Posts

May 21, 2013

+

The ambitious folks that run Southern Stars have finished work on their Skycube project. Last summer they raised over $116,000 in a Kickstarter campaign to build the diminutive satellite. The project raised about $34,000 more than was needed to make and launch the satellite. This allowed the team to make a twin Skycube in case … Continue reading »

May 20, 2013

+

10:00 PM | Microsoft supports End Anonymous Patents Act

In a strange twist, Microsoft has thrown its support for a recently introduced bill titled “End Anonymous Patents Act,” introduced by House of Representatives member Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) The act, if passed, would supposedly solve a problem regarding the recordation of patents in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Currently, recording the owner of a … Continue reading »

+

4:00 PM | What can you learn from a grain of sand?

Two grains actually. Scientists studying grains of sand carried to earth in meteorites found in Antarctica have been able to determine information about how our solar system was formed. This method of studying stars can provide information that can’t be found with traditional astronomical means using telescopes or other observations. Two tiny grains of silica … Continue reading »

May 18, 2013

+

10:41 PM | vintageanchorbooks: “But as in ethics, evil is a consequence of...

vintageanchorbooks: “But as in ethics, evil is a consequence of good, so in fact, out of joy is sorrow born. Either the memory of past bliss is the anguish of today, or the agonies which are have their origin in the ecstasies which might have been.” - from “Berenice” by Edgar Allan Poe

+

1:22 AM | Photo

No summary available for this post.

May 17, 2013

+

10:00 PM | Trademark Solicitation Warnings

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has reissued its warning about fraudulent trademarking solicitations purporting to be official communications from the agency. The USPTO website now provides direct links to 13 examples of the non-USPTO solicitations about which the agency has received complaints within the past several months. As I previously highlighted on this blog, … Continue reading »

+

5:14 PM | "… [T]his condition is congenital. It is inborn and exists in the microscopic structure of his..."

““… [T]his condition is congenital. It is inborn and exists in the microscopic...

+

4:05 PM | WordPress ate my blog post :(

Well, for some unknown reason, WordPress decided to mess up my great blog post on sand. Litterally, nothing is left. No words, no pictures, no pithy remarks. Nada. I am in meetings all day today, so I will try and fix it and post it again. Sorry for the messup. Damn you WordPress blog eating … Continue reading »

+

4:00 PM | What can you learn from a grain of sand?

No summary available for this post.

May 16, 2013

+

10:00 PM | Family law meets patent law

As an attorney when you say family law to me I almost always think divorce. There are many other facets to family law, so my apologies to all the family law practitioners out there. But when family law meets patent law, it is usually because of a divorce, death or dissolution of some sort. In … Continue reading »

+

4:00 PM | Down, but not out?

By now you have heard the Kepler space telescope is in trouble. It may have to cease operations soon. There won’t be any repair mission because a) we no longer have any operational shuttles and b) and even if we did, Kepler is about 40 million miles (64 million kilometers) from Earth in a … Continue reading »

May 15, 2013

+

11:04 PM | Left work to attend lab meeting that ended right before I go...

Left work to attend lab meeting that ended right before I go back to work. Later I might work. It sure will be nice to work when work is work.

+

10:00 PM | General Motors Off the Hook in Albert Einstein Right of Publicity Lawsuit

General Motors has successfully defended a right of publicity lawsuit over its use of the image of Albert Einstein in a 2009 advertisement. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, which controls Einstein’s rights of publicity, had alleged that GM was not authorized to use his likeness. It sued General Motors for trademark infringement, unfair competition, and … Continue reading »

+

4:00 PM | The Tolkien-Lego connection.

I love Tolkien’s books, well most of them, but they all have great imagery, stories, plots a lessons. He wrote “The Lord of the Rings” based on his life and experiences. Although the battle of Helm’s Deep was made a major portion of the second movie, it was not a major part of the book. … Continue reading »

May 14, 2013

+

10:00 PM | Superman Lawsuit Tests Copyright Termination Rights

The heirs of Joe Shuster, a co-creator of the famous Superman comic, recently lost their bid to regain the rights to the Man of Steel. The copyright lawsuit tested the legal doctrine known as copyright termination. The Copyright Act provides a termination right for the prior grant of a copyright transfer or license if the … Continue reading »

+

4:00 PM | I found one using BEER!

For about the last decade, exoplanets have been found using one of two methods: radial velocity (looking for wobbling stars) and transits (looking for dimming stars). Now, Tel Aviv University and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) have discovered a new exoplanet using a new method that relies on Einstein’s special theory of relativity and … Continue reading »

+

5:40 AM | My Case Against Einfühlung First, I’m with...

My Case Against Einfühlung First, I’m with thoughtfulcynic. I’m not a fan of dichotomy when speaking about emotions/behaviors that pepper an entire spectrum. I suppose we can talk about social reluctance to do this another time, but investigating empathy, like other spectrumocities, (n. the state of being on a spectrum. K, I’m making up words, but I think I’ve earned that..I …I just think I’ve earned that.) …LIKE other spectrumocities, our understanding of it may suffer if […]

+

4:20 AM | Justice for Psychopaths - by Neil Levy

Justice for Psychopaths - by Neil Levy

May 13, 2013

+

10:00 PM | Save by an Apostrophe!

A Philadelphia deli is hoping that an apostrophe can save its trademark application. Campo’s Deli at Market is appealing a Trademark Trial and Appeal Board decision that denied its trademark application for the phrase “Philadelphia’s Cheesesteak.” The TTAB denied the trademark on two grounds. It first determined that the mark was ineligible for trademark registration … Continue reading »

+

4:00 PM | Windows booted from the ISS.

Most of you know that I am an advocate for FOSS (free and open source software). Not that I begrudge anyone from making money, because you can still make money from FOSS, just ask Google, Apple, Yahoo, Netflix, Red Hat, Intel….yada, yada, yada. Even Microsoft has products that use FOSS and even has FOSS projects … Continue reading »

May 10, 2013

+

10:00 PM | Apple v. Samsung: Redux for Juror Misconduct?

The ongoing intellectual property litigation between Apple and Samsung continues to make headlines months after the blockbuster verdict was announced. Samsung is seeking a new trial on the basis of juror misconduct. Samsung alleges that the foreman of the jury that awarded Apple $1.05 billion in damages failed to disclose his involvement in two legal … Continue reading »

+

4:00 PM | Its a small universe.

Ok, the guys at IBM are at it again and I can’t help myself. First, there was “A Boy and His Atom,” which I told you about earlier this week. Apparently, the geeks at IBM cannot wait for the new “Star Trek: Into Darkness” movie to come out. Frankly, I can’t either. “These images were … Continue reading »

May 09, 2013

+

10:00 PM | New Patent Prosecution Highways

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office continues to foster relationships with various intellectual property offices around the world. The USPTO recently announced a new Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) with the patent office of the Czech Republic, and the planned launch of two additional PPHs with the patent offices of the Philippines and Portugal early this year. … Continue reading »

+

4:00 PM | A few small intervals make for a great film.

At last months meeting of the Riverside Astronomical Society one of our members, Mark Melnyk, gave a great talk about time lapse photography. If you don’t know, time lapse photography is where you take a bunch of individual images over a period of time, then put them together to form a movie. Small intervals or … Continue reading »

+

2:13 AM | Interpret any significant triple interaction by examining the...

Interpret any significant triple interaction by examining the change in the strongest two-way interaction as it changes over levels of the third overall main effect. Then scotch.

May 08, 2013

+

11:31 PM | "As it drew closer to 1:30 p.m. and the verdict, people in the crowd urged others to..."

“As it drew closer to 1:30 p.m. and the verdict, people in the crowd urged others to...

+

10:00 PM | Megaupload Copyright Suit Update

Federal prosecutors survived another legal hurdle in their efforts to keep file-sharing service Megaupload Ltd. out of business. A Virginia federal judge recently denied the company’s bid to dismiss the criminal copyright infringement charges. As I previously told you, Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom was arrested in Australia at the request of the U.S. government. The … Continue reading »

+

4:00 PM | Small, but large.

Continuing on with this weeks theme (I didn’t plan a theme for the week, it just happened that small stuff was happening, so I went for it.), I present the smallest galaxy found to date. Willman 1. Discovered in 2004, by Beth Willman of New York University’s Center for Cosmology and Particle Physics, this tiny … Continue reading »

May 07, 2013

+

10:00 PM | Toys “R” Us Accused of Stealing Trade Secrets to Design Children’s Tablet

Intellectual property disputes related to tablet computers are not limited to products designed for adults. Toys “R” Us is facing trade secret misappropriation claims over the Tabeo, a device designed for children. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court, Southern District of California, also alleges breach of contract, fraud, and unfair competition. Fuhu … Continue reading »

+

4:00 PM | A Stereo Lemmon.

This weekend NASA’s Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO) spacecraft captured comet Lemmon at it traped across the face of the Sun. Its like 3D! Of course that is the whole point of the STEREO spacecraft. The two nearly identical spacecraft – one ahead of Earth in its orbit, the other trailing behind – are normally … Continue reading »