Legal Commentary

A Revolution Begins in Academic Publishing as the Harvard Arts & Sciences Faculty Mandates Open Opt-Out Access to Faculty Publications

Posted on February 13, 2008
The biggest academic news of the year is the adoption by the Harvard Faculty of Arts & Sciences of a mandatory "open access" opt-out policy regarding scholarly articles published by that faculty. Via The Chronicle of Higher Education, we are blogported to the Open Access News of Peter Suber as also to Robert Darnton, Director of the Harvard University Library, and his article at the Harvard Crimson, which outlined the new policy prior to the acceptance vote:"Although this initiative is being submitted to the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, it concerns all the faculties of the University...

Links on the LawPundit Main Page : (1) Useful Links at the Top

Posted on February 13, 2008
We have gone through our links on the LawPundit main page to update the URLs, remove links as appropriate and to explain what we have kept or to provide information found at the linked websites or blogs.Starting with the "Useful Links" at the top:Copyrights (Library of Congress, United States Copyright Office), which informs us:"New basic registration fee: $45 (read about all new fees)Save $10 through electronic registration option (become a beta tester)"EPO (European Patent Office), in the news, the London Agreement lowering post-grant patent translation costsEU Law (Links to Essential EU Law Sites)Find Law ("FindLaw is the highest-trafficked legal Web site, providing the most comprehensive set of legal resources on the Internet for legal professionals, corporate counsel, law students, businesses, and consumers...

Obama the Frontrunner and the Followers

Posted on February 13, 2008
When the eminently prestigious Economist writes that Obama is the Frontrunner, then he surely is.We think that Obama will win because Obama is a star. He has the kind of personal charisma that propelled Bill Clinton into the Chief Executive's office and frankly, the more media exposure Obama has, the tougher he will be to beat...

Presidential Candidates IAT : Project Implicit at Harvard Tests Your Own Subconscious Preferences for Voting in the Election for US President

Posted on February 12, 2008
If you go Project Implicit at Harvard you can take a test of your own subconscious preferences for or against US Presidential election candidates (hat tip to Edge). Our results below conform to our own previous assessment of who we favor, both in the Democratic Party and Republican Party (we only took the test once and tried to be as fast and honest as possible in taking it):

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Vision of Change Blog at the Obama Website

Posted on February 12, 2008
One of the remarkable modernistic things about the Barack Obama website is that registered supporters can create their own personal blog at that website. We created the "Vision of Change" blog there for our future postings at that website about the nature and implementation of Obama's vision of change, should he be elected the next President of the United States, which we regard to be a real possibility...

ConnectU. v. Facebook : Who Founded Facebook? 01238 Magazine (Harvard Zip Code) Wins Censorship Case Against Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg

Posted on February 12, 2008
We hit this story a bit late, but it is definitely of interest as regards the developing law of intellectual property (and here, also privacy) in the digital age. We continue to point out by cases such as these that current laws concerning copyrights, patents and trademarks are far out of line with reality, and, in the modern digital age, tend to award absolutely unjustifiable windfall profits running into billions of dollars to clever people who are merely riding the stream of ongoing and easily forseeable developments, skillfully manipulating obvious ideas and discoveries preceded in prior art and often even merely doing a good job of implementing state of the art...

Obama Will Win

Posted on February 12, 2008
As a political centrist, we have been observing the primary campaigns for the US Presidential Election with interest and we think now, as amazing as it may appear, that Barack Obama will win. This is a very smart man who has been running a brilliant campaign...

Important Law Websites for the European Union (EU)

Posted on February 12, 2008
The website of the Delegation of the European Commission to the USA has a page of law links which it calls ESSENTIAL EUROPEAN UNION LAW WEBSITES in the title and additionally in the page heading also labels Best European Union Law Websites and Principal European Union Law Websites...

Second Life and Real Law in the Virtual World : Lawyers as Avatars

Posted on February 10, 2008
We ran across Real Law in the Virtual World, an article by Chuleenan Svetvilas at California Lawyer Magazine, where they have a write-up (right column) about a lawyer who is an avatar in Second Life plus other interesting things.

Congress and Innovation : Two Views on Patents Collide in Pending Patent Legislation

Posted on February 10, 2008
Via the open Law@Stanford Newsletter of February, 2008, we were alerted to Two Views of Innovation, Colliding in Washington by John Markoff at the New York Times, which quotes Stanford Law Prof Mark Lemley on pending Congressional patent legislation as follows:"?I have to say I?m frankly astonished that apportionment has been this controversial,? said Mark A...

Good News for EPO Patent Applicants, Bad News for European Patent Translators : London Agreement Effective 1 May 2008 Cuts Patent Translation Costs

Posted on February 08, 2008
Outlaw.com reports in Cost of pan-European patent protection to plummet in May that the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys (CIPA) has published a February 4, 2008 article by Peter Prowse on the London Agreement to come into force on 1 May cutting European patent translation costs...

Patent Abuse by N-Data Stopped by FTC : Another Example of Rampant Landgrabbing in the Patent Industry : FTC Chairwoman Majoras Drops the Ball Again

Posted on February 06, 2008
Three cheers for the US Federal Trade Commission but ONLY three - for 3 out of 5 FTC members in this 3-2 decision.As written at ars technica:"What happens when a company that doesn't make any products gets hold of some older patents that are part of the Ethernet standard and tries to jack up the royalty rate for their use? Today, we found out as the Federal Trade Commission finalized a consent decree (PDF) with Negotiated Data Solutions, a Chicago company that did just that...

GDP Growth in Europe : Latvia Leads the European Union (EU) Member States in the Dynamics of Country Economies

Posted on February 04, 2008
The blog EU for US links to a CBS (.nl) graph showing GDP growth in the European Union Member States since 2005. These growth statistics say a lot about the future of Europe and indicate clearly that the older economies of the EU are being surpassed in dynamics by the rapidly expanding economies of the newer European Union countries...

Superman Exists Only in Comic Books and Warner Films : 42nd Super Bowl : New York Giants 17 New England Patriots 14

Posted on February 04, 2008
People affiliated one way or another with Waterloo, New York (the birthplace of Memorial Day) and Waterloo High School (like one of my family) are dancing in the streets because of native boy Tom Coughlin and his New York Giants Super Bowl victory yesterday over the New England Patriots 17-14...

Microsoft to buy Yahoo ?

Posted on February 02, 2008
Big story today first seen at digg.The Los Angeles Times has the story with a video by Steve Ballmer.We think this marriage would be a good thing. Yahoo has been in a constant downhill slide and Microsoft needs a means to combat Google.

For Law Bloggers : ALM LegalTech New York February 5-7 2008 and LegalTech West Coast in Los Angeles June 26-27 2008 :

Posted on February 01, 2008
The 2008 ALM LegalTech New York takes place on February 5 - 7, 2008 at The Hilton New York Hotel, New York, NY and will be followed by the 2008 ALM LegalTech West Coast June 26 - 27, 2008 at Los Angeles Convention Center, Los Angeles, CA.Monica Bay at Law...

Follow-Up Posting on Stormhoek : Orbital Wines Limited, Bulk Brokers International Limited, California Direct Limited

Posted on February 01, 2008
This is a follow-up posting to our last posting on Stormhoek.Catherine Monahan writes to us as follows:"If one is looking at only the Grocery/Specialists side of the business, thenit is true that Stormhoek was more than 25% of Orbital business.However, Orbital also includes two other companies within it which involvedthe bulk wine side of the business - which had the issues...

WLF Hosting Web Seminar on SmithKline Beecham v. Dudas: Challenging the Patent Office?s ?Continuations? Rule and the Suit?s Repercussions

Posted on February 01, 2008
Joseph E. Silvia, Chief Policy Counsel of the Washington Legal Foundation, has asked us to inform our readers about the following online legal event to take place at 10-11 a.m. EST on coming February 5, 2008:" I am writing to notify you of an event The Washington Legal Foundation (WLF) is hosting ...

Super Bowl XLII - The 42nd - Who will Win?

Posted on February 01, 2008
42? Calling Douglas Adams.On paper and in the oddsmakers eyes (the Patriots are currently 12-point favorites), the 42nd Super Bowl game is no contest, matching the 16-0 unbeaten AFC champion New England Patriots against the 10-6 wild card New York Giants, who did not even win their own NFC division but advanced to this final in the NFC playoffs by beating 13-3 Dallas and 13-3 Green Bay (in OT), the two best regular-season NFC teams by record...

Automobiles Galore : Top 2008 Car Picks for the Boss, the Family, Work, Play, and Environment

Posted on February 01, 2008
Do you drive a "value-packed car"? Is it time for a change to a new vehicle? Calculate the residual value here. How about the resale value? Here is a list from Forbes of the Top Ten High Resale Value Vehicles in the USA:"Top 10 High Resale Value Vehicles Mini CooperHonda AccordToyota AvalonPorsche 911 CarreraAcura TLMercedes-Benz CL-ClassHonda OdysseyLand Rover Range Rover SportToyota SequoiaToyota Tundra"When is the last time you looked at a Mini Cooper seriously? Here is one that "Runs on Irregular"...

Self-Promotion at Docstoc : Good Ideas for Personal, Legal, Business, Blog and Website Content Promotion Using Docstoc

Posted on January 31, 2008
How to Promote Yourself and Your Business on Docstoc is a document by Jason Nazar, CEO of Docstoc, Inc. which follows up on our previous Docstoc posting. We definitely see some good ideas in this article for personal, legal, business, blog and website content promotion by using Docstoc and we will probably be using this service regularly...

Calling all Law Professionals : Help Bring Debate Back to Urban Schools

Posted on January 30, 2008
As a former champion high-school debater, this one was a natural....We found the following email in our Facebook mailbox in an account we opened just for fun and which we do not consult regularly, so we may be a bit late in presenting that posting, but better late than never:"Help bring debate back to urban schoolsTo members of Law Students Building a Better Legal ProfessionBitta Jansma8:37pm Dec 21st Greetings from BBLP,We thought you might be interested in the following message about how members of the legal profession can support debate in urban schools and other pipeline programs...

Evidence and Maya Chronology

Posted on January 30, 2008
It is not often that we are mentioned in the same breath with Faraday and Einstein....Gary Lawrence Murphy is a very smart man because - as he shows at his blog posting at TeledyN - he is one of very few people out there who recognizes the major evidentiary flaw in the current Maya chronology, which is the apparently inexplicable failure of that chronology to account for passages of Halley's Comet (Halleys Comet, 1P/Halley, Comet Halley), which visibly visits our planet about every 76 years...

Library Pundit at LibraryPundit Blog

Posted on January 30, 2008
We have added the blog LibraryPundit to our blog armada.

Docstoc Permits Sharing of Documents, Downloading of Documents, and Embedding in Blogs or Websites : e.g. Patent Outline, Web Development Contract

Posted on January 30, 2008
Docstoc (beta) at docstoc.com, as reported by Frank Gruber, senior product manager of myAOL at AOL, at his blog Somewhat Frank, was launched on October 30, 2007 as a "a user generated community for sharing professional documents" which we think may become popular as people become aware of its potential...

Even More on Stormhoek Wines and Orbital

Posted on January 30, 2008
This is an update to our previous postings on Stormhoek here and here. We became interested in this story initially for two reasons: 1) because of the fame of Stormhoek for having been marketed through a pioneer campaign of blog postings and blog networking, and 2) because we have a friend from South Africa in the wine business who was incredulous about the Stormhoek wine sales figures in cases (it turned out these could be 6, 12 or 24 bottles - although we still do not know which are used in the case of Stormhoek)...

Google Book Search : A Valuable Assistant for Librarians, Library Acquisitions and Pending Consumer Purchases

Posted on January 29, 2008
Try this Google Book Search link for "law".Google Book Search is developing into a very interesting information tool, also for librarians, because it provides a quick means for librarians and consumers to determine whether a book should be acquired or not, as one can quickly check out the general nature of the book layout, the table of contents, and index (if any) - which is important for library-acquired books, etc...

Be Smart as Your Own Coach : 30 Days to Success : Improve Your Personal Life : Self-Development, Motivation, Self-Discipline, Better Lifestyle

Posted on January 25, 2008
Want to look at a success story?Steve Pavlina has gone from being a man sitting in a jail cell to becoming a "growth-oriented" college graduate with a highly popular blog geared to Personal Development for Smart People.Steve Pavlina's 30 Days to Success is his most popular posting:"Here are some other ideas for applying 30-day trials: Give up TV...

More on Stormhoek and the Orbital Wines Collapse : Stormhoek and Retailers not at Fault : Try the Stormhoek Pinotage

Posted on January 25, 2008
We return to Stormhoek once again. In response to our previous (2nd) posting on Stormhoek and the Orbital Wines collapse, Catherine Monahan wrote to us (published with permission):"I used to work for Orbital wines doing marketing and sales.Please retract that Tesco is responsible for any reasons for Orbitallosing listings or going into admin - this is Fundamentally untrue andis causing grief for the Tesco team who have done nothing but supportthe brand with great enthusiasm...

Stormhoek and the Orbital Wines Collapse

Posted on January 24, 2008
In response to our previous posting on Stormhoek Wines and the administration (corporate bankruptcy) of their UK supplier, Orbital Wines, Peter May at the Pinotage Club blog has provided us with some essential information regarding Stormhoek as follows (posted with permission):"Waitrose and Sainsburys no longer list Stormhoek because Stormhoek made a deal with Tesco's to sell the wine a pound cheaper...

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