"The meteoric rise of Facebook raises four general questions . . . How is it possible for a teenager, however brilliant, to create a multibillion-dollar online business in such a short time? How likely is such a business to flame out? What, if any, legal protection from competition should be given to the ideas that power these businesses? And how far will social networking erode privacy or have other social consequences, good or bad?" Richard Posner (the federal judge and University of Chicago law professor best known as one of the pioneers of the "law and economics" movement
[Wikipedia]) answers these questions in his
brief history and critique of Facebook. (This is a printer-friendly version that may cause a print dialogue box to pop up, but it's the only link that will work unless you subscribe to The New Republic. The article is nominally a book review but spends barely any time talking about the book that's supposed to be reviewed.)
posted by Jaltcoh
on Aug 5, 2010 -
41 comments
Today, June 28, 2010, marks the last day of the 2009-10 session of the Supreme Court of the United States. This day will mark a number of
historical events, not only in terms of the cases to be handed down.
[more inside]
posted by valkyryn
on Jun 28, 2010 -
193 comments
Cancer Cure Patented A group of researchers claim that they are patenting a possible cure for cancer involving nothing more than sugar and short-chain fatty acid combination.
posted by TravisJeffery
on Jan 4, 2007 -
26 comments
Ballmer: Linux Users Owe Microsoft. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer stated at the Professional Association for SQL Server (PASS) conference in Seattle yesterday, that Linux infringes upon his company's intellectual property. Does this signal preparations for all out war against the
open source community? Microsoft's recent
acquisition of Novell was seen as an ominous sign. Or perhaps it's a sign that user friendly versions of linux such as
Ubuntu threaten sales of Microsoft's
problematic new VISTA OS, scheduled for release Nov. 30th for businesses and Jan. 30, 2007 for consumers?
posted by Skygazer
on Nov 17, 2006 -
79 comments
Injunctions in patent cases not automatic. The U.S. Supreme Court issued a
unanimous decision (16 page pdf) on Monday in the dispute between eBay and MercExchange. The Court ruled in favor of eBay finding that the lower Appeals Court erred as a matter of law in creating a general rule that “courts will issue permanent injunctions against patent infringement absent exceptional circumstances.” In the concurring opinion written by Chief Justice Roberts, joined by Scalia and Ginsberg, Roberts citing Court precedent noted that: “[d]iscretion is not whim, and limiting discretion according to legal standards helps promote the basic principle of justice that like cases should be decided alike.”
posted by three blind mice
on May 17, 2006 -
25 comments
Today SCOTUS will
hear a case to decide the scope of what can and cannot be patented.
At the heart of this case lies the decision about whether a patent can validly include a step of ‘correlating a test result’ that arguably monopolises a basic scientific relationship used in medical treatment ‘such that any doctor necessarily infringes the patent merely
by thinking about the relationship after looking at a test result.’ If as expected the court uses this as an opportunity to reign in the scope of what can be patented this will surely be a victory for common sense.
posted by bap98189
on Mar 19, 2006 -
18 comments
"A patent has been granted to a relatively unknown California Web-design firm for an invention its creator says covers the design and creation of most rich-media applications used over the Internet. ... The patent--issued on Valentine's Day--covers all rich-media technology implementations, including Flash, Flex, Java, Ajax, and XAML, when the rich-media application is accessed on any device over the Internet, including desktops, mobile devices, set-top boxes, and video game consoles, says inventor Neil Balthaser, CEO of
Balthaser Online, which he owns with his father Ken. 'You can consider it a pioneering or umbrella patent. The broader claim is one that basically says that if you got a rich Internet application, it is covered by this patent.'" (
via Jeff Zeldman)
posted by grrarrgh00
on Feb 23, 2006 -
45 comments
Room With A View. Has the view out of your living room window become boring and stale? No problem, build yourself a million dollar
Rotating Home. A former office manager, self prclaimed "hobbyist" Al Johnstone has built quite the
technological feat [PDF] despite having no engineering background, obtaining around 30 patents in the process.
posted by afx114
on Feb 13, 2006 -
19 comments
Where can a company that owns nothing but legal documents force another company that actually does make products to pay them?
In the USA! You too can be a patent troll. Just patent any dumb idea you have -- you'll certainly be awarded the patent -- then sue anyone who makes a product that looks remotely like it could be based on your idea. Congratulations! You made money by
punishing people who actually make things! Hooray!
posted by raaka
on Jan 23, 2006 -
22 comments
The ongoing
patent dispute between the patent firm NTP and BlackBerry-maker
Research in Motion (RIM) reached a new low
today when a U.S. appellate court judge named
James Spencer ruled that an earlier settlement of $450M payable to NTP was
not valid as it was not finalized properly. Even though the USPO has re-opened the NTP patents and has subsequently
rejected most of the patents used in the patent infringement case, RIM was seeking to uphold the
earlier settlement in order to avert the possibility of all sales and services from being
halted in the United States.
posted by purephase
on Nov 30, 2005 -
13 comments
Patentlysilly.com - a semi-regular rundown of strange, cool, scary, and silly patents. For the last 2 sets of entries, the authors have decided to become poetic...
posted by pitchblende
on Dec 10, 2004 -
10 comments
Microsoft
granted patent for technology that will allow human skin to conduct power and transmit data. Let the jokes begin.
(funny drawing here)
posted by anathema
on Jun 23, 2004 -
25 comments
