IP

An end to frivolous patents may finally be in sight

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Patent nonsense
DO PATENTS help or hinder innovation? Instinctively, they would seem a blessing, especially for backroom tinkerers. Patenting an idea gives its inventor a 20-year monopoly to exploit the fruit of his labour in the marketplace, in exchange for publishing a full account of how the new [...]

Tags: patent nonsense, patent system, patented inventions, patenting an idea, patents
Posted in Consider This, Economist, IP, Innovation Needed | No Comments »

ISP cleared of copyright infringement

In the first case of its kind, an Australian court has ruled that an internet service provider cannot be responsible for illegal downloading.
iiNet, Australia’s third largest ISP, was taken to court by a group of 34 movie production houses.
The group included the Australian divisions of Universal Pictures, Warner Brothers and [...]

Tags: australia, bittorrents, copyright infringement, downloads, film companies, films, illegal downloading, Internet service provider, isp, landmark, production houses, safe harbor, warner brothers
Posted in BBC, Communications, Consider This, IP, Internet War, Shape of Things to Come?, Worth Repeating | No Comments »

More TV Shows Offering Reasons To Buy; Castle’s Successful Character-Written Novel

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TechDirt is one of those great thoughtful blogs commenting on the ongoing cyberwars over copyright, intellectual property rights, trademark issues etc.  This is the online coverage version of “The Great War” for an open and creative internet.,  Mike Masnick does a fine job of keeping up with the skirmishes and battles being fought [...]

Tags: best seller list, creative approach, creative approaches, creative internet, cyberwars, digital content, endorsements, great war, intellectual property rights, ny times best seller, realities, Techdirt, trademark issues, tv sitcom
Posted in Communications, Consider This, IP, Innovation, Innovation Needed, Need to Know, Process of Invention, Shape of Things to Come?, Techdirt, Worth Repeating, disruptive innovation, economics, learning | No Comments »

New visa proposal to help create the next big thing

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A proposal that will make it easier for foreign entrepreneurs in the US to start the next Google or Yahoo will be debated in the new year.
Congressman Jared Polis has proposed a start-up visa to entice “foreigners with good ideas” to stay in the US.
The issue has been gathering steam in [...]

Tags: entrepreneur, entrepreneurs, invention, inventor, MIT, Silicon Valley, start-up visa
Posted in BBC, Consider This, IP, Innovation, Innovation Needed, Innovation in Society, Job Changes, Process of Invention, Shape of Things to Come?, economics | No Comments »

Should e-Books Be Copy Protected?

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Last week, Barnes & Noble’s Nook e-book reader took on Amazon’s Kindle, joining the Sony Reader and several smaller players. And that arena has only just begun to heat up; in the next few months, a raft of additional models will appear.
One of my readers is alarmed by a precedent being set:
“When the [...]

Tags: amazon, book publishers, copy protection, e book reader, e reader, electronic book store, future books, Google, nook
Posted in Consider This, IP, Innovation Needed, NY Times, Shape of Things to Come? | No Comments »