investment on its own is not sufficient. We need suppliers to be more innovative and deliver new product which really excites the consumer. Retailers are certainly not complaining about the success of Simon Cowell or Harry Potter or 'Call of Duty 2'. Customers love these products and we are here to sell customers what they want. But the sheer dominance of a small number of franchises, the narrowing of the range of creativity and the focus on blockbusters raises real long-term issues. The great strength of the UK entertainment business has always been constant innovation, and we need to recognise that it is that innovation which keeps the public interested".

Though just to be clear, all of this is really the fault of those pesky file-sharers. Stressing his allegiances with the record companies, movie studios and games publishers, he concluded: "It is hard to blame suppliers for not being adventurous when illegal file-sharing makes it ever more difficult for them to recoup their investment in new projects. That is why entertainment retailers are working closely with the film, game and music industries to persuade government that tough action on illegal file-sharing is required now".

US Vice President Joe Biden yesterday convened a meeting in the White House involving the leaders of various American government agencies and top music, movie, TV and publishing industry bods to discuss intellectual property issues.

According to Billboard the content business types were told the US Justice Department has a "reinvigorated" task force charged with the job of tackling IP crime, while the Feds will be given more money to crack down on major level counterfeiting. Biden also committed the US government to harder lobbying on international copyright and IP agreements.

I don't think many specifics were discussed, except for one specific operation to stop people taping films at the cinema on a camcorder, which is apparently more of a problem than I realised. The content industry men also had a chance to air their IP concerns. It's not clear whether online piracy was discussed in any major way, though assuming it was some of those interested parties outside the content industries expressed their disappointment at not being invited to the table.

The boss of US Consumer Electronics Association, Gary Shapiro told reporters yesterday: "We urge that other stakeholders be consulted and brought to the White House to continue this important dialogue and to ensure that American consumers are not treated like criminals. Too often the Recording Industry Association Of America and other groups advocate an overly aggressive vision of intellectual property that discourages innovation and limits lawful consumer conduct. The resulting environment of excess litigation and disproportionately high statutory damages and other penalties discourages entrepreneurism and burdens America's innovation future".

Meanwhile, Ars Technica quote Gigi Sohn of consumer rights group Public Knowledge thus: "Although the meeting with Vice President Biden purports to bring together 'all of the stakeholders to discuss ways to combat piracy in this rapidly changing technological age,' some stakeholders are noticeably missing. Many representatives of media companies will be there. No consumer or public-interest groups, technology companies, technology associations or internet service providers are on the guest list. No one who questions the need for draconian governmental policies on behalf of the privileged special interest group for whom this meeting is being held is on the guest list".

The American internet giant AOL and entertainment group Time Warner have officially split, meaning the two firms will again trade as separate companies on the New York Stock Exchange.

Warner's purchase of AOL in 2000 was problematic almost from the start, coming as it did just before the infamous dot com bubble of the late nineties burst. For years the more traditional side of the Warner business has blamed AOL for any group-wide misfortunes, while some AOL execs have expressed frustration that being part of the bigger group has prevented them from the sort of rapid business development required in the fast moving net sector. The split, therefore, has been a long time coming.

AOL relaunched itself as an independent concern in New York this week, with that Diddy fella on hand to help the celebrations. The relaunch also applied to the AOL portal, which now has a total new look, which is pretty mediocre but looks like it cost an awful lot of money. Yeah, Team Time Warner are probably better off out of it.

American music industry trade mag Billboard is one seven titles that have been snapped up by a new media company called E5 Global Media, who are backed by some of those shady private equity types. Also part of the deal between E5 and US business publisher Nielson are The Hollywood Reporter, Back Stage, Film Journal International, Adweek, Mediaweek and Brandweek. E5 will also get The Clio Awards and the Film Expo conference business.

This is the previously reported deal that initially involved Lachlan 'son of Rupert' Murdoch, though he dropped out of the consortium setting up E5 at the last minute, so will not be part of the new company. E5 will be headed up by New York media man Jimmy Finkelstein who said yesterday: "We decided this was a great time to buy media assets. We're going to create great businesses in print, online, on mobile, [and] in events, and we think it's the right time to do it".

Not everyone is as optimistic of E5's chances of turning round the fortunes of the entertainment titles it's acquired, all of which have been struggling of late. However, it's expected the new owners will try to expand the pay-to-use components of each titles' online operations, which is the fashion among media owners just now, and which might work better in business media than with consumer titles. Time will tell, I guess.

In related news, Nielsen announced yesterday it would close Editor & Publisher, the trade magazine for the US newspaper industry, which presumably E5 weren't interested in buying.

Sacha Baron Cohen is being sued by Palestinian shopkeeper Ayman Abu Aita, in a $110m libel action, after he was featured in the actor's latest film. Abu Aita was interviewed by Baron Cohen's gay Austrian character Bruno in the 2009 comedy of the same name, and it was implied that he was a terrorist, a caption claiming that he was a member of  militant group al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade. He is in fact a member of the Holy Land Trust, a not for profit organisation dedicated to Palestinian community building.

A lawyer for Abu Aita has filed legal papers in Washington DC saying that his client is a Christian, and "a peace-loving person who abhors violence". He adds that before the film came out, Abu Aita "enjoyed a good reputation for honesty and a peaceable nature" in the community, and that his status has been compromised. The action also claims that the Bethlehem businessman was not given a release form to sign.

Mr Abu Aita is also suing talk show host David Letterman after he discussed the meeting with Baron Cohen on his talk show. The actor said that he had "feared for his safety" during the interview with Abu Aita, and claimed that it took place in a secret location, when in fact, Abu Aita asserts, it took place at a hotel selected by the film's production crew.

A hearing is expected to take place next month.