Hasbro soaks Buzz Bee over water pistol patent

Hasbro was awarded an injunction in the case Hasbro Inc v. Buzz Bee Toys Inc, United States District Court, District of Massachusetts, No. 10-cv-10906.

External review of CIRM criticized as misguided

"The Great Beyond" blog at Nature presented some criticisms of the recent review of California's CIRM:

“You’ve got to remember, their whole mandate is commercialization,” says Bob Caldwell, CEO of Massachusetts-based stem cell company Advanced Cell Technology (ACT). What the agency should have done, he says, is identified 3-5 potential therapies that were “low-hanging fruit” in terms of clinical development. “Let’s get those through and into the clinic so that we can demonstrate to the world that the [human embryonic stem cell] platform has value,” he says.

Also, Caldwell notes, the agency should already have called for project proposals that tackle some technical areas that need work, such as techniques for the cryoprotection of cells, as well as methods to coax cells into dividing more rapidly. “These are commercial issues that can help these products move into the market,” he says.

ACT, which last week received a green light from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to begin the world’s second-ever clinical trial using human embryonic stem cells, had set up base in California for some time in the hope of receiving CIRM funding, but was never awarded a grant despite applying several times. While CIRM could well have had its reasons, Caldwell says, 95% of the funding was going to nonprofit institutions -– in his view a misguided strategy.

See also

The patent world of iPS (stem cells): Yamanaka, Bayer, and iZumi

http://ipbiz.blogspot.com/2010/03/response-to-francisco-prietos-vision.html

Comment to californiastemcellreport on Nov. 30:

From The Great Beyond Blog:

“You’ve got to remember, their whole mandate is commercialization,” says Bob Caldwell, CEO of Massachusetts-based stem cell company Advanced Cell Technology (ACT). What the agency should have done, he says, is identified 3-5 potential therapies that were “low-hanging fruit” in terms of clinical development. “Let’s get those through and into the clinic so that we can demonstrate to the world that the [human embryonic stem cell] platform has value,” he says.

Also, Caldwell notes, the agency should already have called for project proposals that tackle some technical areas that need work, such as techniques for the cryoprotection of cells, as well as methods to coax cells into dividing more rapidly. “These are commercial issues that can help these products move into the market,” he says.

From the IPBiz blog in 2005:

When taxpayers in California, Kansas, New Jersey, etc. find out they are getting no benefits out of their tax dollars, there might be a bit of disenchantment. Taxpayers do not want to be, unknowingly, venture capitalists.

Bengu Sezen found guilty, but collected another PhD in meantime

As to Bengu Sezen , a blog at Nature reports:

A former graduate student has been found guilty of misconduct in a high profile case that rocked the chemistry community four years ago and resulted in the retraction of six papers.

Dalibor Sames, a chemist at Columbia University in New York, retracted the six papers between March and June, 2006, when he and his colleagues found they could not reproduce the results. The research focused on selectively breaking carbon-hydrogen bonds within molecules with the aim of modifying the molecules for industrial purposes, such as producing pharmaceuticals or fuels.

The Office of Research Integrity yesterday published a notice finding Bengu Sezen, a former graduate student in Sames’s lab, guilty of 21 counts of misconduct - specifically, falsifying, fabricating and plagiarizing data in three papers and in her doctoral dissertation.

The punishment: a five year ban on “any contracting or subcontracting with any agency of the United States Government” – that is, receiving US funding -- and on “serving in any advisory capacity to the US Public Health Service (PHS)” – such as scientific peer review.

Sezen completed another doctorate in the lab of chromosome biologist Elmar Schiebel at the University of Heidelberg in Germany. According to a list of lab alumni posted on Schiebel’s website, she then moved on to become a group leader at Yeditepe University in Istanbul, Turkey.

For a patent connection, see previous IPBiz post


There is a Sames/Sezen application: PCT/ US2004/003215

In an International Search Report [ISR] mailed 23 June 2005, the US Patent Office found no X or Y references. Too bad the USPTO doesn't check for fraud.

Cross-reference: WO/2004/069394 , Benjamin S. Lane

Kardashians Kut Konnection to "Kardashian Kard"

Because there was no confusion of source here, the "Kardashian Kard" had to go.

The lawyer got to the problem:

"The Kardashians have worked extremely long and hard to create a positive public persona that appeals to everyone, particularly young adults," says the letter from Dennis Roach, legal counsel of Dash Dolls LLC, which represents the three sisters. "Unfortunately, the negative spotlight turned on the Kardashians."

CT Attorney General Blumenthal got into the act:

"Keeping up with the Kardashians is impossible with this card, where consumers lose money before they use money. Even before consumers spend a dime, the Kardashian Kard fees swallow the card's value," Blumenthal said in a statement Monday after news that the Kardashians were cutting ties to the card.

And there was advice to celebrity "sponsors":

"Any other celebrity or business that is thinking of associating its name with a prepaid card should take a close look at the fees and protections, and say 'no thanks' unless the fees are low and the missing consumer protections are added," Gail Hillebrand, director of Consumers Union's Defend Your Dollars campaign, said after hearing Monday's news.

Quotes from finance.yahoo.

Environmentalism at Gettysburg

It's a long walk from the parking area at the Gettysburg Visitor Center to the Center itself. If you drive an "environmentally friendly" vehicle, it's a bit closer.


And, yes, the Visitor Center does have a Spencer rifle on display:



[For the patent angle with the Spencer rifle, see 88 JPTOS 1068 ]

And, yes, General Warren still keeps a lookout from Little Round Top:

Supreme Court takes Microsoft/i4i case

The online.wsj noted:

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Monday [29 Nov. 2010] to consider Microsoft Corp.'s challenge to a $290 million patent infringement judgment that barred the company from selling certain versions of its flagship Word software.

See also

More in the i4i/Microsoft case on Word from IPBiz on MONDAY, MARCH 15, 2010

"Direct conversion" approach in stem cell research

AP is running a story on stem cell work by John Geahart of University of Pennsylvania. Curiously, there is no reference to this work being published in a scientific journal, such as Science:

The new direct-conversion approach avoids embryonic stem cells and the whole notion of returning to an early state. Why not just go directly from one specialized cell to another? It's like flying direct rather than scheduling a stopover.

Even short of researchers' dreams of fixing internal organs from within, Gearhart says direct conversion may offer some other advantages over more established ways of producing specialized cells. Using embryonic stem cells is proving to be inefficient and more difficult than expected, scientists say. For example, the heart muscle cells developed from them aren't fully mature, Gearhart noted.

The specific experiment seems to involve the conversion of specialized cells into early stage blood cells.

Cross-reference: Biotech Exec Says CIRM Review Misguided, Biased and Disservice to Public

Also
“Direct Conversion” May Make Embryonic Stem Cell Research Obsolete

Apple gathering patent attorneys for future litigation

AppleInsider reports on 29 Nov 10 of coming patent wars:

According to Businessweek, Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs is recruiting lawyers who have experience fighting for and against some of the world's largest technology companies. The legal battle is seen as an effort to stop Android, the competing mobile operating system from search giant Google.

"Apple has hired some of the nation's top patent lawyers as outside counsel," authors Adam Satariano and Susan Decker wrote. "They include Ropert Krupka of Kirkland & Ellis, who negotiated a 2005 settlement in which Apple agreed to pay $100 million to Creative Technology Ltd., maker of the Zen music player; William Lee WilmerHale in Boston, who successfully represented Broadcom Corp in its fight against Qualcomm; and Matt powers of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, who successfully defended the patent on Merck & Co.'s biggest product, the $4.7 billion-a-year asthma drug Singulair."

Apple's legal efforts are led by Bruce Sewell, the company's general counsel. It also added Noreen Krall, former chief intellectual property counsel for Sun Microsystems and IBM, as an in-house attorney this year.

The report also noted that Apple has been the most-sued technology company since 2008, a year after the iPhone hit the market, according to LegalMetric Inc.

Cross-reference: Skygrid

"60 Minutes" on November 28, 2010

The first preview was on creating a strong Afghan police force, and highlighted the text "that's a great question." The next preview was on the Broadway show Spiderman. The third preview concerned an interview with now-retired Justice Stevens.

Anderson Cooper did "Good Cop, Bad Cop" on the Afghan police and referred to a NYT story earlier in November 2010. The US has spent 7 billion on training the Afghan police force. Lt. Gen. William Caldwell is in charge of training the Afghan police force. There are issues of illiteracy and of drug use. There are currently 500 police trainers, giving about six weeks of training to candidates. One billion of the 7 billion went to private contractors. To combat corruption, police wages have been doubled (to $240 per month). Peter Galbraith stated that the Afghan police are incapable of being reformed on a time scale of 100 years. The final lines in the interview: But the clock is ticking. It is.

The Broadway show introduces some new villains, and is the most expensive Broadway show ever. A spectacle of extraordinary dizziness. Bono, Edge, and Julie Taymor visited the set. The big stars are the three talents behind the scenes, not the actors in the show. I really like to go into something when I don't know whether I can pull it off. There are one million a week in operating costs. 60 Minutes showed some tweaking of songs for a new villain, a spider woman. There were lyrics: Every day is like a war and I'm losing it, a duet between Parker and his girl. (Of piano, like John Lennon, real spare.) Bono: Julie Taymor is definitely a magician. Julie spent 10 million on the sets; millions more on the special effects. The theater of it right in the laps of the audience. There will be a battle fought over the audiences' heads. The technology was based on the four point systems of cameras over football games. There was discussion of the death of Tony Adams, who died of a seizure when the initial contracts were to be signed. Bono said he learned about the bad financial situation of the show by reading in the New York Post. Michael Cole became the new producer, who said nobody wants to see the 25million dollar Spiderman; they want to see the 60 million dollar Spiderman. Julie: if you don't have fear, you're not taking a chance.

One can go to 60MinutesOvertime.com to see Bono working on a song.

Justice John Paul Stevens has shaped more Supreme Court history than any other Justice alive. CBS met Stevens at the Supreme Court building in the summer. At 35 years service, he is number 3 among longest serving. The story began with Bush v. Gore. In order to get a stay, the applicant has to prove irreparable injury. The majority ruled against Stevens' position. Stevens said he thought the majority were "profoundly wrong." Stevens' father built the largest hotel in the world. Gangsters robbed the Stevens family at gunpoint. Stevens' father was accused of embezzling. On appeal, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled there was no credible evidence against Stevens' father. In the "war on terror," Bush said "no lawyers" for prisoners, but Stevens, with the majority, ruled otherwise. There was discussion of the Padilla case [Rumsfeld v. Padilla]. Justice Souter appeared in the "60 Minutes" piece, commenting on the Padilla case. Of Stevens: "He was earning his salary." The "hidden Supreme Court," the library and the justices' robing room. They shake hands at the start of a new term. Stevens said he was worried about the direction of the Supreme Court. Legislating from the bench. Citizens United was the example. Where did the Court make a mistake. In most debates, you have rules. Congress makes the rules. If one side has many more resources than the other, it's not a fair fight. In a different area, there was discussion of Oct. 1932 (game 3 of World Series of 1932), the famous called shot of Babe Ruth. Justice Stevens was there and said Ruth pointed the bat to the center field stands prior to the pitch, and thus, did call his shot.

Andy Rooney said he was thinking about moving to New Jersey. There was a news piece that Asian Americans in New Jersey had a life expectancy of 91.8 years vs. 79.7 years overall life expectancy. Rooney mentioned the book "Living to be a Hundred." 70,000 people in the US are over 100. Andy Rooney noted he didn't obey the customary rules for long life, but he felt fine. The last line: if I'm not here next week, you'll know I was wrong. [Andy Rooney was born January 14, 1919.]

Speaking of plagiarism

IPBiz was shocked to find the IPBiz report on CBS Sunday Morning of November 28 copied at The News Inn [ Just News Nothing Else ] in a post titled Borowitz Report . This fellow " Waqar " knows no shame.

The following was submitted to The News Inn at 1:17pm:

This post was copied from one on IPBiz
CBS Sunday Morning on November 28, 2010

**Note also


The distinction between plagiarism and copyright infringement

"Face the Nation" features four authors

"Face the Nation" on November 28, 2010 presented four authors, starting with Bob Woodward on the President's Afghanistan policy. Woodward painted a difficult picture, noting that Kharzai is a diagnosed manic depressive. One moment embracing US policy; the next moment denouncing us. Unreliable amd erratic.

Huffington on third world America. Middle class in America is about to become extinct. 2/3 of Americans think their children will be worse off than parents. 25% of young people out of work. Sense of collective anxiety.

Ron Chernow on President Washington. Schieffer: we're in for some tough business. Are we seeing something new here? Ron: although some people think of the founding period a golden age, it was as nasty and partisan as today. Washington was accused of a plot to restore monarchy and of being a double agent.

Edmund Morris on Teddy Roosevelt in the book Colonel Roosevelt. Middle class (or lower middle class) tea party movement. Somewhat like 1910 progressive party. That movement was white middle class and extremely fervent. Feeling of exclusion from interplay of the elite. Angry, overtaxed and perplexed. Real trouble in 2012. [Morris: "Not all that I see is attractive. I see an insular people who are insensitive to foreign sensibilities, who are lazy, obese, complacent, and increasingly perplexed as to why we are losing our place in the world, to people who are more dynamic than us and more disciplined." ]

Arianna speaks about anger. very unpredictable. Dangerous for political stability. Outpouring of compassion. Missing: magnifying glass. Put spotlight on what is working. Go beyond dogmas of left and right.

Bob: such a concentration of power in the presidency. Scratch for: who is barack obama? 18 month snapshot on Obama is a confusing picture. Thought of calling the book "The Divided Man." Of Afghanistan: Hard war to win and come out on top. Division and inconsistency in Obama.

Ron: intellectual people drawn into center of political. Reflexive denigration of opolitical institutions. Get mediocre politicals.
Stuck in vicious cycle.

Edmund Morris to Schieffer, quoting from a movie [Marisa Tomei in "My Cousin Vinnie": Mona Lisa Vito: It's a bullshit question, it's impossible to answer. ]-->That's a bullshit question (the expletive bleeped by CBS)). teddy was forceful but civilized. Insular people insensitive for foreign sensitivities. Losing place to people who are more dynamic and more disciplined.
[For a videoclip, see ‘BULL$#*! QUESTION’: ‘FACE THE NATION’ GUEST SLAMS AMERICANS AS ‘LAZY…OBESE’ : I see an insular people who are insensitive to foreign sensibilities, who are lazy, obese, complacent and increasingly perplexed as to why [Americans] are losing our place in the world to people who are more dynamic than us and more disciplined. ]

Arianna: Lot of legitimate anger out there. The game is rigged. Without any real sense of hope around the corner. A very unAmerican state.

Bob: the leaders are out there. Nixon era. Piston driving Nixon presidency was hate.

Schieffer to Ron: American founders didn't hide. But Washington tended not to speak. Alex Hamilton would try to show he was one of the smartest people at table. Washington: gift of silence. At the table, Washington would know everything about you and you would know nothing about Washington. Alternative theory: Washington silent because of dentures. Had only one tooth left. Curved metal springs held in dentures. Open mouth to speak, dentures might fly out.

Arianna spoke of Palin using Facebook.

Schieffer to Edmund: why was Roosevelt a good leader? Response: Loved to talk. Articulate. He would terrify the tv cameras.

Schieffer to Bob: Obama has lost his groove. Response: He understands things, but he is holding back. Let the silence suck out the truth. People will fill in silence. An uncertain compass in Obama. Opposition is taking advantage, and general populace senses it.
Roosevelt would read a book or two a day. Edmund: Reagan had plenty of time to write letters

Schieffer on essay from five years ago: Thanksgiving as his favorite holiday. We do what we shouldn't, we eat too much. No purpose but to be together. Flotilla of smaller holidays. Sunday: we love our recent visitors, but thank God they're gone.

***Footnote, from 'Jersey Shore': MTV fires back at plagiarism lawsuit -->

However, MTV claims that they have had this idea more or less in the works since a "True Life" special about being a "Jersey girl" aired back in 2004. As for the similarities when it comes to Italian-American stereotypes, the network brings up a number of movies such as "My Cousin Vinny" which also include such a portrayal of the ethnicity.

In other words, don't mess with MTV -- the network is threatening to whack Gambale to the best of their ability if he moves on with the case.

CBS Sunday Morning on November 28, 2010

Charles Osgood previewed the stories for "CBS Sunday Morning" on November 28, 2010. The first previewed story, the cover story, was titled "Where's Molly"", and was said to be about family secrets. The second previewed story was by Peter Greenburg on volunteers, with the preview mentioning that three quarters of fire fighters are volunteers. The third previewed story was by Bill Whittaker on Lionel Ritchie, who knew music was his calling when he joined the Commodores 40 years ago. The fourth previewed story was on a secret shared (by Rita Braver) on how a letter from December 1933 showed life issues in Canton, Ohio. There was mention of Katie Couric interviewing Colin Firth, and "Fast Draw" on warranties.

Of the news for November 28, 2010, Terry McCarthy did an extended piece on the would-be bomber in Portland, Oregon. There was a display of a headline in The Oregonian. The perpetrator had been under surveillance since 2009 and apparently acted alone. Portland was selected as a target because it was not seen as a place where anything will happen. The perp said the "New York Times will give it two thumbs up." The second news story was on the situation in Korea. North Korea has placed missiles on the border. The third news piece mentioned that retail sales were up 3/10 of 1% over Black Friday one year ago. The fourth story mentioned another release from Wikileaks. The fifth story was about Obama's 12 stitches from the basketball injury. Obama attended game of Oregon State, coached by wife's brother.

As to weather: soggy and cold in northeast.

The cover story was "Where's Molly?" John Blackstone discussed the Daly family history. When he was five, Jeff's sister Molly disappeared. Cindy Thompson grew up with Jeff in Oregon. She was sent away. It would take 10 years to find out. Within 24 hours of father Jack's death, Molly was located in Hillsboro, Oregon. Jeff was then 52 years old. 1957: Oregon Fairview Home. Molly was in a film about Oregon Fairview (founded in 1907) was for the mentally disabled. James Trenton is a professor who sutdies history of "mentally retarded;" in 1950s, advice was to place in institution.. Concept of "institutional retardation." Jeff's father was an executive at Bumble Bee Foods, and he created a troop of clowns that visited Fairview. Jeff is a free lance cameraman who has done a film "Where's Molly?" [Jeff sometimes has worked for CBS.]

Almanac. Remembering Garry Moore. Nov. 28, 1993, Gary Moore died. Launched Carol Burnett's career. I've Got a Secret. The perfect tv houseguest. Be kind to each other.

Andy Borowitz was featured in the first in a new series "wit and wisdom." Now, does a little bit of standup and what he wants to do. The author of the Borowitz Report. Karzai traded to Minnesota Vikings. Writes for New Yorker. David Remick is editor: if anything absurd happens, Andy Borowitz will hit it on the head. Shaker Heights High School. I was popular within the group of unpopular kids. Was president of Harvard Lampoon; graduated in 1980 and went to Hollywood. Writing for Carroll O'Connor, who had #1 parking spot. "THe Facts of Life." Andy Borowitz was tapped by NBC to turn Will Smith into a star. Pleasantville with Reese Witherspoon. In 1995, Borowitz quit Hollywood. The "hedonic treadmill." Enormously successful but not terribly happy. Worst fear in Hollywood: becoming a forgotten purpose. Gutsy. "Well thank you Harry."

Peter Greenburg did a piece on volunteer fire fighters. 3/4 of firefighters are volunteers. Emmitsburg, MD is home of the national fire academy. Steven (Peanut) Kasur (St. Anne, Ws) was honored. A dumpster fire killed Kasur. 800 of 870 fire departments in Wisconsin are volunteers. $37 billion is saved per year by having volunteers. Hudson, NY museum of fire fighting. Peter Stuyvesant. "It's part of our culture." Andy Siegel responded to a call for his son, who died on the scene.

Holiday movies. Get a gander at the Oscar bait. Colin Firth playing George VI. Timing isn't my strong suit. Give the monarch an emotional enema. Second, "The Fighter." They could be contenders. Natalie Portman in Backswan. Give you a drugged experience. Line between hypnotic and stupefing is thin. Re-make of True Grit. Blow some new holes in the Western genre.

Katie Couric talks with Colin Firth of The King's Speech (George VI; Prince Albert). King Edward the 8th abdicated. A debilitating stammer. The courage with which he deals with the struggle. Lionel Loag (Jeffrey Rush) is the speech therapist. Of prior doctors: They are idiots; They've all been knighted.

Fast Draw: Buying extended warranties. The only thing they can guarantee you is a profit for someone else. That bet is a longshot. Tod Marks of Consumer Reports: it doesn't make economic sense to buy an extended warranty.

Next was Bill Whitaker's Sunday Profile on Lionel Ritchie. Mention of "Just Go." Akob. Golden Globe, Oscar, and five Grammies. Ritchie was at Tuskegee, planning to be an accountant. Closing 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. He went home to care for his ailing father, who died in 1990. Ritchie remains a huge hit in Europe. Are you Nicole Ritchie's dad? Famous: it consumes you. I'm slowing it down and enjoying the ride. Of course, the lines I'm easy like Sunday morning.

Ben Stein on Charlie Rangel. Rangel's misdeeds seem like trivial matters. He is a genuine American hero, fighting his way out in Korea, where he got a bronze star with V for valor. Erudition and fairness. Truly great man laid low by trivial matters. "To me, he is still a hero."

Pulse. Most thankful for family 49%.

Rita Braver on "a secret shared." Ted Gup's mother gave him a suitcase in 2008. Letters from Dec. 1933. Addressed to B. Virdot. A portal on the great depression as it affected Canton, Ohio. People were being laid off left and right. Nothing to catch these people as they fell. An ad in the Canton newspaper solicited letters. B. Virdot was an invention, an amalgamation of the names: Barbara, Virginia, and Dorothy. Ted Gup started tracking down the descendants of the letter writers. Only one letter writer (now 91) is still alive, and was 14 when she wrote. Gup's grandfather (Sam Stone) was born in Romania, arriving in US in 1902, but told everyone he was born in Pittsburgh. He went into clothing business. In Canton in 2010, an offer of $100 for folks in need in the spirit of B. Virdot.

Moment of nature. Montana's Flathead Valley, with ["very thankful"] wild turkeys.

Problems in patenting Clostridium carboxidivorans strain

In a post in April 2009 title --
Coskata receives unfavorable Office Action on clostridium (11/441,392)
--, IPBiz noted difficulties of Coskata and colleagues with the Clostridium patent application.

Troubles have continued. In a nonfinal Office Action mailed 25 Aug 2010, there is a rejection under 112 P 1 as to the remaining claims 1-3. It seems that a deposit made pursuant to 37 CFR 1.801 ff may not be in full compliance with the rules.


Cross-reference: 2007-0275447 A1

In voting at Biofuels Digest:

Gevo, Solazyme, Amyris, DDCE, Novozymes, Genencor, POET, LS9, Codexis and Cargill formed the top 10 after the eleventh day of subscriber balloting for the 50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy. Voters have submitted more than 57,000 total votes to date in the polling.

Sapphire Energy, BP Biofuels, Shell, OriginOil, Coskata, Petrobras, Algenol, Chevron, Abengoa Bioenergy, and Mascoma formed the second 10.

From Ethanol Producer on the report of Debbie Niemeier, a UC Davis professor :

The UC Davis report compliments recent industry criticism regarding the treatment of emerging technologies in the renewable fuel standard (RFS). The U.S. EPA is scheduled to finalize its 2011 RFS volumes by Nov. 30 and is likely to nearly extinguish the cellulosic biofuel volume requirements when compared to the original volume requirements set forth in 2007. In July, the EPA proposed a range of between 5 and 17.1 million gallons for cellulosic biofuels next year, as opposed to the 250 million gallons originally called for in the RFS legislation. The U.S. Energy Information Administration recently estimated that actual production next year will be even less than 5 million gallons and recommended the EPA should lower its 2011 cellulosic volume to 3.94 million gallons. Ethanol producers and industry representatives echo the findings by the UC Davis researchers and argue that reduced federal mandates scare away investors. Therefore, increased mandates, or at least maintained volume levels, are necessary to nurture emerging alternatives.

“We have to have a target and we need to stick with it,” said Andy Foster, president and chief operating officer of AE Biofuels Inc.’s advanced biofuels division. “The problem when the government keeps moving numbers around is that it creates a level of uncertainty that is unsettling to companies that are developing technology as well as to investors. It sends a signal that there’s not a consistent policy in place. I understand the need to have an accurate estimate as to what to expect for the nation’s fuel supply, but I think revising the RFS up and down on a constant basis tends to add a bit of uncertainty to the marketplace about whether this industry has long-term government support.”



Of Coskata's Wes Bolsen-->


Wes Bolsen: Wes holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Rose-Hulman, and received his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

From Biorefining Magazine:

While the current situation may be less than ideal, the EPA’s actions do reflect an important first step in opening the market to allow for greater use of ethanol-blended fuels. In the short term, the fuel waiver approval is expected to help spur investment in commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plants. “It provides confidence to investors that the U.S. government is going to continue to increase our use of renewable fuels,” says Wes Bolsen, Coskata Inc.’s chief marketing officer and vice president of government affairs. “Right now, Coskata is looking to start building our first commercial plant, so of course it helps in the sense that it gives investors additional confidence.” That extra confidence should be created later this year when EPA approves the second portion of the wavier for 2001 though 2006 cars and light-duty trucks, he says.

Glenn Nedwin, executive vice president of technical enzymes at Genencor, a Division of Danisco, agrees. “Once the second decision comes, then it is going to get much more attractive for investors because we now see there is growth potential in the industry,” he says. “With an open market now, we will definitely see more investment coming.” However, the E15 approval is only one step in the right direction towards increasing the use of ethanol. “This is a first step,” Bolsen says. “We see this E15 waiver as a first step in a bigger plan to get to very high volumes of cellulosic ethanol.” The big question now is what the second step might be. “What is our plan?” says Bolsen. “Do we have the enduring policy to start putting in the infrastructure, meaning blender pumps and [flex-fuel] vehicles? What is the strategy? Is it E15, then E20, then E25, or are we talking about a much bigger plan?”


Entirely separately, not Sapphire's US 20100297749 , titled METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR BIOFUEL PRODUCTION.

Trademarking "Face"

Techcrunch got some mileage out of the USPTO issuing a "notice of allowance" to Facebook on trademark rights in a certain field of use for "Face":

Facebook is just a payment away from trademarking the word “Face.” As of today the U.S. Patent And Trademark Office has sent the social networking site a Notice of Allowance, which means they have agreed to grant the “Face” trademark to Facebook.

Elsewhere
USPTO Agrees to Grant Facebook Trademark Over Word “Face”

And, at Mediapost:

Meanwhile, "If Facebook is awarded a trademark on the word 'face,' it shouldn't interfere with Apple's mobile video calling service Facetime, since the Cupertino-based device maker has a trademark on that term itself," Inside Facebook writes.


One commenter did write:

This is a classic case where "ignorance" about trademarks plays in favor of high rating and controversy.
What Facebook are trying to trademark is the use of the word "face" in electronic applications (Telecommunication as an alternative word for "online") offering social (i.e. facebook like) applications. This make a lot of sense. Just like many other generic terms used in a non trivial way.
the word "face" is not descriptive in the way that "myface" describes (literally) an application where people may comment and interact socially. This is why also Apple's FaceTime will not breach the trademark, as it is using the word face literally (enabling the other side of the conversation to see your face) and not referring to the word Face in the non-dictionary meaning of it, which is attributed to facebook's phenomena (namely social networking). This doesn't give facebook the rights for the use of the word face for a face recognition software, or for other non related use.

I personally agree that facebook should get the rights for the usage of the word face in the "social network" meaning, as they created this meaning, and protect them from people launching services named faceXXX or XXXface that may indicate relationship to facebook. This is just like caterpillar trademarking the word "cat" for construction and manufacturing equipment (but not getting rights for CatFeeder, or LolCats).

CIRM: publications, not cures, are the primary output

The californiastemcellreport mentioned an article by Jack Dolan in the LA Times:

Dolan wrote,

"Under (CIRM Chairman Robert Klein's) stewardship, the agency has funded research leading to hundreds of scientific papers, but scientists say marketable therapies for maladies such as cancer, Alzheimer's and spinal cord damage promised during the campaign remain years, if not decades, away."

Duh, this is supposed to be a newsflash?

LBE comment to californiastemcellreport on 24 Nov. 2010:

Of the matter of California taxpayers getting scientific papers, not cures, for their money, recall the text in IPBiz:

More importantly, the iZumi story illustrates why the CIRM approach to intellectual property (and on return on investment to California taxpayers) is fundamentally flawed. The most promising stem cell research areas will be privately funded, and disconnected from CIRM. California taxpayers won't get a return on these efforts, but will get an accounting of papers published on secondary or derivative work. Voters in New Jersey figured out that the NJ stem cell bond was more about academic empire building than about cures, and just said no, producing the first rejected NJ bond proposal in years. Maybe they figured something out that Californians are missing.

See

The patent world of iPS (stem cells): Yamanaka, Bayer, and iZumi

Why there is no patent application on graphene

Within a post titled --Score One for the Big Guys: How to Trick a Future Nobel Laureate into Walking Away from a Patent and Giving Away His Rights for Free -- at sharpip, one finds the text:

n an interview with Nature News, [Andre Geim] explains why [he didn't patent graphene]: 'We considered patenting; we prepared a patent and it was nearly filed. Then I had an interaction with a big, multinational electronics company. I approached a guy at a conference and said, "We've got this patent coming up, would you be interested in sponsoring it over the years?" It's quite expensive to keep a patent alive for 20 years. The guy told me, "We are looking at graphene, and it might have a future in the long term. If after ten years we find it's really as good as it promises, we will put a hundred patent lawyers on it to write a hundred patents a day, and you will spend the rest of your life, and the gross domestic product of your little island, suing us."

In the past, LBE has explained "why" there was no patent application on the buckyball [C60, aka buckminsterfullerene]. In that situation, the big multinational corporation identified C60, and published thereon, one year before the academics did. Separately, the compound did exist in nature, although not in pure form.

The "Indian George Clooney" speaks of patent reform

A Reuters report on 19 Nov 2010 begins:

The White House will work with Congress on bills dealing with on patent reform, privacy and corporate taxation, said Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra at a technology forum hosted by the Politico news service.

Chopra has a New Jersey connection. As noted in wikipedia: Chopra was born in 1972 in Trenton, New Jersey, the eldest son of Indian immigrants Ram and Neelam Chopra.[4]. He grew up in West Windsor, New Jersey, also known as Princeton Junction, New Jersey, and attended West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South from 1986-1990.

Of the job of Chief Technology Officer that he created, President Obama said: "As Chief Technology Officer, Chopra's job will be to promote technological innovation to help the country meet its goals such as job creation, reducing health care costs, and protecting the homeland.

Wikipedia also has text: During the segment, host Jon Stewart referred to Chopra as the "Indian George Clooney."

Changes in requirements at the EPO

Within an article on Mondaq about changes of requirements at the EPO:

--> As to disclosure of prior art:


There are two parts to the new information disclosure requirements:

During examination of a patent application, the EPO will be able to require the applicant to provide details of prior art cited by other Patent Offices on corresponding applications. A non-extendable two month period will be set for response. Our understanding is that this information will be requested on individual cases rather than as a routine measure.
An applicant claiming priority for a European Patent application will be obliged to file a copy of the results of any search carried out on the priority application(s). The copy of the search results submitted must be a copy of the official document issued by the relevant Patent Office, which may be a search report or an examination report. The citations are not required.


--> As to response to the "written opinion" arising from a PCT application:

It is now mandatory to respond to the written opinion accompanying a search report on a European patent application by the following deadlines:

For direct European applications, by the deadline for requesting examination (six months from publication of the search report).
For the European Regional Phase of PCT applications for which the EPO was not the International Searching Authority, within a deadline set after the supplementary search report and written opinion are issued. In general, the EPO has set a six-month period for this.
For European regional phase applications for which the EPO was the ISA or IPEA, within a one-month period set shortly after entry into the European regional phase. Under a further rule change coming into effect on 1st May 2011, this period is to be changed to six months. The change will not apply to communications issued before that date.
Any voluntary amendments must also be filed by these deadlines. Later voluntary amendments can only be made with the Examiner's consent.

Novell agrees to purchase by Attachmate

Novell, no stranger to the patent wars [
IP Innovation sues Red Hat, Novell in ED Texas ], agreed to be bought by Attachmate Corp. for $2.2 billion in cash, ending at least eight months of bidding.

USAToday continues on Wegman/Bradley matter

In a piece titled Experts claim 2006 climate report plagiarized, Don Vergano at USAToday suggests that text in a report by Edward Wegman of George Mason University contains copied material:

Review of the 91-page report by three experts contacted by USA TODAY found repeated instances of passages lifted word for word and what appear to be thinly disguised paraphrases.

This allegation had previously been reported in USAToday: Surreal moment: criticizing the work while copying it?

The recent USAToday piece also included the text:

The report was requested in 2005 by Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, then the head of the House energy committee. Barton cited the report in an October letter to The Washington Post when he wrote that Penn State climate scientist Michael Mann's work was "rooted in fundamental errors of methodology that had been cemented in place as 'consensus' by a closed network of friends."

The Wegman report criticized 1998 and 1999 reports led by Mann (Bradley was a co-author) that calculated global temperatures over the last dozen centuries. It also contained an analysis of Mann's co-authors that appears partly cribbed from Wikipedia, Garner says.

Lisa Miller, a spokeswoman for Barton, reiterated the congressman's support of the Wegman report on Monday, saying it "found significant statistical issues" with climate studies.

A 2006 report by the National Research Council (NRC), which examines scientific disputes under a congressional charter, largely validated Mann, Bradley and the other climate scientists, according to Texas A&M's Gerald North, the panel's head. The NRC report found the Wegman report's criticism of the type of statistics used in 1998 and 1999 papers reasonable but beside the point, as many subsequent studies had reproduced their finding that the 20th century was likely the warmest one in centuries.

The USAToday piece did not mention previous interplay between Rob Bradley and North:

Bradley apparently wrote a letter to North including the text:

I see that you are going to be part of a panel at the Friday AAAS meeting on Climategate. Some of us fear too much downplaying. You were a consultant for me at Enron for several years on climate science and watched the fall of the company with great interest. So I would like to challenge you to interpret Climategate in terms of the fall of Enron.

Here are some themes from Enron to consider applying.
1) Slippery slopes where small deviations from best practices escalated into problems that were not anticipated at the beginning of the process.
2) A lack of midcourse correction when developing problems were not properly addressed.
3) Old fashioned deceit when the core mission/vision was threatened (for Enron it was ‘to become the world’s leading company’–for Jones et al., it was there is a big warming and a climate problem developing)
4) The (despised) short sellers busted the Enron mirage. Ken Lay at the last employee meeting even likened the short sellers to ‘terrorists” (this was just a few months after 9/11). Question: does mainstream climate science regard Internet ‘peer review’ of Jones et al. like the Enron faithful regarded the short sellers who first discovered the problems of Enron?
5) Enron suffered from the “smartest guys in the room” problem. Does Climategate reveal arrogance and a lack of humility among “mainstream” climate scientists?
6) Denial: we employees were almost all in denial when the problems at Enron first surfaced. Have you and others who are close to the scientists of Climategate been slow to recognize the problem? Has Nature and Science also been slow? If so, What does this say about human nature.
7) Taking responsibility. Skilling and Lay never did and, in fact, they joined together in a legal cartel where the unstated strategy was to not blame each other for anything and sink or swim together. Has this happened, or is it still happening, with Climategate if you believe that scientific protocol and/or legal rules were violated?

In passing, North was one of two expert witnesses in the Penn State investigation of Mann.

from http://ipbiz.blogspot.com/2010/02/climategate-at-aaas-san-diego-on-19-feb.html

"CBS Sunday Morning" does "eat, drink, and be merry" on November 21

Charles Osgood introduced the "Sunday before Thanksgiving" episode of Sunday Morning, titled Eat Drink and be merry, first with the cover story by Tracey Smith: To diet for. Second: Striking a Gourd. Martha Teichner. Third: The World in a teacup.
Katie Couric hits the replay button on Dallas, who shot JR? Bill Geist on New Orleans po boy. Mo Rocca does lunch,
Headlines: Prez Obama is back in Washington after Portugal. Alcaida of the Arabian Peninsula. Coal mine blast in New Zealand. Prof at Stanford [Siegfried Hecker ] visited North Korea. Pope on condoms.
Weather: First big blast of cold air hits northern plains.

The cover story was preceded by a warning that the food discussed is both to die for and to diet for. Tracey Smith gives food for thought. Last year, $60 billion was spent to lose weight. Rochelle Rice's yoga class. Dieting is a time honored tradition. 25 punds less at turn of Susan Yager: the hundred year diet. Horace Fletcher, get thin by chewing food. Lillian Russell, heavy ok. Everything changed in 1917. Heavy people looked at as traitors. 20s: nicotine diet. Reach for a Lucky instead of a sweet. 30s: Hollywood 18 day diet. 60s: sollution looking for a problem. Metrocal. Was baby formula. Avalanche that continued to this day. Richard Simmons. There is a sucker born every minute. 95% nt based on moving and motivation. Eat less and move more. Moe than 1600 diet books sold online.

The second story was on brunch by Mo Rocca. Brunch is the most indulgent meal of the week. Which one are you: breakfast or brunch? Tell-wink Grill in Houston. Pat Forster picks breakfast. Brunch is about socializing. Houston's Back Street Cafe for brunch. Banana stuffed French toast. Mark Myer of Cookshop in New York City serves both. 13.5 billion eggs consumed at home last year.

A cornucopia on "Striking a gourd" by Martha Teichner, the Vienna Vegetable Orchestra at the INdianapolis Museum of Art. Onion skins sound like raining. Formed in 1998, what is the most difficult thing to play music on. Inventing new instruments, the weirder the better. Pumpkin percussion. Compositions written just for vegetables. Red pepper trumpet. Just throwing the cabbage around. 70 pounds of vegetables per concert.

Chef Bobby Flay talked about pumpkins. Pumpkin soup with pomegranate. First cat named Pumpkin. Pumpkin tastes ike nothing. Pumpkin is just a figurehead. Puree thinned with chicken stock. Cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice.

Pasta past and present with Allen Pizzey [Allan Pizzi] in Rome. Pasta not brought from China by Marco Polo. Semolina, water, and a lot of time. 350 shapes of pasta. Solid gold pasta cutters. The die is a trade secret of the Verrigni company. [from Verrigni website: The “golden die” created by artist Sandro Seccia has attracted the public’s attention and given Verrigni a pasta with a very different consistency than those drawn by bronze molds. ] The pasta must be slow dried at low temperature 62 pounds (per person-year, Italy) vs. 20 pounds per year (US). Pasta perfume. April 1, 1957, viewers of BBC saw an April Fool's presentation, which began in the De Chino slopes burst into flower. Past winter one of mildest in recent memory. Picture of "spaghetti crop". Spagetti cultivation in Switzerland and in Italy. Spaghettic weevil. Plant breeders succeeded in producing the perfect spaghetti. [Barini ]

Bill Geist on Po Boys. Endangered sandwich? Sandwiched In? Po-Boy Preservation Society. 45,000 devotees attended the festival. Created in 1929 during street car conductor strike. Martin Brothers. Anything on French bread, a canvas for culinary art. Justin Kennedy of Parkway Bakery. Roast beef and shrimp. Johnny's Po-Boys founded in 1950. As the po-boy goes, so goes the city.

Next was tea time. Tea is the most popular beverage in the world, next to water. 750 AD, first book on tea drinking. December 16, 1773: Boston Tea Party. Lipton was a grocer in Scotland, then got into the tea business. Elizabeth Knight. Tea at the St. Regis.

Pretzels and beer by Barry Peterson. The Philly Pretzel Factory in 1998. Philly people eat 20 pounds per year, 10X the US average of two pounds. Julius Sturgis in 1861. Pretzels go back 1400 years. Bruce Sturgis is still in the pretzel business.
Martin's Bakery staffed by Mennonites. University of California/Davis: Charlie Danforth, the professor of beer. Craft brewery. Cow town stout. Oak flavor; caramel. Pine, juniper. Andy Brown: beer can't get no respect. John Belushi in Animal House. Wnykoop. In 1809, James Madison tried to establish a national brewery.

30 years ago tonight: who shot J.R.? The sister-in-law (played by Mary Crosby) was revealed as the shooter in the 10pm episode on Nov. 21, 1980. 76 share; 350 million people worldwide.

Heinz ketchup accounts for 60% of sales. salty, sweet, sour, bitter and umami . Now, Heinz is cutting salt and Hunt's is cutting corn syrup.

Cheesecake. Juniors Cafe in Brooklyn. Harry Rosen Way (DeKalb). Cato described cheesecake. Philadelphia Cream Cheese. Popular in 1920s. Pinup girls called cheesecake girls. Isgro in Philadelphia since 1904. Naples, Fl: edible gold. [Anna Hutchens' company, SaborAM, in Naples, Fla., makes wine and champagne cheesecakes. Her gold-topped cakes are sold in the extravagant Neiman Marcus catalog. ] Saks Fifth Avenue. Nancy Giles on coffee: 4 cups of coffee before exam. Maxwell House wife. Sanka. Mr. Coffee. James Feeman, blue bottle coffee. Cupping: make it mad. Brown noser. Slurping. Coffee, water, time. [IPBiz: recall text earlier in the show: semolina, water, and a lot of time. ] Say Cheesecake!

Moment of nature: Changing colors in the Blue Ridge mountains of North Carolina.

Wishing a bountiful Thanksgiving.

Carol Moseley Braun and patent ignorance by Associated Press

Within a story on the political resurrection of Carol Moseley Braun by DON BABWIN of AP , one finds

Within months [of her election to the US Senate], Braun had a Mr. Smith-Goes-To-Washington moment: She stared down conservative North Carolina Sen. Jesse Helms, angrily promising to stand on the floor of the Senate "until this room freezes over" to stop the chamber from granting a patent on the United Daughters of the Confederacy insignia, which featured a Confederate flag.

When it was over, 23 senators who'd voted in favor of the patent changed their votes, and the patent — routinely approved in the past — was denied.

The issue was over an EXTENSION of an already-existing design patent and involved separate fights with Senators Thurmond and Helms. From law.jrank.org :

n May 1993, just a few months after her induction into the Senate, she challenged Senator STROM THURMOND (R-S.C.), the Senate's most senior member at the time. The two debated a bill that would have extended the design patent on the insignia of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC), which featured the Confederate flag. Arguing that the flag was a symbol of a time in U.S. history when African-Americans were held as human chattel under the flag of the Confederacy, Moseley-Braun persuaded her colleagues on the Judiciary Committee not to extend the UDC patent.

The issue was not dead, however. In July 1993, Senator JESSE HELMS (R-N.C.) included the patent extension as an amendment to another bill. The Senate voted 52–48 to approve the amendment. Undaunted, Moseley-Braun vowed to filibuster to reverse the vote. She lobbied her fellow Senators to reconsider the vote on the Helms amendment. She argued that the Confederate flag had no place in our modern times, no place in the Senate, and no place in our society. The Senate reconsidered its vote and finally tabled the Helms amendment, effectively killing it, by a vote of 75–25.


The New York Times wrote in Daughter of Slavery Hushes Senate:

As to the vote switching: The Senate, which calls itself the world's greatest deliberative body but in fact finds its votes changed sometime by public opinion but hardly ever by speeches, was convinced by the argument that the flag was an insult and killed the Helms amendment 75 to 25, as 27 senators changed their votes over three hours. [IPBiz notes that 48 + 27 yields 75; how Babin came up with 23 is unexplained.]

As to "renewal" of design patents: Design patents like the Daughters of the Confederacy logo come up for renewal every 14 years. Most patents are simply allowed to lapse. But the Daughters of the Confederacy have gone to Congress for renewal four times this century. Renewal by Congress confers honor and prestige for certain patriotic groups; in fact, only about 10 groups, including the American Legion, have won patents from Congress since 1900.

As to the United Daughters of the Confederacy: [Helms] maintained that the symbol, a laurel wreath encircling the national flag of the Confederacy -- not the battle flag or stars and bars -- was instead just a proud insignia of a charitable group of "about 24,000 ladies of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, most of them elderly, all of them gentle souls who meet together and work together as unpaid volunteers at veterans hospitals."

Babwin and the AP got several facts wrong in their story.

[Braun earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Chicago School of Law in 1972; LBE also holds a J.D. from the University of Chicago.]

STEPHEN GANDEL and TIME's "The 50 Best Inventions of 2010"

The first invention highlighted by STEPHEN GANDEL is by Howard Hubler of Loan Value Group (LVG);

Under LVG's patented Responsible Homeowner Reward (RHR) program, banks promise to pay borrowers who continue to pay on time a lump sum — typically 10% of their original loan amount — when they sell or refinance their home. Miss more than one payment and the reward disappears. It's still early (fewer than 5,000 people have been enrolled), but LVG says fewer than 10% of the borrowers in RHR have ended up defaulting, compared with a redefault rate of more than 20% for other loan-modification programs. Hubler says he is confident his current mortgage bet is one that will help, not hurt, the housing market.

One problem is that there is no issued US patent to a Howard Hubler. There is no issued patent assigned to Loan Value Group.
There is a US patent application with Howard Hubler as a named inventor, US published application 20100205087 . Apparently, Stephen Gandel does not know the difference between an issued patent and an application.

The law firm doing prosecution is LERNER, DAVID, LITTENBERG,;KRUMHOLZ & MENTLIK of Westfield, NJ. The first published claim is

A computer-implemented method to manage promoting of repayment of a mortgage loan comprising:associating a remuneration account value with a mortgage loan, the remuneration account value representing a monetary remuneration amount conditionally payable to a borrower on the mortgage loan upon satisfaction of a payment condition related to the mortgage loan;monitoring delinquency data representing whether or not the borrower is delinquent on a payment related to the mortgage loan, the delinquency data being associated with the remuneration account value; andexamining the delinquency data with a digital processor and releasing at least a portion of the remuneration account value as a function of the examination of the delinquency data by the digital processor.

No Office Action has issued as of 20 Nov. 2010.

There is a related application: 12/729,731 filed on 03-23-2010 which is Pending claims the benefit of 12/368,521

Groupon and MobGob going at one another

Groupon Inc. filed a patent infringement suit in ND Ill against MobGob LLC.

Peviously, in September, MobGob and Cy Technology Group LLC filed a patent-infringement complaint against Groupon in CD Cal.

CAFC accepts declarations to prove experimental use

The details of the Ceccarelli case:

The Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences af-
firmed the Examiner’s rejection of claims 1, 2, 5-15, and
17 as anticipated under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) and claims 3,
4, and 16 as obvious under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) of U.S.
Patent Application No. 10/843,833 (“the application”).
Because the sale at issue was experimental, not commer-
cial, this court reverses.

Background law:

The Patent Act bars issuance of a patent if the appli-
cation is filed more than one year after (1) the product
was sold or offered for sale and (2) the invention is ready
for patenting. Pfaff v. Wells Elecs., Inc., 525 U.S. 55, 67
(1998). A sale for experimental use negates the on-sale
bar. See Del. Valley Floral Grp., Inc. v. Shaw Rose Nets,
LLC, 597 F.3d 1374, 1379 (Fed. Cir. 2010). This court
reviews an “on sale” bar under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) as a
question of law based on underlying facts. In re Kollar,
286 F.3d 1326, 1329 (Fed. Cir. 2002). This court reviews
the Board’s legal conclusions without deference and
factual findings for substantial evidence. Id.

The punchline:

Mr. Ceccarelli’s First and Second Declara-
tions, however, provide ample evidence that the sale was
experimental, not commercial, in nature. Because the
Board’s finding that the sale was not for experimental use
lacks substantial evidence, this court reverses the Board’s
decision affirming the Examiner’s rejection of claims 1, 2,
5-15, and 17 under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b). Because the sale
was for experimental use, the product sold is not prior art.
See Dippin’ Dots, Inc. v. Mosey, 476 F.3d 1337, 1344 (Fed.
Cir. 2007). Therefore, this court reverses the Board’s
decision affirming the Examiner’s rejection of claims 3, 4,
and 16 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as obvious
in light of the product sold and the Ryder patent.

CAFC upholds sanctions against NJ patent attorney

A story on law.com on Nov. 18 begins:

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has upheld a lower court's order that patent lawyer Jean-Marc Zimmerman and patent holding company Eon-Net pay $631,135.18 in sanctions and fees. In the lower court case, the trial judge found "indicia of extortion" in patent lawsuits filed by Zimmerman.

A Nov. 16 order in Eon-Net L.P. v. Flagstar Bancorp denied Eon-Net and Zimmerman's motion to stay a monetary judgment against them issued by the lower court on May 17.

Jean-Marc Zimmerman is a patent attorney [reg. no. 36978] based in Westfield, NJ.

See Zimmerman v. Flagstar.

See prior story Lack of Pre-Filing Investigation Results in Harsh Lesson For Eon-Net

President Aquino obliquely backs UP Law over Supreme Court in Castillo matter

In a speech before a reunion of UP Law alumni, President Benigno Aquino III included remarks, which when translated, come across as:

(It is not always easy to follow the straight path. We have the same view regarding this. You should not lie. You should not copy. And you should not steal or use others' works without their authors' permission or proper attribution.)

(Those who want to freely express their opinions and expose the truth should not be threatened by those in power. Rules that have long been existing should not be used to cover up the faults of those who lost their way.)

(I am one with the UP Law, especially with its 37 members, in their advocacy to straighten the crooked path.)

[from GMA News]

These remarks would seem to favor the position of the law professors who have criticized the Philippine Supreme Court.

see also


Plagiarism issue in Supreme Court decision

The Bormes case: pay.gov and 1681c(g)(1) of FCRA

The CAFC does handle federal cases OTHER THAN patent cases.

The following is an excerpt from Bormes v. US, which references
the Digital Millennium Copyright Act [DMCA]:

Blueport does not control in this case. Because the
Big Tucker Act and Little Tucker Act follow the same
rules, this court may ask if Blueport would prevent the
Court of Federal Claims from exercising jurisdiction if
Bormes had initiated his case in that court. If Blueport
would block jurisdiction in the Court of Federal Claims
under the Big Tucker Act, then it would also prevent a
district court from exercising jurisdiction (and finding the
concomitant waiver of sovereign immunity) in the Little
Tucker Act. This court need not, however, reach that
conclusion.

Blueport does not apply because the jurisdictional
grant in FCRA is not “like the DMCA.” Id. Instead, the
former grants jurisdiction to “any appropriate United
States district court, without regard to the amount in
controversy, or in any other court of competent jurisdic-
tion.” 15 U.S.C. § 1681p (emphasis added).
The government asserts that “any other court of com-
petent jurisdiction” refers to state court jurisdiction
rather than other federal tribunals. The government
explains that the Supreme Court interpreted the phrase
“any other court of competent jurisdiction” as “provid[ing]
for concurrent federal-court and state-court jurisdiction
over civil liability suits.” Bank One Chicago N.A. v. Midwest
Bank & Trust Co., 516 U.S. 264, 268, 275 (1996).

AND

The parties have also briefed whether Bormes’ claim
should be dismissed for failure to state a claim upon
which relief can be granted. Specifically, the government
contends that the alleged wrongful action in this
case―providing credit card information that is displayed
on a consumer’s computer screen―does not qualify as a
willful violation of 15 U.S.C. § 1681c(g)(1), which requires
“print[ing] more than the last 5 digits of the card number
or the expiration date upon any receipt provided cardholder
at the point of the sale or transaction.”

Macaw makes cameo in CSI "Wild Life" episode

In the "Wild Life" episode of CSI on November 18, a blue & gold macaw makes an initial appearance as a potential murder victim and as a potential witness to the murder of two humans. [No, it wasn't Lex Luther:
Lex Luther challenges Howard Berman on patent reform, HR 1908

One line from the show about the silent macaw: What's the point of having a parrot if it doesn't talk?

The macaw was indeed involved in the two human deaths. Mr. Irwin was in the shower with the macaw, and the cat attacked. Mr. Irwin hit his head on the shower, got knocked out, and drowned in water which pooled by the clogged drain. The macaw, agitated, flew out, landed on Mrs. Irwin's head. Mrs. Irwin had been was handling a knife and impaled herself. The parrot caused Mrs. Irwin's death, sort of. The macaw went back into the cage after the violence. It is true that some macaws can open and shut the doors to their cages.

The last scene in the show stars the macaw, who illustrates removing the phone receiver, dialing 911, and yelling "help me, help me." [The macaw did bite the CSI guy and draw blood, tho macaws are more inclined to strike (not bite) at first, and, when they bite, are more apt to go transverse to the finger axis (to really grab) than longitudinal to the finger axis (which is awkward for their large beaks). Separately, the shots of scalp damage on Mrs. Irwin from the head landing by the macaw were a bit unlikely to arise from a head landing.]

***

Marg Helgenberger gives a confession as to having been rufied.

ghb (gamma hydroxy butyric acid)

More on the Del Castillo matter

Within a piece by Basilio H. Alo titled Did High Court commit plagiarism? , one has the text:

but it is sufficient to note that if there was any fault at all, it consisted in not revealing the authorship of the lifted phrases.

IPBiz notes that "borrowing the text" from the law reviews, but reaching a conclusion OPPOSITE to that published is problematic all by itself. If one knows about the text (even to the extent of copying from it), but ignores the analysis and conclusion of the text, one has a problematic situation.

The conclusion of the Alo piece:

As a parting word, the title of this piece asks if the Supreme Court committed plagiarism.

My answer is an affirmative NO, because the Highest Court cannot commit our legal system to an act that will amount to a virtual violation of the laws on Copyright and other Intellectual Property Laws.

And my answer will remain constant as the years go by because our Highest Court needs the support of every democracy-loving member of this society that is buffeted daily by the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, if I may paraphrase Shakespeare in Hamlet.

As IPBiz has noted numerous times, plagiarism and copyright infringement are two different concepts. Copying the text from the law review might past muster under "fair use" concepts, but it is "copying without attribution," plagiarism plain and simple.

Anthony's Pizza: even a weak mark bars later comers

Back on January 14, 2005, APHC applied to register the
mark ANTHONY’S COAL-FIRED PIZZA.

At issue here was an appeal of a TTAB decision: The Board issued its opinion on November 10, 2009,
holding that APPI’s mark has priority over both of
APHC’s marks. Anthony’s Pizza & Pasta Int’l, Inc. v.
Anthony’s Pizza Holding Co., 95 U.S.P.Q.2d 1271, 1276
(T.T.A.B. 2009). The Board also determined that APHC’s
marks are likely to cause confusion with APPI’s mark. Id.
at 1283. Accordingly, the Board sustained APPI’s opposi-
tion to APHC’s application and granted APPI’s petition to
cancel APHC’s mark. Id. APHC appeals from these
determinations.



CAFC conclusion:

Finally, the Board did not grant APPI exclusive rights
to the term “Anthony’s.” Nor did it grant APPI exclusive
right to the terms “Anthony’s” and “Pizza.” The Board
merely found that APPI’s relatively weak mark bars the
registration of marks “as to which the resemblance to
[APPI’s mark] is striking enough to cause one seeing it to
assume that there is some connection, association, or
sponsorship between the two.” 95 U.S.P.Q.2d at 1278
(citation omitted). That is precisely consistent with the
intent of the Lanham Act, which prevents registration of
marks likely to cause confusion.

"So I shouldn't care if I come up with an idea, and the Simpsons already did it"

In the context of the current copying charge leveled against Lady Antebellum, one finds the following text in a post titled
Lady Antebellum's 'Need You Now'--A Ripoff?

Now, the last time a country artist was embroiled in this sort of discussion, it was Gretchen Wilson vs. the Black Crowes back in 2008. Remember that one? The Crowes claimed "Work Hard, Play Harder" ripped off their 1991 hit "Jealous Again" (sparking discussion that the Crowes themselves are completely derivative of earlier classic rock bands, but that's a whole 'nother topic). In that case, the Crowes actually filed a copyright infringement suit against Wilson; however, no legal action has been taken as of yet against Lady A.

The catenated charge against the Crowes evokes the "The Simpsons Already Did It" episode of South Park.
See 2006 IPBiz post
South Park, the Simpsons, and copying (plagiarism)

Separately, one recalls the episode of "The Defenders" on Nov. 17 in which Penn Jilette delivers the "we all stand on the shoulders of giants" message. See
"The Defenders" show does the Uniform Trade Secrets Act on 17 Nov 2010 . Now, was Jilette saying no one has a right to any IP, and thus that the tools belong to the man who can use them? Or what? How about the man who built the tools?

"The Defenders" show does the Uniform Trade Secrets Act on 17 Nov 2010

In The Defenders on Nov. 17, a point is made that Nevada state law protecting journalistic sources doesn't explicitly include internet publishing, and a subpoena to a blogger to reveal his source (who allegedly stole a magic trick of one Pettigrew) goes through. The magic trick is said to be covered by the Uniform Trade Secrets Act (UTSA).

Penn Jilette appears in the episode as character Reuben Charters, the source of the blogger and who ultimately delivers some words of wisdom about intellectual property.
The blogger never gave up Charters, but Charters did save the blogger, by showing there was no secret (though that assertion might be contemplated on these facts).

On the IP theme, expert magicians advise Pete Kaczmarek: copyright doesn't apply and patent gives the trick away. They reference the King William trick created in 1700. But they also note they don't know the origin of Pettigrew's trick, suggesting it might be original. [Pettigrew played by Justin Willman].

Reuben Charters testifies that he owns a magic shop in Las Vegas and has lectured on magic. Pete referred in court to the Nevada Trade Secrets Act. Reuben points out that the magic trick in question was published in an obscure book: Illusionista de Manuel. About 15 years earlier, a copy of the book was in the shop of Charters and Pettigrew had access. Of Pettigrew, Charters states: "He never learned the value of magic. Stealing the legacy and claiming it for oneself is a sin." Colin Pettigrew later bought the book. Charters observed that Pettigrew stood on the shoulders of giants, as do we all. The issue here is one of plagiarism (copying without attribution) as well as claiming ownership of a "secret" derived from someone else.

**Also**
Nick Morelli: I can't ask questions I don't know the answers to, that's lawyering 101.

In the Whitten case (the episode is captioned: Whitten v. Fenlee ), plaintiff asked for damages of $1.00 (this case was never about money) but got nine million.

The episode ends with Pettigrew's levitation trick.

DNJ upholds Abilify patent

DNJ on Monday, Nov. 15 upheld the Abilify patent of Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.

Is intent needed to establish plagiarism?

Within a piece titled Intent needed to establish plagiarism by Gerry Geronimo, the Manila Standard Today includes the following text:

Even stranger is Ceap’s and Cocopea’s apparent ignorance of the book of Marilyn Randall entitled “Pragmatic Plagiarism.” Had they been as the wide reader as they are by society expected to be, they would have come across Isabel Alexander’s essay “Inspiration or infringement: the plagiarist in court” contained in “Copyright and Piracy: An Indisciplinary Critique” published by Cambridge University Press. She reports that Randall therein asserts that “Identifying plagiarism entails ascribing to an agent a series of guilty or fraudulent intentions, the necessity to show intent, in order to establish guilt, or at least degrees of it, is by far the most important criteria for establishing plagiarism.”

One can find part of Marilyn Randall's rambling treatise, published by The University of Toronto Press in 2001 , on the internet. Among other things, it confuses plagiarism with copyright infringement.

Of the Cambridge book, one notes that at page 11, Alexander corrects Randall's misunderstanding.

Copyright and Piracy
An Interdisciplinary Critique
Edited by: Lionel Bently, University of Cambridge
Edited by: Jennifer Davis, University of Cambridge
Edited by: Jane C. Ginsburg, Columbia University, New York

the contributor's name is Isabella Alexander.

NCIS does Gatling guns on 16 Nov 2010

In "Enemies Foreign" shown on November 16, Ducky gets to investigate three bodies from a ship fired upon by a Coast Guard vessel armed with 20mm Gatling guns. As a general matter, the MK 15 Phalanx Close-In Weapons System (CIWS - pronounced "sea-whiz") is a fast-reaction, rapid-fire 20-millimeter gun system that provides US Navy ships with a terminal defense against anti-ship missiles that have penetrated other fleet defenses. [from FAS]. Although the 20mm shells did some vivid damage, the victims were killed with smaller arms, by the terrorists they were bringing into the country.

The terrorists later acquire some weaponry by hijacking a shipment destined for Fort A. P. Hill, a training and maneuver center focused on providing realistic joint and combined arms training. Some of the weapons, operating remotely, show up later in the episode.

The original Gatling gun was the subject of a U.S. patent, to a resident of North Carolina. See IPBiz post

Patents, Draft Riots, and Little Big Horn

Also mentioned in the NCIS episode was Tristan da Cunha, which is the most remote inhabited archipelago in the world. One of the ex-NCISers at the meeting had to fly in to Washington from there. Of a "patent" connection, wikipedia notes: On 12 January 1938, by Letters Patent, the islands were declared a dependency of Saint Helena.

***Also, of patents in a prior NCIS episode:

http://ipbiz.blogspot.com/2010/10/ncis-cracked-episode-does-biofuels.html

Forbes names HP for one of year's biggest blunders

Hewlett-Packard [HP] showed in a Forbes pieced titled The Year's Biggest Corporate Blunders:

Does the board at Hewlett-Packard really know what it's doing these days? First it ousted Mark Hurd, the highly capable CEO credited with turning around this behemoth. Its chief executive had violated "standards of business conduct," HP said, after a former HP contractor brought sexual harassment charges against Hurd. News reports say Hurd was really kicked out for prematurely leaking acquisition plans to the contractor. Its new CEO? Leo Apotheker, who is under fire for the alleged theft of Oracle software on his watch.

Of the theft of Oracle software by SAP, see Reuters piece: Oracle enlists private eyes to find HP CEO.

New York City cracks down on bed bugs: disposed mattresses must be enclosed!

The Staten Island Advance reported on Nov. 16, 2010:

Beginning Dec. 3, the Department of Sanitation will require New York City residents to fully encase all mattresses and box springs left for curbside pickup in a sealed plastic bag.

Failure to do so can result in a $100 fine, the agency announced today.

The story included quotes:

"There has been a rise in bed bug-related complaints within the city, and bedding is the prime nesting place for most bed bugs," said Sanitation Commissioner John J. Doherty in a press release. "With this new rule, and thanks to the support of Councilmember Gale Brewer, we will safeguard our workers and help to mitigate the spread of bed bugs throughout the city. We also suggest that the plastic mattress bags be placed around the bedding before it is removed from the room out to the curb to further limit bed bugs from infesting other parts of the home or apartment."

Hawaii Five-O continues Jersey jokes

How many people in Hawaii want to vacation in New Jersey? According to Steve McGarrett on November 15, 2010, the answer is zero. McGarrett feigns ignorance on where Bon-Jovi comes from.

University of New Mexico sues Intel over US 6.042.998

EE Times notes: There are several different double patterning techniques. It is not known if UNM's patent on double patterning lithography technology would cover all implementations of double patterning.

The Scientist discusses two science fraud cases

#1. Approximately 20 distinguished professors [in Greece] may have siphoned money to themselves by publishing fake studies and creating invoices, then purchasing luxury cars and property.

#2. The journal Science had already published a “notice to readers,” in which it announced it was tweaking the wording of the abstract regarding predictions of longevity, and said the authors were reanalyzing their data to check for genotyping errors. Now Science has issued an official “editorial expression of concern” about the July paper that asserted a select group of genetic markers associated with longevity.

It was not so long ago that the journal Science was completely tricked by the Hwang Woo Suk fraud. Peer review does not protect against fraud.

Dicta in Aukai case in 2007 hits home in Tyner "groin check" video

Back in 2007, there was an en banc decision of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, United States v. Aukai, wherein the judges affirmed Daniel K. Aukai’s conviction for possession of more than 50 grams of methamphetamine with intent to distribute.

Aukai had attempted to board an airplane without ANY photo ID. MetNews discussed what happened:

A TSA officer explained that when a passenger lacks ID, the airline may issue a boarding pass marked “No ID.” Unlike passengers who present ID, the “No ID” passenger is subject to the more intrusive “secondary screening”—in which an officer passes a handheld “wand” close to the passenger’s body—even if the primary screening does not set off an alarm. When Aukai went to secondary screening, the officer testified, the alarm sounded as the wand passed over his pocket. When Aukai insisted he had nothing in his pocket, the officer “wanded” him again, and the alarm went off again.

The facts pf Aukai relate to a situation wherein a potential airline passenger has NO PHOTO ID. [Text in case: "Because Aukai's boarding pass had the “No ID” notation, Motonaga directed Aukai to a nearby, roped-off area for secondary screening."]  

CA9 described cases on "administrative search." As discussed by MetNews:

The high court, he explained, has held that the government may conduct a warrantless search in the exercise of its regulatory authority, provided that there is a “special need” and the search is no more intrusive than is justified by the administrative need. He cited cases upholding a warrantless search of a junkyard and its records, as part of a regulatory program designed to deter theft and control insurance rates; as well as the use of sobriety checkpoints.
The Supreme Court, Bea noted, as held that a valid administrative search does not require consent. In United States v. Biswell, 406 U.S. 311 (1972), the court held that a gun dealer’s participation “in this pervasively regulated business” subjects the business premises to warrantless searches authorized by federal statute.

Text from the Aukai case itself: The constitutionality of an airport screening search, however, does not depend on consent, see Biswell, 406 U.S. at 315, 92 S.Ct. 1593, and requiring that a potential passenger be allowed to revoke consent to an ongoing airport security search makes little sense in a post-9/11 world.6  Such a rule would afford terrorists 7 multiple opportunities to attempt to penetrate airport security by “electing not to fly” on the cusp of detection until a vulnerable portal is found.   This rule would also allow terrorists a low-cost method of detecting systematic vulnerabilities in airport security, knowledge that could be extremely valuable in planning future attacks.   Likewise, given that consent is not required, it makes little sense to predicate the reasonableness of an administrative airport screening search on an irrevocable implied consent theory.

Metnews discussed the concurrences in the Aukai case:

Judge Susan Graber, joined by Judges Michael Daly Hawkins and Kim M. Wardlaw, concurred separately. While agreeing with the majority that Aukai was subjected to a valid administrative search, Graber said the references to 9/11 and terrorism were “irrelevant and distracting.”
Graber wrote:
“By relying on those factors, the majority unnecessarily makes its solid holding dependent on the existence of the current terrorist threat, inviting future litigants to retest the viability of that holding.”

-->The majority addressed this matter in footnote 6, which stated in part:

Here, the search procedures employed included the completion of secondary screening on a passenger who had stated he no longer wished to fly.   The concurrence may well be correct that as an original proposition, the present threat of terrorism is not necessary for this procedure to be reasonable under the Fourth Amendment.   That had not been our circuit's law prior to 9/11;  an intending passenger could refuse to be searched at the airport if he stated he had changed his mind and no longer wished to fly.   See Homburg, 546 F.2d at 1352.   The adoption of a contrary rule based on a factual situation not present-elimination of the historical fact of 9/11 and the lack of an organized terrorist threat-would be speculative.   Since we must decide “cases and controversies” only, we should decide only whether the secondary search of Aukai was reasonable under the Fourth Amendment under the circumstances presented and state why.   That is what we have strived to do.   What search procedures will be “reasonable” when terrorists are no longer threatening us, or when technology is developed that eliminates the present threat, should be decided when, if ever, that happy day dawns.   We should also be wary to eliminate historical facts such as 9/11.   Orwell warned us:  “Who controls the present controls the past․” George Orwell, 1984, Book Three, Chapter II (1949).

Aukai was a drug dealer, not a terrorist, and his search must be justified as such. All the judges agreed that the search of Aukai fell squarely within the confines of a reasonable administrative search.


**In 2010, we have the Tyner matter. As discussed by KUSI:

John Tyner, a 31-year-old software programmer, was headed to South Dakota for a vacation when TSA officials directed him to a full-body scanner in the airport security line.

He refused the full body scan and opted for a traditional scan and pat down.

However, he did not agree to a "groin check," which led TSA agents to eventually deny him the ability to board his flight. According to Tyner, he was escorted from the security area and was given a full refund for the ticket at his airline's ticket counter.

After getting the refund, Tyner was approached by a TSA official who said that he must submit to the full screening process before leaving. Tyner says he was threatened with a civil suit and a $10,000 fine if he left the airport, but he was also told that no one was forcing him to stay. He then left.

Tyner recorded the entire event on his cell phone's video camera, which he turned on after being directed to the scanner.

AND

Allen also referred CNS to a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals 2007 decision that supported the TSA's ability to complete a security screening even if a passenger declined to fly.

"Requiring that a potential passenger be allowed to revoke consent to an ongoing airport security search makes little sense in a post-9/11 world," the court noted, said Allen.

***As an aside, one chemical pathway to (controlled) methamphetamine employs a Birch reduction, and amateur chemists sometimes use lithium from lithium batteries.
***Cross-reference on methamphetamine (crank): Winter's Bone.

CAFC Abbyy case on service of process

The CAFC noted:

The district court erred by dismissing Abbyy Software
for improper service on its own initiative. See Hemispherx
Biopharma, Inc. v. Johannesburg Consol. Invs., 553 F.3d
1351, 1359 (11th Cir. 2008) (“Once a defendant has
waived any objection to insufficient service of process, ‘the
court may not, either upon the defendant’s motion or its
own initiative,’ dismiss on that ground.”) (internal cita-
tions omitted); Chute v. Walker, 281 F.3d 314, 319-20 (1st
Cir. 2002). Dismissal of Abbyy Software was particularly
problematic because the district court denied Nuance any
opportunity to show that its service was proper. See
Sanders v. Sw. Bell Tel., L.P., 544 F.3d 1101, 1111 (10th
Cir. 2008) (reversing the district court’s sua sponte dis-
missal for improper service of process under Rule 4(m)
because the court did notopportunity to be heard).
Dismissal was also particularly
problematic because the district court discusses only
service in Russia, which is irrelevant to service on Abbyy
Software, a Cypriot entity.See Nuance Commc’ns, 2009
WL 2707390, at *1-2. Accordingly, this court reverses the
district court’s dismissal of Abbyy Software for improper
service of process under Rule 12(b)(5). Further, under
Rules 12(g) and 12(h)(1), the Abbyy defendants have
waived this defense by failing to raise it in their first
motion under Rule 12(b). See Rates Tech. Inc. v. Nortel
Networks Corp., 399 F.3d 1302, 1307 (Fed. Cir. 2005)
(advising that a litigant must exercise great diligence in
challenging service of process, as this defense is waived at
the time “the first significant defensive move is made”).

Microsoft's US 7,830,359, Foot-based interface for interacting with a computer

First claim:

A method of using a foot-based interface device to interact with a personal computer, said method comprising:

executing a first application program and a second application program on said personal computer, the first application program comprising a first plurality of functions and a first plurality of user interface elements, the first functions invocable by user interaction with the first user interface elements, respectively, the second application program comprising a second plurality of functions and a second plurality of user interface elements, the second functions invocable by user interaction with the second user interface elements, respectively;

receiving from said foot-based interface device user inputs directed to the first application program and user inputs directed to the second application program, said foot-based interface device comprising an electromagnetic wave sensor and a projecting device projecting an image comprising a plurality of sections that are activated by the electromagnetic wave sensor sensing physical movement of the user's feet within the image and generating, the user inputs, which correspond to the sections;

mapping said user inputs to the program functions of the first and second application program, by: for the user inputs directed to the first application program,

activating a first of the first program functions whenever the foot-based interface device determines that one of the user's feet has activated a corresponding particular single section,
activating a second of the first program functions whenever the foot-based interface device determines that the user's feet have activated a corresponding pair of sections concurrently, and
continuously activating a third of the first program functions as long as the foot-based interface device determines that one of the user's feet is activating a particular section, and for the user inputs directed to the second application program, activating a first of the second program functions whenever the foot-based interface device determines that one of the user's feet has activated a corresponding particular single section, activating a second of the second program functions whenever the foot-based interface device determines that the user's feet have activated a corresponding pair of sections concurrently, and continuously activating a third of the second program functions as long as the foot-based interface device determines that one of the user's feet is activating a particular section; generating outputs corresponding to activations of the program functions; and displaying said outputs to said user, wherein the mapping is performed by a module available to any application executing on the personal computer.

Plagiarism in "Decision Points"?

See post at Huffington Post titled George Bush Book 'Decision Points' Lifted From Advisers' Books.

Also, cartoon, “Revision Accomplished”

Second charge of plagiarism leveled against Supreme Court Justice

ABS-CBN reports that Harry Roque, Jr.-led Centerlaw has accused Justice Castillo of plagiarism in “Ang Ladlad” decision.

Of interest to LBE was the use of the word intercalated:

Roque’s group said “in the earlier case of Ang Ladlad, entire paragraphs were lifted without attribution, sentences, words or phrases were intercalated, and discursive footnotes were represented as if the discussion in the footnotes were the ponente’s words, when in fact, these were lifted from unacknowledged sources.”

Also of interest was the mention of Microsoft's "tracking changes," which has been problematic for lawyers for other reasons:

The high court should also check the “Microsoft Defense” used in clearing del Castillo, it said. The magistrate inadvertently omitted some phrases.

“In fairness to Microsoft Word (MS Word), it is not correct to say that MS Word does not have a signal to warn the user of deletions or changes made in the electronic draft. It does have. It is called the “track changes” function which has been available as early as the 1997 version of Mr. Bill Gates’ product,” it added.

Of blaming the law clerk for the plagiarism:

The group claimed both cases have “unfortunately dragged the entire high court” to the controversy.

While magistrates are not barred from utilizing the services of law clerks for research purposes, “it does not and should not mean the surrender by a Justice of the Supreme Court of control and supervision of the writing of the Judgment of the Court to a law clerk.”

Copying from wikipedia is asserted in the new charges:

n at least 2 instances, the ponencia supposedly used, without attribution, a passage from Wikipedia, said the group.
Centerlaw noted the Office of the Solicitor General earlier lost a case before the Court of Appeals by using an argument culled from Wikipedia.

“At least, in the case of the Solicitor General, it was honest enough to properly reference the Web-based encyclopedia whose reliability as an academic project is still under question. In this case, it appears that the ponencia appropriated a reference from Wikipedia word for word, without the due courtesy of citing it as a source of the direct quotation,” it added.

Alison Routman copied fragments of three sentences from wikipedia, and was forced to "walk the plank" by the University of Virginia. If that punishment were translated to the Philippines, what result?

Previous IPBiz posts:

http://ipbiz.blogspot.com/2010/10/opinion-piece-on-del-castillo.html

http://ipbiz.blogspot.com/2010/08/law-school-condemns-supreme-court.html

"60 Minutes" does fracking on 14 Nov 2010

In a piece titled Energy: The Pros and Cons of Shale Gas Drilling , Lesley Stahl got into the process of "fracking" -->

The other technology is hydraulic fracturing or "fracking," where millions of gallons of water, mixed with sand and chemicals, are pumped down the well at enormous pressure.

"We break the rock. We fracture the rock. And that stimulates the ability of the gas to flow into the well bore, where we can flow it to the surface and sell it," Duginski explained to Stahl.

What is remarkable here is the interrelation between Stahl's news story (broadcast on Nov. 14) and the plot line for the CSI drama (broadcast on Nov. 11). Both talked about fracking, both talked about the uncertainties in the composition of fracking fluid with the likelihood that water contamination by fracking fluid would have adverse consequences, and both alluded to the 2005 exemption as to not having to disclose the ingredients of fracking fluid. Both talked about the burning of water comprising natural gas.

The numerous coincidences suggest some communication between "60 Minutes" and the CSI writers.

For reference, the CSI plotline was discussed in the IPBiz post CSI does Cable Spings, NV and natural gas drilling [Note the CSI episode concluded without any adverse consequences to the fictional ConservoSolutions.] As to emphasis by "60 Minutes," note the following:

Stahl got into a specific "bad event"-->

What happened in Tim and Christine Ruggiero's backyard is happening more and more: they moved to a pastoral ten-acre ranch in Decatur, Texas, in 2004 to raise their horses, and their daughter Reilly.

But last year a company called Aruba Petroleum came and drilled two wells outside their windows, leaving behind a permanent eyesore.

It turns out the Ruggieros had bought the land, but didn't own the rights to the minerals beneath it.

"You see over here on this tank? And you see where it's just been still leaking?" Tim Ruggiero asked Stahl, pointing out a tank on his land. "Why is it doing that?"

That leaking is just the half of it: they videotaped oozings and gushings. When the state environmental agency shot video of hissing toxic air emissions with infrared cameras, the company was hit with a fine.

"I keep hearing that this process, the horizontal drilling and the fracking, is safe," Stahl said to the Ruggieros.

"Well, define safe. Safe for who? Safe in the process, or safe for the people that are 200 feet away from it?" Tim Ruggiero asked.

"They put a concrete casing down in the ground in between your water table and the drilling fluid, but cement doesn't ever crack? You don't ever have well blowouts?" Christine Ruggiero added.

Animals died from drinking fracking fluid in a different event:

Asked if Chesapeake has ever had an accident, McClendon said, "Any kind of an accident? Sure. Probably the most publicized incident was in Louisiana."

The accident McClendon was referring to happened last year when 17 cows grazing near a drilling site died a gruesome death after drinking fracking fluids that ran off into their pasture.

The Safe Drinking Water Act was mentioned:

"The first thing that the industry should do is disclose what chemicals are being used in fracking and then limit the amount of toxic chemicals to a point of zero," Brune said.

The industry doesn't have to disclose what's in the tens of thousands of gallons of chemicals they use when they fracture the shale, because of the so-called "Halliburton loophole."

Halliburton is a leading fracking company and the loophole was created in 2005 under Vice President Dick Cheney, who used to be Halliburton's CEO.

"The 2005 energy bill completely exempted the natural gas industry and fracking technology from any regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act. It's an outrage," Brune said.

When asked if the vice president put that loophole in the bill, Brune said, "The vice president advocated for it and he pushed Congress to insert it into the language."

"Part of the fracturing process involves you pouring down some pretty nasty chemicals. What happens if they spill all over the place?" Stahl asked Aubrey McClendon.

"Okay, let's define nasty chemicals," he replied. "Nasty chemicals are underneath your sink. The reality is, you don't drink Drano for a reason, but you have Drano in your house. If you want to define them as nasty, go ahead."

"There are nasty chemicals that affect your liver, that cause cancer, that shut down your system," Stahl pointed out.

"You don't want to drink frack fluid. If you take away nothing from this interview…," McClendon replied.

"But isn't there a possibility, a possibility that you go down and something seeps and it gets into the water supply, gets into the aquifer?" Stahl asked.

"Ah, that's the fear isn't it?" McClendon replied.

"Well yes. Of course that's the fear," she remarked.

And, yes, there was "burning water" -->

A company called Cabot Oil and Gas paid many of the folks in Dimock $25 an acre, and they were happy until one day a water well exploded.

"My boy had come over the night before and said, he just said, 'Dad, we got gas in the water over there.' I can actually shake the jug up and light it," Bill Ely told Stahl. "I can take my water, just put it in a gallon jug, shake it up, turn it up and it'll explode."

Ely demonstrated it for Stahl by hooking a hose from his well to a jug and lighting it; there was an audible pop.

State authorities have determined that gas leaked into the water because of a poor cement job; Cabot now supplies bottled water to the residents, but has admitted no guilt. So the company is being sued by some residents.

**Relevant to the patent world:

US published application 20100140186 :



[0002]In oil and gas drilling and well field applications, polyacrylamide polymer and copolymer products have been widely used for decades to enhance or modify the characteristics of the aqueous fluids used in such applications.

[0003]One example of such use is for friction reduction in water or other water-based (aqueous) fluids used for hydraulic fracturing treatments in subterranean well formations. Hydraulic "frac" or "fracking" treatments create fluid-conductive cracks or pathways in the subterranean rock formations in gas- and/or oil-producing zones, improving permeability of the desired gas and/or oil being recovered from the formation via the wellbore.

[0004]"Slick water" fluids are water or other aqueous fluids that typically contain a friction-reducing agent to improve the flow characteristics of the aqueous fluid being pumped via the well into the gas- and/or oil-producing zones, whether for fracturing or other treatments. The friction reduction agents are usually polymers, and polyacrylamide polymers and copolymers are among the most widely used polymers for this purpose.

[0005]Acrylamide-based or acrylamide-derived polymers and copolymers that have utility in oil and gas field applications include polyacrylamide (sometime abbreviated as PAM), acrylamide-acrylate copolymers, including partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide copolymers (PHPA), acrylamide-methyl-propane sulfonate copolymers (AMPS) and the like. Such copolymers include acrylic acid-acrylamide copolymers, acrylic acid-methacrylamide copolymers, partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamides, partially hydrolyzed polymethacrylamides and the like. Acrylamide-based polymers and copolymers have also been described in the patent literature, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 3,254,719 of Root (Dow Chemical) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,152,274 of Phillips et al. (Nalco Chemical), for use as friction reducers in oil field applications such as well fracturing.

[0006]Examples of commercial acrylamide-based polymer products include New-Drill.RTM. products (Baker Hughes, Houston, Tex.), FRW-15 friction reducer (BJ Services, Houston, Tex.), and FR56.TM. friction reducer (Halliburton, Houston, Tex.).

** Claim in 20080139418: The method according to claim 3, wherein the tar sands deposits surrounding the horizontal shafts are subjected to fracking by use of high pressure steam, compressed air or explosives prior to treating with a chemical release agent.

**from 20100272630 , as to "what is fracking":

[0022]The technique of hydraulic fracturing is used to increase or restore the rate at which fluids, such as oil, gas or water, can be produced from the desired formation. The method is informally called fracking or hydro-fracking. By creating fractures, the reservoir surface area exposed to the borehole is increased. The fracture fluid can be any number of fluids, ranging from water to gels, foams, nitrogen, carbon dioxide or even air in some cases. The fracture, which is kept open using a proppant such as sand or ceramic beads, provides a conductive path connecting a larger area of the reservoir to the well, thereby increasing the area from which fluids can be produced from the desired formation. The produced water (called flowback water) is contaminated and must be treated prior to disposal. In many instances flowback water is trucked away to be treated elsewhere. Consequently, the acquisition of fresh water and the disposal of the flowback water are significant cost of production.

**