Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Maria Pallante out of Copyright. Unified IP?

Maria Pallante: out of Copyright Office

Great article by Dennis Crouch over at Patently-O. (But then aren't they all great over there.)

Apparently Pallante is out as Chief of the Copyright office. And the clamor is up as to why we don't have a unified IP at the patent and trademark office, kind of a US PTOC. (I guess that would be pronounced Pea-Talk, or PeeTalk, if you wanted to talk dirty.)

Back in 2012, Crouch recommended creating an integrated US Intellectual Property Organization, or USIPO (you sip oh) akin to WIPO for the world of IP.

The argument for an integrated IP approach "...  is that many operating businesses relying upon intellectual property (IP) rights typically do not focus on a single form of IP rights but instead take a layered approach that includes some combination of patent, trademark, copyright, contractual, employment, trade secret, and design rights, for instance."

With all the changes happening, or potentially happening, in the IP world this integration seems like a great idea when the time has come.

Let's go with USIPO, not PTOC, on this one.

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Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Photographer Files $1 Billion Suit Against Getty for Licensing Her Public Domain Images

Photographer Files $1 Billion Suit Against Getty for Licensing Her Public Domain Images [UPDATED] - Hyperallergic:

Wow. Getty was selling public domain photos to everyone, including the photog herself.

Getty was notifying people with the images that they must pay money to keep using them (on their own web sites, etc.). So the copyright owner, Carol Highsmith, gets a $120 bill for using her own picture on her own web site.

Highsmith had donated the pictures to the library of congress for use by the general public at no charge.

Getty says, no, we were simply providing a service by selling these photos to people.

You say "potato", I say "Stolen Tomato".

Oh, by the way,

Highsmith is a really, really good photographer.

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Sunday, October 2, 2016

Olivier Scalabre: The next manufacturing revolution is here | TED Talk | TED.com

Olivier Scalabre: The next manufacturing revolution is here | TED Talk | TED.com:

Yes. It is here. The next generation of manufacturing.This is an absolutely spot on TED talk related to the world of manufacturing.

Everyone in the USA wines and complains about the flight of manufacturing from the USA. We don't make anything any more. That's not really true. We still make a lot of stuff, but the percentage of the workforce that makes stuff is a much, much lower percentage.

After 3 major industrial "revolutions" that have lasted 50-60 years each, we are due for another breakthrough technology/process/approach. It has now been about 50 years of slowing productivity. And the next revolution is already here.

Monsieur Olivier has very profound arguments for manufacturing to return onshore. One of his arguments is mass customization that is best done near to market (onshore), especially with the latest technologies.

There's another massive argument that pertains to the US, and not Europe (France). With new technologies of fracking & horizontal drilling, the US is swimming in cheap oil and (nat)gas. A huge proportion of manufacturing has to do with the cost of electricity -- cheap and clean(er) now with the major switches away from coal (toward NatGas and renewables). Transportation is cheap and more efficient. Plus, almost everything manufactured uses oil, particulates and natural gas. All plastics can, and should be manufactured at home.

We have been flaring about half of the NatGas in the US. All we have to do is set up an electric plant (run electric transmission lines) and/or a plastics factory next to the oil fields to capture some of this free energy.

Also, in 2015 and 2016, renewable energy has broken through that foggy glass floor. Without considering any of the externalities of coal, wind and solar are now cheaper for electricity. If the true costs of coal, considering all externalities are 2 to 3 times the price at the meter, then cheaper, better and cleaner energy is available at home. Far better in all respects than any factory in China or India.

Watch the assumptions and assertions in Olivier's presentation and see how much and how quickly it all comes to pass.
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