Why Won't Yahoo! Let Employees Work From Home? - Businessweek:
Boy Mayer is gonna cause a lot of shake here with the everyone-has-to-travel-to-work policy.
Apparently (Today Show) she now as a nursery set up next door to her office for her new convenience. That helps new parents, maybe, but not the ones with kids in school or those people who live a longer way from the office.
But Mayer is shaking it up.
There has long been the debate about the down side of work-at-home (WAH). And a tech leader like Yahoo might just be a place to face-to-face interaction that is lost from WAH.
But, I fear that making everyone drive to work is a major setback to telecommuting efforts that are so very beneficial to the efforts of sustainability.
Studies show that the true costs of telecommuting are far closer to $40,000 per year than to the $5,000 cost of gas. Most of that savings goes to the employer. Closer to $45,000 if you want to include the less-tangible costs of externalities such as infrastructure and greenhouse gases (GHGs).
Key words: WAH, telecommuting. Work-at-home, sustainability, carbon footprint, GHG, teleworking, remote working, time shifting.
First posted at www.SustainZine.com. Repeated here.
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Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Monday, February 25, 2013
Should Monsanto own patent rights on the elements of life? - Los Angeles Times:
Should Monsanto own patent rights on the elements of life? - Los Angeles Times:
Few people realize how patent intensive the food industry has become.
The top 10 seed companies account for 2/3 of all seeds sold.
A huge % of the seed sold are patented. Wow!
"Over an 11-year period, the cost per acre of planting soybeans has risen a dramatic 325%." Ouch!...
BUT if the yield is improved, then the added cost to sow is well justified.
Remember that genetically modified (GMO) can/possibly be patented, organic not.
But owning a gene and the patent on all activity to monitor/manage/tread based on that gene has interesting implications. You can expect the pharma industry to watch this law suit in plants very closely.
Keywords: GMO, organic, plant patents, Monsanto, seeds, farming, law suit, genes,
First blogged at: SustainZine
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Saturday, February 23, 2013
Top 15 drug patent losses for 2013 - ... And Viagra...
Top 15 drug patent losses for 2013 - FiercePharma:
In the usual search of the BIG patents that are about to drop off the cliff, it is always fun to see what comes up.
This is a great assessment of the 2013 Patent Cliff.
Wanna see what's in store for the the next 4-5 years check out this report and forecast for pharma patents through 2018 by EvaluatePharma: http://www.evaluatepharma.com/worldpreview2018.aspx
Just reviewing the past couple years you will see Plavix and Lipitor going off patent with more than $5B in annual sales. Wow. Look at this from 2011: The 10 Biggest-Selling Drugs That Are About to Lose Their Patent - DailyFinance: "Plavix"
But I got tripped up in the Viagra and its patent status. Check out this article from the BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20258639
Pfizer lost its Viagra patent in Canada. The Supreme court there was unforgiving in the approach that was taken in the patent to mention everything including the kitchen sink, not primarily focus on the only active ingredient The court thought that this was a poor attempt at "gaming" the patent process and seemed rather less than entertained. Ouch!.
In Canada the patent was due to expire in 2014 anyway. Seems that the main patent in the US will go public domain in 2018.
'via Blog this'
In the usual search of the BIG patents that are about to drop off the cliff, it is always fun to see what comes up.
This is a great assessment of the 2013 Patent Cliff.
Wanna see what's in store for the the next 4-5 years check out this report and forecast for pharma patents through 2018 by EvaluatePharma: http://www.evaluatepharma.com/worldpreview2018.aspx
Just reviewing the past couple years you will see Plavix and Lipitor going off patent with more than $5B in annual sales. Wow. Look at this from 2011: The 10 Biggest-Selling Drugs That Are About to Lose Their Patent - DailyFinance: "Plavix"
But I got tripped up in the Viagra and its patent status. Check out this article from the BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20258639
Pfizer lost its Viagra patent in Canada. The Supreme court there was unforgiving in the approach that was taken in the patent to mention everything including the kitchen sink, not primarily focus on the only active ingredient The court thought that this was a poor attempt at "gaming" the patent process and seemed rather less than entertained. Ouch!.
In Canada the patent was due to expire in 2014 anyway. Seems that the main patent in the US will go public domain in 2018.
'via Blog this'
Thursday, February 21, 2013
IBM and China. #1 in the world of Patents
IBM is again the patent king with the most patents issued. Now just under 6,500 issued in a single year. That's issued, not applications.
IBM
This is a fun article about the big patent companies and IBM's Watson system beating out the best and the brightest on the show Jeopardy.
In the meanwhile, China has moved up to the busiest patent office in the world! It was only a couple years ago that they were 5th and not long prior to that they they were not a signatory on IP treaties!..
IBM
•Celebrated 101 years since its first patent
•In 2012 was its 20th year as most US patents
•In 2012 received 6,478 patents! (not applications!)
•Spent $6B on R&D … roughly $1m per patent.
•IBM makes $1B+ per year on IP sales/licensing!
=> That is almost pure profit$!
=> That is almost pure profit$!
This is a fun article about the big patent companies and IBM's Watson system beating out the best and the brightest on the show Jeopardy.
In the meanwhile, China has moved up to the busiest patent office in the world! It was only a couple years ago that they were 5th and not long prior to that they they were not a signatory on IP treaties!..
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