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LAW PUNDIT Monday, December 31, 2007 12/31/2007 12:26:00 AM [Home] [Print]

Environmental Zones to be Designated in 20 German Cities Starting January 1, 2008

The German Federal Foreign Office (Auswärtiges Amt) reports (in English) that new environmental zones ("Umweltzonen") are to be designated in 20 major German cities starting January 1, 2008.

At the start of the new year, i.e. as of January 1, 2008, the new environmental zones go into force first in the three designated cities of Berlin, Cologne and Hannover and only vehicles displaying a special emissions-control sticker ("Feinstaubplakette") will be allowed to enter these zones. This sticker will be valid throughout Germany.

The special emissions sticker comes in three colors: red and yellow and green. From January 1, 2008 to January 1, 2010, vehicles having stickers in any of the three colors (such vehicles at least meet the requirements of Pollutant Class 2) can drive in the environmental zone. After January 1, 2010 only vehicles with the green sticker (Pollutant Class 4) will be allowed to drive in the environmental zone.

At the official website of Berlin, there is a map of the affected area of the city also showing the "environmental zone" traffic sign which will mark the designated area in Berlin (the smaller "sticker sign" below the larger sign shows which stickered cars can pass the sign - and, obviously, cars having no such sticker can not drive in these areas - unless they obtain a special exemption):

The Berlin city website also provides downloads in five languages of the applicable rules and affected areas as follows:

Umweltzone Broschüre (pdf; 192 KB)

- German
The environmental zone (pdf; 192 KB)

- English (Better Air for Berlin - What Drivers Need to Know)
Cevre Koruma Bölgesi (pdf; 335 KB)

- Turkish
Экологическая зона (pdf; 1.8 MB)

- Russian
Strefa ekologiczna (pdf; 345 KB)

- Polish

There is also a special website for the environmental zone in Cologne (Köln), at which a special Flyer in German language, but including a map of the environmental zone can be downloaded. The map below is linked from meinestadt.de (which contains additional information in German):

Also Hannover has a special website page for its environmental zone and a large map of that zone, which we link to here in smaller format:

Environmental zones. Absurdly rising oil and gas prices. Pressures from the EU on German car manufacturers. Perhaps it is no wonder that domestic cars sales in Germany in 2007 have been disastrous thus far. It may be getting time to break out the bicycles.

^Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/31/2007 12:26:00 AM

LAW PUNDIT Sunday, December 30, 2007 12/30/2007 08:45:00 PM [Home] [Print]

LibraryThing is an Online Bookshelf for Everyone

Take a look at LibraryThing, which is an online bookshelf for your books.

Below is a cropped screen shot of our first book entry, Stars Stones and Scholars, on our LibraryThing bookshelf. This gives an idea of the website interface, which offers the user various alternatives for presentation of book data. LibraryThing is free up to the first 200 entries:

^Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/30/2007 08:45:00 PM

LAW PUNDIT Saturday, December 29, 2007 12/29/2007 09:36:00 PM [Home] [Print]

Information Technology Governance in 2008 : The Privacy Landscape : The Changing Legal Framework for Corporate IT and Digital Accounting in Germany

Please note that our posting here is not a comprehensive handling of the topic of IT Governance but is intended rather to alert interested readers to a burgeoning field which impacts law, especially on the example of Germany. It is best to follow some of the links given below for more information.

Information technology governance ("IT governance") is a burgeoning field, as can be read for example at the IT Governance Roundtable of the IT Governance Institute. For a general overview of IT governance, see CIO.com's ABC: An Introduction to IT Governance by Karen D. Schwartz, for IT Governance in Practice see that PWC report, and for a prospective view to 2008 see IT and the Changing Privacy Landscape: Eight Areas to Watch in '08 by Brian Tretick, executive director, Privacy Risk Advisory Services at Ernst & Young, December 28, 2007.

We were led to this topic for Germany via Overcoming the Thicket: Five Steps Toward Successful Post-Merger IT Restructuring in Germany, a September 2007 article by Jyn Schultze-Melling LL.M in Law Technology Today, the webzine of the ABA Law Practice Management Section.

As Schultze-Melling notes in his article, the legal framework governing corporate IT in Germany has become rather long and complex. For example, as he writes, one must be familiar inter alia with the following important German regulations:

1) Grundsätze ordnungsmäßiger DV-gestützter Buchführungssysteme (GoBS)
translated inter alia as "Generally Accepted Principles of Computer-Assisted Accounting Systems" (GAPCAS) or also as "Generally accepted principles of computerized accounting systems" - see the German text of this administrative instruction as issued by the German Finance Ministry in 1995 (Schreiben des Bundesministeriums der Finanzen an die obersten Finanzbehörden der Länder vom 7. November 1995 - IV A 8 - S 0316 - 52/95- BStBl 1995 I S. 738)

and

2) (Grundsätze zum Datenzugriff und zur Prüfbarkeit digitaler Unterlagen) - GDPdU
translated inter alia as "Principles of data access and auditing of digital documents"
which is an administrative instruction from the German Finance Ministry issued in 2001 (BMF-Schreiben vom 16. Juli 2001 - IV D 2 - S 0316 - 136/01 -).

See in this regard also the bookmarked links for the user UKff at Mister Wong
as well as the MittelstandsWiki from Oracle Germany (unfortunately, only in German).

As far as the problem of divining German accounting principles, see for a useful, thoughtful presentation the article
German Financial Accounting and Reporting FAQs and Fallacies by Robin Bonthrone
where he writes clear back in the year 2000 (this is but a small part of his article):

Section 243 (1) of the HGB sets out that financial statements must be prepared in accordance with the GoB ("Der Jahresabschluß ist nach den Grundsätzen ordnungsmäßiger Buchführung aufzustellen"). The problem is that these GoB are not actually defined anywhere! Born (Rechnungslegung International—Konzernabschlüsse nach IAS, US-GAAP, HGB und EG-Richtlinien, 2. Auflage; Schäffer-Poeschel 1999) refers to them as ein unbestimmter Rechtsbegriff. According to the Wirtschaftsprüfer-Handbuch 1996, the following may be considered part of the GoB:

Commercial and tax laws (e.g. HGB, AktG, EStG, EstR, GmbHG) and EC Directives, in particular the 4th (annual accounts) and 7th (consolidated accounts) Directives
Rulings by the BGH (Bundesgerichtshof/Federal Court of Justice), BFH (Bundesfinanzhof/Federal Finance Court) and the ECJ (European Court of Justice)
Opinions and statements issued by the IDW (Institut der Wirtschaftsprüfer/German Institute of Auditors), opinions issued by the DIHT (Deutscher Industrie- und Handelstag/German Industrial Trade Association)
gesicherte Erkenntnisse der Betriebswirtschaftslehre (undefined)
The relevant professional literature (again undefined)
and finally, what I think must qualify as one of the great Gummibegriffe of all time: die Bilanzierungspraxis ordentlicher Kaufleute

Take a look at the entire writing by Robin Bonthrone.

Confirming the existence of those same problems currently, we find the following reference at the SAP website in note 36 to the Consolidated Financial Statements 2006 regarding significant differences between German and U.S. accounting principles:

"Because SAP AG is a German holding corporation that owns the majority of voting rights in other enterprises, it is generally obliged to prepare consolidated financial statements in accordance with the accounting regulations set out in the German Commercial Code (Handelsgesetzbuch – HGB). The German Commercial Code Implementation Act (Einführungsgesetz zum HGB-EGHGB), section 58 paragraph 5 and the German Commercial Code (Handelsgesetzbuch – HGB), section 292a, offer an exemption from this obligation if consolidated financial statements are prepared and published in accordance with an internationally accepted accounting principle (such as U.S. GAAP or IFRS). To make use of this exemption, we are required to describe the significant differences between the accounting methods applied and German accounting methods."

Take a look at that website for more detailed information.

The website IAS Plus from Deloitte covers Accounting Standards Updates by Jurisdiction - in this case Germany and points there to pending legislation which involves forthcoming major changes in German accounting law as follows:

"Major changes in German accounting law are under discussion

On 8 November 2007, the German Ministry of Justice (MOJ) issued for public comment a staff draft of the German Accounting Law Modernisation Act (BilMoG) (PDF 651k, German language). The overall goals of the reform are to (1) modernise the German Accounting Law (Handelsgesetzbuch, or HGB) and (2) reduce regulatory burden on companies. The proposed changes are generally in the direction of closer conformity of the HGB with IFRSs. The bill would also make changes in the areas of auditing, supervisory boards, and audit committees. Importantaccounting changes include:

greater recognition of intangible assets (although the related increase in equity would not be available for distrbution as dividends)
special purpose entities controlled by a parent would have to be consolidated
recognition of deferred tax assets (previously prohibited)
measurement of financial assets held for trading at fair values in excess of initially recognised costs
measurement of provisions at discounted amounts
inclusion of actuarial assumptions in the measurement of pension liabilities
exemption of small non-listed entities from the requirement to publish HGB-GAAP financial statements

The staff draft is currently out for comment by key interested parties until 8 January 2008. Thereafter, the draft law will be revised based on the comments received by MOJ and then submitted to both chambers of Parliament (the Deutsche Bundestag and Bundesrat) where it will be deliberated for at least several months. Many observers anticipate a heated debate. The original time frame indicated by the MOJ was for publication of the final law in the second half of 2008, with applicability as of 1 January 2009. However, observers suggest that due to significant election dates in 2008 and 2009, that date may not be feasible to uphold."
[emphasis added by LawPundit]

See also

- The IT Metrics and Productivity Institute

- Five Domains of Internet Technology Governance for Consideration by Boards of Directors by Matthew Fletcher, June, 2006

IT Jobs in the UK - Trend, 2007

It Governance in Higher Education - Educause, September, 2007

^Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/29/2007 09:36:00 PM

LAW PUNDIT 12/29/2007 12:16:00 PM [Home] [Print]

Happy New Year to Latvia and its Beautiful Women : We wish all (Priecīgus Ziemassvētkus) un Laimīgu Jauno Gadu!

Happy New Year to Latvia and its Beautiful Women

We thought we would pass this story on to all of our friends and readers in the Baltic and to those Latvian ladies - or those whose descendants stem from Latvia - who are amongst our own near family and relations.

A friend of ours has stated that Latvia (per capita) has the greatest number of beautiful women in the world. She is someone who has traveled all over the planet and she says that the Latvian ladies in Riga - at least the ones that are seen in the city - are simply stunning.

Whether this is true or not - beauty is in the eyes of the beholder - it is still a nice affirmation. Hey, it could be true.

Priecīgus Ziemassvētkus un Laimīgu Jauno Gadu!

^Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/29/2007 12:16:00 PM

LAW PUNDIT Friday, December 28, 2007 12/28/2007 11:02:00 PM [Home] [Print]

Why Celebrate the New Year Now? did Julius Caesar reform the calendar? or the Egyptians before him? and are there large errors in man's chronology?

Happy New Year 2008 is just a few days distant,
but why do we celebrate the New Year now and not at some other time?

N.S. Gill at about.com has a nice posting about the Julian Calendar and the Julius Caesar (?) Calendar Reform at
http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/holidaysfestivals/f/CaesarCalendar.htm?nl=1

Prior to that calendar reform, whenever it actually happened (see below), ancient chronology is a mess. Over the years we have tried to draw attention to the problem by pointing out obvious errors in analysis of the available evidence as made by scholars in the field in formulating the timeline of man's ancient history.

Indeed, we have also suggested some obvious corrections to chronology based upon our analysis of the evidence available. EVIDENCE is not a main concern of the humanities, and chronology is a very good example of that.

See e.g. a new source out of Egypt
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/LexiLine/message/1201
for evidence that the calendar reform ascribed to Caesar occurred even earlier

and then look at more evidence concerning the errors committed by mainstream academia in assigning a chronology to Moses and the consequences of those errors at
Moses and Exodus (the short version)
http://www.lexiline.com/lexiline/lexi300.htm
or see the link below for the longer version
http://www.lexiline.com/lexiline/lexi000.htm
with King Tut (Tutankhamun)

and then view my Absolute Chronology of the World by Astronomy at
http://www.lexiline.com/lexiline/lexi760.htm

and see in that regard the ancient Egyptian chronology of Manetho at
http://www.lexiline.com/lexiline/lexi20.htm

and see also my comments on the erroneous Maya chronology of mainstream Maya scholars at
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/LexiLine/message/1457
and
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/LexiLine/message/956
and
as related to the Pharaonic calendric count at
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/LexiLine/message/1370

That is enough material to suggest some of the major problems (and possible solutions) that currently exist in man's chronology of his own ancient past, errors which have been made due to faulty analysis of the evidence available.

There is definitely still a lot of "calendric work" to be done before we have man's history and calendration right.

^Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/28/2007 11:02:00 PM

LAW PUNDIT Saturday, December 22, 2007 12/22/2007 07:09:00 AM [Home] [Print]

Merry Christmas to Law Pundit Readers

A friend of mine just sent me an article at WSJ Online by Steve Salerno about the "happiness myth" (December 20, 2007; Wall Street Journal, Thursday, Dec 20 2007 - Page A17). The article is unfortunately no longer accessible, but we can summarize the message as the idea that directing our entire life toward the pursuit of happiness may not be the right strategy, especially at this time of the holiday season.

We once went to an Off Broadway play by Mike Nichols and Elaine May which presented life as a board game on stage with checker-like viz. chess-like squares to be mastered while moving forward up the career ladder from one square to the next. Prior to the start of this theater play, the moderator comes out and tells the audience that the secret to any of the players in this piece winning the game being played is to simply stop on any square and declare "this is it, this is my spot". But of course no one ever stops.

Since each individual is different, the solution of life for each of us is thus also a very individual matter. Looked at objectively, we are a bunch of molecules floating around for a bit in the vast expanse of an infinite universe where our sojourn on earth as a chemically-united composition is pretty ephemeral in terms of the bigger picture of endless time. Our soul may be everlasting, but our physical presence on this earth is severely circumscribed.

Nevertheless, we ARE here now, so the key is to make the best of it. We find that the most important thing in life is health - i.e. a sound mind in a sound body - because if you have that, you are in a position to do anything else that you may want to do. Beyond that, life is a constantly shifting list of priorities and minute-to-minute day-to-day week-to-week month-to-month year-to-year etc. decisions as to what we do with our time. The more good decisions we make on an ever-accumulating basis, the better off we probably are.

One critical element of life was perhaps best expressed by the judge Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., who said that a man must share in the passion and action of his era or risk being judged as not having lived. "Being a part of things" is an essential driving force for many people's lives - although they may not know how best to go about it, and many succumb, e.g., to all kinds of harmful peer group pressures because they think that is what it takes "to belong", which is often not the case.

Happiness is surely something that people pursue to some degree in vain. As the great German thinker Goethe wrote, "everyone runs after happiness, while happiness follows behind".

So maybe picking a Nichols-May square - any square - and claiming it, is the right solution. Putting it another way, it probably doesn't make much difference what you do with your life, but whatever it is, try to do it as best you can.

Merry Christmas.

^Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/22/2007 07:09:00 AM

LAW PUNDIT Friday, December 21, 2007 12/21/2007 09:50:00 AM [Home] [Print]

Open Road Blog at CNET by Matt Asay Covers Open Source

In checking up on some things about our previous posting on the year-end status of the ZFS patent litigation between Network Appliance and Sun Microsystems, a litigation which impacts the open source community, we ran across the CNET blog Open Road by Matt Asay, who had beaten us to the punch on publishing that Sun release.

The Open Road blog covers the following topics:

Apple
Case study
Development
Google
Industry news
Licensing
Microsoft
Number crunching
Odds and Ends
Operations
People
Product review
Red Hat
Research
Rumors and Gossip
Service review
Startups
Strategy

Take a look for example at the Open Road posting on European Commission forces Microsoft to open its protocols to Samba, "a non-profit maker of free, open source server software."

This looks like a very useful blog and we are putting Open Road on our blogroll.

^Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/21/2007 09:50:00 AM

LAW PUNDIT Thursday, December 20, 2007 12/20/2007 08:53:00 PM [Home] [Print]

Open Source Related Patent Litigation Update on Network Appliance/Sun Lawsuit from Dana Lengkeek

Dana Lengkeek of Corporate Communications at Sun Microsystems, Inc., has sent us the following year-end "Update on Network Appliance/Sun Lawsuit" (Monday, December 17, 2007 4:16:26 PM) [published here with her permission]:

Hello -

Moving into the end of the year I wanted to provide an overview of where we are with the Network Appliance lawsuit. Following is the current status of activity, please let me know if you have any questions.

Dana Lengkeek
Corporate Communications
Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Phone: 650 786 4017
Mobile: 415 994 4008
Email: Dana.Lengkeek@Sun.COM

------------

As of Friday, December 14, Sun has filed reexamination requests for three Network Appliance patents as part of its response to a lawsuit initially filed by Network Appliance against Sun on September 5, 2007. This follows the agreement last month with Network Appliance to transfer
Network Appliance's lawsuit from Texas and litigate it along with the case Sun filed in California. The motion to transfer was filed on November 21 and the cases are now assigned to a mutually agreed upon judge. With each company being headquartered in northern California and the majority of inventors and innovation in dispute originating in California, it makes sense for this case to be litigated in this jurisdiction. We are pleased that Network Appliance agreed to Sun's
request and retracted its imprudent choice of venue for this litigation.

Reexams have been filed on the NetApp WAFL patents that purportedly cover concepts such as copy on write, snapshot and writable snapshot. There is a significant amount of prior art describing this technology that was not in front of the US patent office when it first examined
these patents. In just one example, the early innovation by Mendel Rosenblum and John Ousterhout on Log Structured File Systems, applauded in a NetApp blog
http://blogs.netapp.com/dave/2007/09/vmwares-founder.html as being inspirational to the founders, was not considered by the patent office in the examination of the NetApp patents.

Sun is committed to protecting innovation and the open source community against this attack. The reexamination of three Network Appliance patents seeks to ensure the open source community continues to have access to technology that Network Appliance did not invent. Sun is also in the process of identifying other Network Appliance patents to be reexamined. We continue to receive support from the open source community in terms of prior art and appreciate the community response to protect innovation. We would like to thank those who have sent in relevant art that has been used in connection with the reexamination requests.

Sun's actions are in response to the suit Network Appliance brought against the company to forestall competition from the free ZFS technology. Sun's earlier filings include patent counterclaims against the entirety of Network Appliance's product line, including the entire NetApp Enterprise Fabric Attached Storage (FAS) products, V-series products using Data ONTAP software, and NearStore products, seeking both injunction and monetary damages.

Sun is confident in our patents and claims against Network Appliance, and pleased with the direction of our case. To view more information, including the filings, visit Sun's Open Source Community Support page at www.sun.com/lawsuit/zfs."

^Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/20/2007 08:53:00 PM

LAW PUNDIT Wednesday, December 19, 2007 12/19/2007 05:01:00 PM [Home] [Print]

The Problem of Being Kaulins - Websites, Blogs and their Authors - A Case of Mistaken Identity - Too many Kaulinses

We recently received several emails confusing us with other people on the Internet among other things because of our personal name, Andis Kaulins, which for many years we ourselves thought to be unique on this planet, which has turned out not to be the case.

There is for example another Andis Kaulins on this planet, no relation to us whatsoever, who has a blog called Andis Kaulins in China and he also blogs at Spaces, MySpace, and Tumblr at those links. There may be more, but we do not know of them.

I myself have two - and only two - blogs at blogspot.com with the name Kaulins in them, the blog Kaulins and the Andis Kaulins Blog (see my Blogspot profile).

All other blogs at blogspot.com with the name Kaulins in them are NOT my blogs.

There is unfortunately an anonymous blogger at blogspot.com who is creating some ill will in the community. This person is posting in part objectionable material at the addresses kaulins2.blogspot through kaulins7.blogspot. I AM NOT THIS BLOGGER nor is this person any relation to my family, near or far, and I distance myself completely from the materials found there.

Nevertheless, should this blogger ever com across this posting here, please be advised that you are posting copyrighted material to your blogs without attribution and that some people out there are not very pleased about it. Please tell your readers where your material - as copyrighted by others - is coming from, or remove it from the Internet.

It is of course an irritation to me that someone out there is doing something like this, because the surname Kaulins has a good reputation in Latvia, where the name originates. For example, the first music journal in Latvia was published by a Kaulins, a Kaulins had a famous private library in Latvia which served as a foundation for today's library at the University of Latvia, a Kaulins was a famous linguist at the University of Latvia, and a Kaulins has produced Latvia's astronomy almanac. We have also had black sheep - the most famous Communist in Latvia was a Kaulins as was also the best-known leading director of a kolkhoz in Soviet days.

The heart of the problem is that anonymity on blogs - availed to by our mysterious poster - is a double-edged sword. We all applaud it when someone is anonymously reporting news from an area of the world where revealing the author's name would be a danger to him. On the other hand, permitting anonymity also permits people to post the daftest things on the Internet, often showing the black side of human nature, which is present on this planet in abundance. So why add to the negatives on this planet by posting objectionable material anonymously. It is something that we simply do not understand.

We ourselves DO NOT post anonymously - anywhere. Thank you.

^Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/19/2007 05:01:00 PM

LAW PUNDIT Tuesday, December 18, 2007 12/18/2007 01:53:00 AM [Home] [Print]

Christmas Markets in Europe are currently Featured at ViaMichelin.com

If you have never seen one of the fantastic top Christmas markets in Europe, you should, if you can.

We subscribe to the ViaMichelin Newsletter and they have a great feature in their current edition on some of the top Christmas Markets in Europe, with great photography and descriptions.

We know many people at this time of year who drive to specific Christmas markets here in Europe much in the same way that tourists visit famed cultural sites - these markets are that impressive.

Take a look at the photos and descriptions - you might find something you like (click on the numbers below the initial photo at that link to view more Christmas markets).

^Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/18/2007 01:53:00 AM

LAW PUNDIT Monday, December 17, 2007 12/17/2007 02:02:00 AM [Home] [Print]

The Year 2007 Will Soon End and 2008 is Coming : What Does the Future Hold? Try the Search Engine Filter Future Scanner

Future Scanner is a search engine filter that scans the future - click any year you want, starting at the year 2008, going year by year to the year 2020 - and ... beyond. Obviously, there are all kinds of predictions for 2008 as we head into the New Year.

^Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/17/2007 02:02:00 AM

LAW PUNDIT 12/17/2007 01:33:00 AM [Home] [Print]

Drug Testing & Law at The Issue + Flat Tax

The Blog Newspaper The Issue has as its current Issue of the Day the subject of Drug Testing, which then links to blogs covering that topic from a legal point of view.

The Newsroom currently points to a discussion of The Flat Tax.

The whole site looks like it is just starting up yet and the color selection is candylike, but a Blog Newspaper like this is an interesting idea.

^Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/17/2007 01:33:00 AM

LAW PUNDIT 12/17/2007 01:07:00 AM [Home] [Print]

Two Articles on the Growing Power of Blogs - via Neil J. Squillante of TechnoLawyer

Neil J.Squillante of TechnoLawyer sent me the following e-mail some time ago under the title: "Two Articles on the Growing Power of Blogs". I had not posted it yet but here now is Neil's email on this important topic (the links in his email are operative):

Hi Andis,

In case you missed them, FindLaw recently published two
articles about blogs:

In "How Bloggers Influence Corporations," David Canton of
eLegal Canton issues a wake-up call to large corporations.
In so doing, he cites several BlawgWorld blawgs, including
Canadian Privacy Law Blog, Michael Geist's Blog, and
George's Employment Blawg. Read the article.
http://technology.findlaw.com/articles/00006/011004.html

In "The State of Legal Blogs: A Report From the Frontlines,"
Blawg.com founder Bill Gratsch discusses the breadth and
diversity of today's legal blogosphere compared to the early
days five years ago. He also lists several blawg
directories, including his own Blawg.com, our BlawgWorld
eBook, and the always mysterious Blawg Review. Read the
article.
http://technology.findlaw.com/articles/00006/011014.html

...

Sincerely,

Neil J. Squillante
PeerViews Inc.
825 Third Avenue
Second Floor
New York, NY 10022

TechnoLawyer
http://www.technolawyer.com

BlawgWorld
http://www.blawgworld.com

LandingPage Interactive
http://www.landingpageinteractive.com
-------------------------------------

^Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/17/2007 01:07:00 AM

LAW PUNDIT Sunday, December 16, 2007 12/16/2007 10:07:00 PM [Home] [Print]

Christmas Gift Ideas : The Book Stars Stones & Scholars Is a Ray of Light in the Darkness

What the Da Vinci Code is to fiction, this book is to non-fiction.

Looking for that special gift for an academic who has everything?

He may not have this:

Stars Stones and Scholars - HARDCOVER or SOFTCOVER
a pioneer study in the history of civilization. The book claims to decipher the megaliths as Neolithic border and landmark stones sighted (and sited) by prehistoric astronomy. The book is controversial, arguing that mainstream academic evaluation of archaeological evidence is faulty.

See the reviews here......

^Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/16/2007 10:07:00 PM

LAW PUNDIT Friday, December 14, 2007 12/14/2007 11:01:00 PM [Home] [Print]

Sevenload As An Alternative to YouTube for Video Uploading and Downloading - Andis Kaulins in 2007 Hitting a 300-Yard Drive

OK, here is the 60-year old LawPundit at Golf Club Cochem on the Moselle driving range hitting a drive 300 yards at the start of the 2007 golf season. I swung a bit too hard on this one, but to see why the ball travels as far as it does, turn off the sound and just concentrate on the speed of the clubhead at impact and beyond. Clubhead speed gives you that extra distance. Swing THROUGH.

Link: sevenload.com
Germany has come up with an interesting photo and video site called sevenload that serves for many as an alternative to YouTube. As written at KillerStartups.com:

"Sevenload.com is Germany’s leading digital media platform for photos and videos on the internet."

Sevenload (correctly written without the capital S as sevenload) is available not only in German, but also in English and Turkish, with more languages planned. Here are the links:

sevenload in English : http://en.sevenload.com/
sevenload in German: http://de.sevenload.com/
sevenload in Turkish: http://tr.sevenload.com/

^Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/14/2007 11:01:00 PM

LAW PUNDIT 12/14/2007 07:51:00 PM [Home] [Print]

China and US Patent Reform : The Rule of Law and the Consent of the Governed : The Patent Monopoly Factory

Patent Reform in the USA has drawn the attention of a Chinese expert.

Philip Brooks' Patent Infringement Updates in the posting China Weighs in on U.S. Patent Reform Bill points out that Yongshun Cheng, current director of the Beijing Intellectual Property Institute and one of the top three IP figures in China, is of the opinion that the proposed US Patent Reform Act of 2007 would make it easier for patents to be infringed.

Take a look at Brooks' posting as well as the original translated article by Cheng.

People such as myself, who strongly support the US Patent Reform Act of 2007, appreciate Cheng's concerns and arguments. Any time that you change the laws to restore balance to any system, you are going to get countervailing effects, and some of these may in fact be some of the dangers that Cheng identifies.

Nevertheless, when the law is confronted with a system that is greatly out of balance - then such a system must be tweaked to save the system as a whole, even if the actions to be taken also have some negative implications.

It is imperative - as a matter of the successful rule of law - that laws in force are seen as sensible by the governed so that the governed can give their consent to them and thus give them legitimacy. This is the Jeffersonian doctrine of consent by the governed, which incorporates the idea of limited government. Whenever the government begins to play too large a role in the affairs of business and commerce, you have trouble brewing ahead.

Under current patent law, the government in the United States through the USPTO and the courts has played an increasingly significant role in redistributing wealth in a bizarre fashion to people who have not earned it. The USPTO in granting patents for thousands of obvious inventions - which should in fact have been denied patent protection - and the courts, by enforcing existing patent laws and protecting undeserving patents, have been acting as handmaidens to the virtual extortion of monies by patent holders and patent trolls from legitimate enterprises.

This raises danger signals for democracy.

Obviously, this can not go on, and the Patent Reform Act of 2007 is designed to put a stop to the most obvious flagrant and widespread abuses of patent law - abuses which still daily mark our news headlines.

Read generally Zachary Roth's The Monopoly Factory

^Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/14/2007 07:51:00 PM

LAW PUNDIT 12/14/2007 03:46:00 AM [Home] [Print]

LawPundit Readers From more than 3000 Cities and over 150 Countries

A reader from the 3000th city to visit LawPundit arrived at our blog the year 2007, so we are taking stock of the LawPundit blawg readership, which over the last two years has come from over 150 countries and from more than 500 states, provinces and regions.

Stats at Google Analytics for LawPundit usage by visitors cover a period starting November, 2005.

These stats tell us that our readership is growing by about 15% per year. The average reader spends three minutes at LawPundit and tends to look at the searched archived page that led him to LawPundit as well as at the current main LawPundit blog page.

To our lists of visitors below, we have - primarily for our own use - added some selected - but not comprehensive - links to websites and blogs that relate to or are located visitor countries. This is neither an endorsement of these websites or blogs nor does it mean that these websites or blogs are visitors to LawPundit.

The visitors by country
the order of frequency of their visits according to Google Analytics.

1. United States - Blawgs the USA by State or by category or law school are found at Blawg Search. There are of course many such blogs, e.g. SCOTUSblog (US Supreme Court decisions), Chicago Law School Faculty Blog, Georgetown Law Faculty Blog, Dorf on Law (a Colulmbia prof's law-related musings), How Appealing (appellate litigation), Leonard Link (sexuality and the law), Volokh Conspiracy, ABA Blawg Directory
2. Germany - IP::JUR ( English), Lenz Blog (.en, .de, .jp), David's Medienkritik (a critical blog English about problematical German media coverage of US events), Weblawg.de (see world map of domains), jurabilis, ElbeBlawg, law blog, Streitsache, Telemedicus, TransBlawg (translation blog), Vertretbar Weblawg, JuraBlogs (.de), JuracityBlog (.de)
3. United Kingdom - United Kingdom law blogs at Blawg Search, Law Weblog (from Bournemouth & Poole College), Impact® Freeth Cartwright, Infolaw (UK resources and documents), Binary Law (legal information the digital age), Bank Law Blog, Barrister Blog, Ruthie's Law, Magistrate's Blog, Charon QC , Conflict of Laws, EULawBlogger, Fiona Woolf, GeekLawyer's Blog, Head of Legal, i-legal.info podcasts, Square Mile Law, Binary Law, Landlord Law Blog, Marcel Berlins, Naked Law, Nearly Legal, PubLawyer, nipcLAW, PJHLaw - Employment Law Blog (.uk), TechnoLlama, Diaries of UK Law Students
4. India - Law and Other Things, Law India
5. Canada - Canadian Trademark Blog, Gahtan's Technology and Internet Law Blog, eLegal Canton, Now, Why Didn't I Think of That?, Wise Law Blog, Michael Geist (IP, Technology, DRM), Wines and Information Management (WIM), SLaw
6. Latvia - Latvian Blogs, All About Latvia Blog, Latvian Abroad, Latvian Economy Watch, Marginalia, Resources of Latvia-Related Legal Information, Latvian Law Guide (2002), Latvijas Tiesu Portāls, TTC Terminology and Translation Center Database (LV, EN, RU, DE, FR), Legal.lv legal document database (LV, EN, RU) NAIS, E-jurists, Law Office B2B (LV, EN, RU, DE), elja.org, Baltic Visitor, Lettland blog
7. Australia - Australian Regulatory Compliance Review, Australian Trade Marks Law Blog, Lightbulb (Dilanchian IP Blog), IPwar's, Terra Byte, Peter Black's Freedom to Differ
8. France - Un blog pour l'information juridique (some good info English), le blog Droit administratif, Droit-commun, Journal du Marché Intérieur, Justice au singulier, Olivia Tambou, Quoi de neuf en Europe, Sous Réserve(s)
9. Netherlands - ECJ Blog (ECJ = European Court of Justice), EU Law Blog, Law & Justice, ict-blawg, Comparative Law Blog, With Vigour and Zeal, Law of the EMU and euro, Nutsvoorzieningen
10. Belgium - Brussels Journal, Belgian Blogs, The Antitrust Hotch Potch, Belgian Energy Law

11. Philippines - Philippine e-Legal Forum, Sassy Lawyer
12. Italy - Internet Law - Copyright Law, Dell’Europa e delle pene, Diritto dell’Unione
13. Ireland - IT Law Ireland, Lex Ferenda, Digital Rights Ireland, Irish Law Updates
14. Japan - International Family Law, Lenz Blog (.en, .de, .jp), chosaq
15. Poland - IP Law - Prawo nowoczesnych technologii (Blog poświęcony związkom prawa oraz technologii informatycznych, praw własności intelektualnej), IP Blog, Poland - IP law news and resources
16. Israel - Omer Tene's Blog, Haim Ravia, Lapidot, Melchior
17. Malaysia - The Malaysian
18. Switzerland - EU Case Law
19. Spain - BlogEuropa.eu, Sevach y José Ramón Chaves García, iAbogado, K-Government Blog, Codigo-civil
20. China - Asia Business Intelligence, China Law Blog, IP Dragon 知識產權龍, Chinese Law Prof Blog, China Business Law Blog 中國商法博客, China Daily (China Trademark Law)

21. Sweden - Swedish Law Blog , Grahnlaw at http://grahnlaw.blogspot.com English, http://grahnblawg.blogg.se ( Sweden) and http://bloggen.fi/grahnlaw ( Finland) both Swedish, and http://grahnlaw.blogs.fi Finnish, Surftips - Seniorer, Swedish Corporate Law
22. Singapore - Singapore Law Blog, Singapore: New Media, Politics & the Law
23. Finland - grahnblawg (fi.)
24. Turkey - Turkish Legal Resources, Carpetblogger
25. South Korea - Korea Blogs, The Korean Law Blog, and see also this posting relating to South and North Korea from Wiggin and Dana's Franchise Law Blog
26. New Zealand - mediator blah...blah..., LawFuel
27. Hong Kong SAR China - blogging Hong Kong is dangerous
28. Austria - e-comm, Aktenvermerk, contentandcarrier,
29. Portugal - Blawgs, Instituto Politecnico de Beja (Blawg Directory), Patologia Social
30. Romania - Alexandru Culiuc

31. Norway - Carl Talk - Stormers Blog
32. Denmark - GotzeBlogged English and Gotze 2.0 Danish
33. Brazil - Marcel Leonardi - Direito e Internet, Blawg Links
34. Nigeria - Nigerian Blogs Aggregator, Chippla's Weblog, Nigerian Blogger Cyprus, Blogger Nigeria
35. Greece - Greek Blogs, jorjevio digest
36. Mexico - Mexican Law
37. Taiwan - Taiwan Law
38. South Africa - South Africa Rocks, Blog South Africa, Jacobson Attorneys, Biotechnology Law
39. Hungary - The Blog of Hungary

40. Thailand - Thailand Law Forum
41. Barbados - My Barbados Blog
42. - Russian Law Blog ( English), Sean's Blog (Post-Soviet Blog Links), Blog, [link deleted], Monitor, Gridskipper, Accidental Russophile, Krusenstern, Scraps of Moscow (Russian and Eurasian Blog List)
43. Argentina - Blawgs, E Laws Technologia & derecho
44. Czech Republic - Jiné právo (Zapomeňte na to, že právo je „souborem platných právních norem“. Skutečné právo je jiný svět: je to intelektuální výzva, kontext, zábava, umění, poslání, život... Tento blog přináší novinky a náhodné postřehy ze světa jiného práva)
45. Lithuania - Lituanica, Baltic Visitor, A Guide to the Lithuanian Legal System
46. Pakistan - Guide to Pakistan Law
47. United Arab Emirates - Travel to UAE
48. (unknown origin visitors)
49. Estonia - Baltic Visitor
50. Serbia And Montenegro - Expat-Blog

51. Iran - Iran News at the New York Times
52. Egypt - Egyptian Blog Ring, Egypt expat blogs
53. Bulgaria - Maya's Corner
54. Luxembourg - EuroYank Discovering Luxembourg
55. Slovakia - Slovakian Blogs
56. Vietnam - Our Man Hanoi
57. Ivory Coast - World Cup Blog
58. Indonesia - Indonesian Law Reporter (Indolawreport), Anggara First, Blog Indonesia, Law Journal
59. Slovenia - The Glory of Carniola
60. Malta - Malta-Blogger.com

61. Croatia - All about Croatia
62. Cyprus - Cyprus Blogs
63. Ecuador - Top 500
64. Jordan - An American Jordan,
65. Ukraine - Neeka's Backlog, Greetings from Kyiv
66. Saudi Arabia - Bloggers Saudi Arabia
67. Chile - Blawg Links
68. Iceland - Iceland Eyes
69. Kenya - Kenyan Pundit, Africaincorp (Africa), Africa Expat Wives Club
70. Puerto Rico - Puerto Rico Law Blog / Abogado en Puerto Rico - BoricuaLaw, Puerto Rico Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers

71. Bahamas - Bahamas Tourist Guide
72. Colombia - Colombia Positiva
73. Kuwait - Kuwait Blogs
74. Costa Rica - Costa Rica Blogs
75. Sri Lanka - Sri Lanka Blog Directory
76. Venezuela - Braulio Jatar Alonso
77. Bangladesh - Law Chronicles Online
78. Ghana - My Heart's Accra, Ghana Bloggers, Ghana Blogs
79. Morocco - My Marrakesh
80. Albania - Albania Blogs

81. Mauritius - Mauritius
82. Trinidad and Tobago - Trinidad and Tobago News Blog
83. Peru - PracticalLegal: Sólo Merketing Legal, Mercolex
84. Benin - Africa Ready for Business
85. Oman - Oman Blogs, Oman Expat Blogs
86. Ethiopia - Ethiopian Blogs and Bloggers
87. Georgia - Kaukasus, Georgia & South Caucasus
88. Macedonia - Macedonian Blogs
89. Jamaica - Stet by Ria Bacon
90. Lebanon - Open Lebanon

91. Nepal - Nepalese Blogs
92. Qatar - Blogs about Qatar
93. Syria - SyriaComment.com, Syria Planet
94. Togo - Togo Tribune
95. U.S. Virgin Islands - Virgin Islands Law Blog
96. Azerbaijan - Blog Toplist, Azerbaijan Blogs
97. Dominican Republic - Dominican Republic Live, Expat Blogs
98. Tanzania - Global Voices
99. Bahrain - Bahrain Blogs Aggregator, Best of the Arab Blogs
100. Iraq - Michael J. Totten

101. Kazakhstan - KZ BLog, Kazakhstan Blogs
102. Tunisia - Tunesian Blog Awards
103. Uganda - Uganda-CAN
104. Gibraltar - BritBlogs Gibraltar
105. Guatemala - Global Voices Online Guatemala
106. Honduras - Honduras Blogs, Expat Blogs Honduras
107. Moldova -Law Moldova, EuroBlog, Doi Ani de Zile: Adventures Moldova
108. Namibia - Blogs about Namibia
109. Panama - L'Observatoire du Droit Panaemeen et du Droit International
110. Saint Lucia - St. Lucia Blogs

111. Senegal - savagebeasts, Blogs about Senegal
112. Zambia - New Zambia
113. Zimbabwe - For Everything Related, This is Zimbabwe
114. Algeria - Algerian Blogs
115. Antigua and Barbuda - Antigua and Barbuda Blogs
116. Belarus - Belarus Blogs, Belarusan American Blog
117. Bermuda - Bermuda on de Rock, a Limey Bermuda, Under the Bermuda Sun,
118. Bolivia - Bolivia Blogs
119. Bosnia and Herzegovina - Bosnia and Herzegovina Blogs
120. Brunei - Simpur Brunei Blogging Nation

121. Cambodia - Cambodia Blogs
122. Cayman Islands - Cayman Islands Blogs
123. Grenada - Travel Pod Blog
124. Guam - Dave Owen's Guam Blog, Guam Blogs
125. Mongolia - Mongolia Culture Blog, The Mongolian Monitor
126. Palestinian Territory - Blogs about Palestinian Territory
127. Uzbekistan - Uzbekistan Blogs
128. Yemen - Yemen Blogs
129. Afghanistan - Afghanistan Blogs
130. American Samoa - American Samoa Blogs

131. Antarctica - Antarctica Blog
132. Armenia - The Armenia Blog, Hetq Online, Blogrel
133. Aruba - Blogs about Aruba, This is Aruba
134. Dominica - Living Dominica
135. El Salvador - Tim's El Salvador Blog
136. Eritrea - Eritrea Blogs
137. Fiji - Stuck Fiji M.U.D., Fiji Voices
138. French Polynesia - Blogs about Tahiti, Jiriki
139. Guadeloupe - Guadelupe Blogs
140. Kyrgyzstan - Blogs about Kyrgyzstan

141. Libya - Libyan Blogs
142. Liechtenstein - Hobo Traveler
143. Macao SAR China - Macao SAR of China Newsfeed
144. Malawi - Malawi's Blogosphere at Soyapi Mumba's Blog
145. Maldives - Maldives Blogs
146. Mali - Mali Blogs
147. Micronesia - Blogs about Micronesia
148. Monaco - Monte Carlo Daily Photo, Young Royal News
149. Myanmar (Burma) - Global Voices, Burma (Myanmar) Blog
150. Netherlands Antilles - Karel's Legal Blog

151. Nicaragua - Between the Waves
152. Northern Mariana Islands - Northern Mariana Islands Blogs
153. Paraguay - Paraguay Blogs
154. Rwanda - Rwanda Blogs
155. Saint Kitts and Nevis - Discover Saint Kitts and Nevis Beaches
156. Sudan - The Passion of the Present
157. Turkmenistan - Nahili Innovation

Some thus far non-visiting countries are: Angola, Burkina Faso, Burundi (Burundi blog, African Path), Cameroon (Cameroon bloggers), DR Congo (Eye on Africa, Congo Bloggers at BrianJBecker.com),
Gabon, Guinea Konakry, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Madagascar,

For a large list of blogs by country see World Blogs. For blog rankings see The Truth Laid Bare.

The visitors by state, province or region
are ranked below order of frequency according to Google Analytics.
We were going to put links next to each location and started doing so, but we think it is better to use a search engine for more information if such is needed.

1. (undeterminable)
2. Rheinland-Pfalz (Trier, Rhineland Palatinate, DE) - LawPundit
3. California - California Blawgs
4. England - England Blogs
5. New York - New York blawgs, nyc bloggers
6. Texas - Texas Blawgs
7. Illinois - Illinois Blawgs
8. Florida - Florida Blawgs
9. Ohio - Ohio Blawgs
10. Pennsylvania - Pennsylvania Blawgs
11. Virginia - Virginia Blawgs
12. Ontario (Toronto, Ottawa, CA) - Ontario Personal Bankruptcy Blog
13. Georgia - Georgia Blawgs, Surreal Georgia
14. Massachusetts - Massachusetts Blawgs
15. North Carolina - North Carolina Blawgs
16. New Jersey - New Jersey Blawgs
17. Michigan - Michigan Blawgs
18. Washington (State) - Washington Blawgs
19. District of Columbia (Washington D.C.) - D.C. Bloggers
20. Missouri - Missouri Blawgs
21. Nebraska - HuskerBlawgs
22. Arizona - Arizona Blawgs
23. Maryland - Maryland Blawgs
24. Colorado - Colorado Blawgs
25. Nordrhein-Westfalen (Ruhr Valley, Northrhine-Westfalia, DE) - Sirchin
26. Hessen (Frankfurt am Main, Hesse, DE) -Sirchin
27. Minnesota - Minnesota Blawgs
28. Delhi () - New Delhi Times
29. Oregon - Oregon Blawgs
30. Maharashtra (Mumbai, formerly Bombay, ) - Foodie's Hope
31. Bayern (Munich, Bavaria, DE) - Bavaria
32. Wisconsin - Wisconsin Blawgs
33. Tennessee - Tennessee Blawgs
34. Louisiana - Louisiana Blawgs
35. Ile-de-France (Paris, FR) - Key Figures, Paris Region
36. Indiana - Indiana Blawgs
37. Brussels (BE) - Brussels Media, Belgian Blog Awards
38. Connecticut - Connecticut Blawgs
39. New South Wales (Sydney, AU) - World's Oldest Blogger at LiveLeak (108 years old)
40. British Columbia (Vancouver, CA)
41. Noord-Holland (Amsterdam, NL)
42. Dublin (IR)
43. Oklahoma - Oklahoma Blawgs
44. South Carolina - South Carolina Blawgs
45. Kansas - Kansas Blawgs
46. Kentucky - Kentucky Blawgs
47. Utah - Utah Blawgs
48. Alabama - Alabama Blawgs
49. Baden-Württemberg (Stuttgart, DE)
50. Quebec (CA)
51. Tamil Nadu (Chennai, formerly Madras, )
52. Scotland (GB, UK)
53. Manila, (PH)
54. Iowa - Iowa Blawgs
55. Nevada - Nevada Blawgs
56. Hawaii - Hawaii Blawgs, Raising Islands
57. Arkansas - Arkansas Blawgs
58. Victoria (Melbourne, AU)
59. Tokyo (JP)
60. Queensland (Brisbane, AU)
61. Berlin (DE)
62. Idaho
63. Zurich (CH)
64. Alberta (Edmonton, Calgary, CA)
65. Milan (IT)
66. Auckland (Aotearoa, NZ)
67. Mississippi - Mississippi Blawgs
68. New Mexico - New Mexico Blawgs
69. Karnataka (Bangalore, )
70. Niedersachsen (Hannover, Göttingen, Lower Saxony, DE)
71. Lisboa (PT)
72. The Province of Southern Finland (Helsinki, FI)
73. Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur (MY)
74. Hamburg (DE)
75. New Hampshire - New Hampshire Law Blog
76. Oslo (NO)
77. Attiki (Athens, GR)
78. Vienna (AT)
79. Seoul City (KR)
80. Maine - Maine Law Blawgs
81. Taipei (Taiwan, TW)
82. HaMerkaz (Gush Dan, Israel)
83. Rhode Island - Rhode Island Blawgs
84. Rome (IT)
85. Stockholms lan (SE)
86. Zuid-Holland (The Hague, Rotterdam, NL)
87. Copenhagen (DK)
88. Krung Thep Maha Nakhon Bangkok (TH)
89. West Virginia - West Virginia Blawgs
90. Mazowieckie (Warsaw, Masowia, PL)
91. Bucuresti (Bucharest, RO)
92. Budapest (HU)
93. Hefa (Haifa, IL)
94. Alaska - Alaska Blawgs
95. Manitoba (Winnipeg, CA)
96. Gauteng (Johannesburg, ZA)
97. Madrid (ES)
98. Pomorskie (Gdansk, PL)
99. Western Australia (Perth, AU)
100. Beijing (CN)
101. Delaware - Delaware Blawgs
102. Moscow (Russian Federation)
103. Vermont - Vermont Blawgs
104. Sao Paulo (BR)
105. South Australia (Adelaide, AU)
106. Sachsen (Dresden, Leipzig, Saxony, DE)
107. Stredocesky kraj (Czech Republic, CZ)
108. Madhya Pradesh (Bhopal, Indore, )
109. Distrito Federal (Mexico City, MX)
110. Capital federal (Buenos Aires, AR)
111. Osaka (JP)
112. Srbija (RS)
113. Wyoming - Law Library Letter
114. Andhra Pradesh (Hyderabad, )
115. Nova Scotia (Halifax, CA)
116. South Dakota - S.D. Watch
117. The Province of Western Finland (Tampere, FI)
118. Antwerp (BE)
119. Istanbul (TR)
120. Montana - Montana Blawgs
121. Sofija-Grad (Sofia, BG)
122. Vastra Gotalands lan (Gothenburg, SE)
123. Tel-Aviv (IL)
124. Zagrebacka zupanija (Zagreb, Croatia (Hrvatska), HR)
125. Barcelona (ES)
126. Bremen (DE)
127. Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur (Nice, French Riviera, FR)
128. Tehran (IR)
129. Noord-Brabant (Eindhoven, NL)
130. Uttar Pradesh (Lucknow, Kanpur, )
131. Ankara (TR)
132. Saskatchewan (Saskatoon, Regina, CA)
133. Utrecht (NL)
134. Wales (GB, UK)
135. Gujarat (Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad, )
136. Jakarta Raya (ID)
137. Rhône-Alpes (Lyon, FR)
138. Geneva (Switzerland, Confoederatio Helvetica, CH)
139. Region Metropolitana de Santiago (CL)
140. Australian Capital Territory (Canberra, AU)
141. Chiba (JP)
142. Shanghai (CN)
143. Guangdong (Guangzhou, CN)
144. Lemesos (Limassol, CY)
145. Skane lan (Malmö, SE)
146. Northern Ireland (UK)
147. New Providence (Nassau, Bahamas, BS)
148. Gelderland (Nijmegen, Apeldoorn, Arnhem, NL)
149. Limburg (Maastricht, NL)
150. Wielkopolskie (Poznan, PL)
151. Bologna (IT)
152. Brandenburg (Potsdam, DE)
153. Kerala (Thiruvananthapuram, )
154. North Dakota
155. Nuevo León (MOnterrey, MX)
156. Rajasthan (Jaipur, )
157. West Bengal (Kolkata, formerly Calcutta, )
158. Diatrito Federal (Caracas, Venezuela, VE)
159. Fujian (Fuzhou, CN)
160. Basel-City (CH)
161. Malopolskie (Krakow, PL)
162. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Schwerin, DE)
163. New Brunswick (Saint John, CA)
164. Overijssel (Enschede, Zwolle, NL)
165. Pays de la Loire (Nantes, FR)
166. Punjab (Chandigarh, )
167. Schleswig-Holstein (Kiel, DE)
168. Slaskie (Katowice, Silesia, PL)
169. Dolnoslaskie (Wroclaw, Lower Silesia, PL)
170. Flemish Brabant (Leuven, BE)
171. Flevopolder (Lelystad, Flevoland, NL)
172. Gyeonggi-do (Suwon, KR)
173. Izmir (Smyrna, TR)
174. Jiangsu (Nanjing, CN)
175. Kyïv (Kiev, Ukraine, UA)
176. Languedoc-Roussillon (Montpelier, FR)
177. Lima (PE)
178. Midi-Pyrenees (Toulouse, FR)
179. Pichincha (Quito, Ecuador, EC)
180. Saarland (Saarbrücken, DE)
181. Wellington (NZ)
182. Western Cape (Cape Town, ZA)
183. Aichi (Nagoya, JP)
184. Alsace (Strasbourg, FR)
185. Bern (CH)
186. Kanagawa (Yokohama, JP)
187. Naples (IT)
188. Sankt-Petersburg (RU)
189. Aquitaine (Bordeaux, FR)
190. Auvergne (Clermont-Ferrand, FR)
191. Cluj (RO)
192. Fyn (Funen, Odense, DK)
193. Gyór (HU)
194. West Flanders (Bruges, De Haan, Knokke-Heist)
195. Zachodnio-Pomorskie (West Pomerania, Szczecin)
196. Cork (IR)
197. Distrito Capltal de Santa Fe de Bogotã (Bogota, CO)
198. East Flanders (Ghent, Sint-Niklaas, BE)
199. Florence (IT)
200. Groningen (NL)
201. Jalisco (Guadalajara, MX)
202. Kosovo-Metohija (RS)
203. Kyoto (JP)
204. Newfoundland and Labrador (St. John's, CA)
205. Nord-Pas-de-Calais (Lille, FR)
206. Oita (JP)
207. Pest (Budapest, HU)
208. Sachsen-Anhalt (Saxony-Anhalt, Magdeburg, Halle, DE)
209. Selangor (Klang, Shah Alam, Petaling Jaya, MY)
210. Taranaki (New Plymouth, NZ)
211. Thüringen (Eichsfeld, Gotha, Erfurt, DE)
212. Upper Austria (Linz, AT)
213. Vaud (Lausanne, CH)
214. Vorarlberg
215. Aarhus
216. Adana
217. Faro
218. Hainaut
219. Haryana
220. Iasi
221. Severoceaky kraj
222. Soer-Troendelag
223. Styria
224. Trieste
225. Ar Riyad
226. Bari
227. Cebu
228. Centre
229. Federal District
230. Free State
231. Hsinchu
232. Hubei
233. Johor
234. Liaoning
235. Lodzkie
236. Lorraine
237. Palermo
238. Picardie
239. Pisa (IT)
240. Podkarpackie
241. Poitou-Charentes
242. Rio de Janeiro
243. Rogaland
244. Roskilde
245. The Province of Oulu
246. Torino
247. Trento
248. Uppsala lan (SE)
249. Verona
250. Vizcaya
251. Yerushalayim Al Quds
252. Zhejiang
253. Ancona
254. Antioquia
255. Ash Sharqlyah
256. Azuay
257. Baja California
258. Brittany
259. Buenos Aires
260. Burgundy
261. Crna Gora
262. Daegu Metropolitan City
263. Davao del Sur
264. Dolj
265. Drenthe
266. Fukuoka
267. Galway
268. Genoa
269. Goias
270. Guayas
271. Henan
272. Hordaland
273. Jawa Barat
274. Jihocesky kraj
275. Kronobergs lan
276. Kwazulu-Natal
277. Limerick
278. Luxembourg
279. Minas Gerais
280. Morelos
281. Negros Oriental
282. Nordjylland
283. Normandy - Upper
284. Northern Territory
285. Okinawa
286. Olt
287. Ostergotlands lan
288. Parana
289. Podlaskie
290. Pulau Pinang
291. Ringkoebing
292. Rio Grande do Sul
293. Salerno
294. Santa Catarina
295. Shandong
296. Sligo
297. Tasmania
298. The Province of Eastern Finland
299. Thessaloniki
300. Tochigi
301. Vasternorrlands lan
302. Andalucía
303. Anhui
304. Aveiro
305. Azarb&yjan-e-Sharq
306. Basel-Country
307. Bergamo
308. Bihor
309. Busan Metropolitan City
310. Canterbury
311. Carinthia
312. Channel Islands
313. Daejeon Metropolitan City
314. Diyarbakır
315. Gavleborgs lan
316. Gulzhou
317. Haskovo
318. Hebei
319. Hualien
320. Hunan
321. Hyogo
322. Ibaraki
323. Içel
324. Jawa Timur
325. Jihomoravsky kraj
326. Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok
327. Khoràsàn
328. Kocaeli
329. Krasnodarskiy kray
330. La Paz
331. Lubuskie
332. Odes 'ka Oblast'
333. Orebro lan
334. Orissa
335. Otago
336. Padua
337. Pahang
338. Pampanga
339. País Vasco (Basque Country)
340. Primorskiy kray
341. Querétaro
342. Quezon
343. Rimini
344. Saitama
345. Salzburg
346. Samsun
347. Setúbal
348. Shaanxi
349. Sodermanlands lan
350. Sonora
351. Soveromoravsky kraj
352. Storstroem
353. Taichung
354. Tamaulipas
355. The Province of Lapland
356. Tianjin
357. Timis
358. Tipperary
359. Varna
360. Vasterbottens lan
361. Vastmanlands lan
362. Vestsjaelland
363. Vicenza
364. Vojvodina
365. Warminsko-Mazurskie
366. Yogyakarta JW
367. Zala
368. Zeeland
369. Aargau
370. Alessandria
371. Alicante
372. Aomori
373. Arge'
374. Asmara
375. Asturias
376. Atlántico
377. Avellino
378. Bacau
379. Bahia
380. Baranya
381. Bashkortostan, Republic
382. Beja
383. Bihar
384. Bolzano
385. Braga
386. Brescia
387. Burgenland
388. Bursa
389. Cavite
390. Ceara
391. Champagne-Ardenne
392. Chihuahua
393. Colmbra
394. Como
395. Corsica
396. Csongrád
397. Dalarnas lan
398. Donets'ka Oblast'
399. Durango
400. Eastern Cape
401. Esfahan
402. Eskişehir
403. Fars
404. Federacija Bosna i Hercegovina
405. Fejér
406. Ferrara
407. Finnmark
408. Frederiksborg
409. Fribourg
410. Friesland
411. Gangwon-do
412. Gaziantep
413. Goa
414. Gotlands lan
415. Guipuzcoa
416. Gyeongsangnam-do
417. HaDarom
418. Hallands lan
419. Harghita
420. Heves
421. Hidalgo
422. Iloilo
423. Isle Of Man
424. Jeollabuk-do
425. Jiangxi
426. Kagoshima
427. Kaohsiung
428. Karditsa
429. Kedah
430. Kelantan
431. Kharkivs'ka Oblast'
432. Kildare
433. Kochi
434. Komárom-Esztergom
435. L'vivs'ka Oblast'
436. Larisa
437. Liege (FR)
438. Lower Austria
439. Lubelskie
440. Lucerne
441. Mayo
442. Misamis Oriental
443. Moere og Romsdal
444. Nara
445. Nei Monggol
446. Nelson
447. Neuchatel
448. Niigata
449. Nizhegorodskaya oblast
450. Niğde
451. Nordland
452. Norrbottens lan
453. Northwest Territories
454. Novgorodskaya oblast
455. Oaxaca
456. Okayama
457. Opolskie
458. Osjecko-baranjska zupanija
459. Pafos
460. Parma
461. Perugia
462. Plovdiv
463. Pordenone
464. Prince Edward Island
465. Pskovskaya oblast
466. Puebla
467. Reggio Emilia
468. Regiao AutOnoma da Madeira
469. Ribe
470. Rio Grande do Norte
471. Rizal
472. SIstan va Balûchestan
473. Saga
474. Salaj
475. Sarawak
476. Savona
477. Shizuoka
478. Sichua
479. Sinaloa
480. Stavropol'skiy kray
481. Sums 'ka Oblast'
482. Swietokrzyskie
483. Tainan
484. Tambovskaya oblast
485. Taranto
486. Tekirdağ
487. Telemark
488. Tolna
489. Tomskaya oblast
490. Trabzon
491. Troms
492. Tyrol (AT)
493. Valais
494. Valencia
495. Valladolid
496. Varese
497. Varmlands lan
498. Vaslui
499. Vest-Agder
500. Viborg
501. Vinnyts'ka Oblast'
502. Waterford
503. Wilayah Persekutuan Labuan
504. Yukon Territory
505. Yunnan
506. Zaporiz'ka Oblast'
507. Západocesky kraj
508. Çanakkale - Photo Gallery

For 2007, the top ten cities etc. by the number of visitors are:

1. Trier, Germany (the LawPundit lives this region and taught at the University of Trier Law School)
2. New York City, NY, USA - nyc bloggers
3. Riga, Latvia
4. London, UK
5. Los Angeles, California, USA
6. Atlanta, Georgia, USA
7. San Francisco, California USA
8. Washington (DC), USA (people government read LawPundit) - Legal Juice
9. Frankfurt am Main, Germany
10. Chicago, Illinois, USA
11. Seattle, Washington (state), USA
12. Delhi, India
13. Houston, Texas, USA
14. Dallas, Texas, USA
15. Dublin, Ireland
16. Phoenix, Arizona, USA
17. Toronto, Canada
18. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
19. Miami, Florida, USA
20. San Diego, California, USA
21. Irvine, Orange County, California, USA (high tech center)
22. Denver, Colorado, USA
23. Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
24. Boston, Massachusetts, USA
25. Orlando, Florida, USA
26. Portland, Oregon, USA
27. Athens, Greece
28. Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
29. Mumbai, India (formerly Bombay)
30. Pleasanton, CA (Alameda County, California), USA (high tech center, ranked the wealthiest middle-class city the USA by the Census Bureau 2005) - The Dilbert Blog neighborhood
31. Kansas City, Missouri, USA
32. Omaha, Nebraska, USA
33. Amsterdam, Netherland
34. Paris, France
35. Birmingham, UK
36. Lincoln, Nebraska, USA
37. Sydney, Australia
38. Chennai, India (formerly Madras)
39. Columbus, Ohio, USA
40. Montreal, Canada
41. Tampa, Florida, USA
42. Berlin, Germany
43. Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
44. Arlington, Virginia, USA
45. Austin, Texas, USA
46. Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
47. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
48. St. Louis, Missouri, USA - St.Louis Blawgs
49. Richardson (U of Texas at Dallas)
50. Nashville, Tennessee, USA
51. Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA
52. Louisville, Kentucky, USA
53. Singapore
54. Boise, Idaho, USA
55. Manchester, UK
56. Richmond, Virginia, USA
57. Sacramento, California, USA
58. Brussels, Belgium
59. San Jose, California, USA
60. Southfield (near Detroit), Michigan, USA (MEDA aWard, best website)
61. Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
62. New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
63. Newark, New Jersey, USA
64. Syracuse, New York, USA
65. Cleveland, Ohio, USA
66. Essen, Germany
67. Jackson, Mississippi, USA
68. Jacksonville, Florida, USA
69. Brentford (Greater London), UK
70. Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
71. Norfolk, Virginia, USA
72. Ottawa, Canada
73. Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
74. Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
75. Munich, Germany
76. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
77. Rancho Santa Margarita, California, USA (South Orange County)
78. Tokyo, Japan
79. Alexandria, Virginia, USA
80. Auckland, New Zealand
81. Buffalo, New York, USA
82. Cologne, Germany
83. Elmhurst (suburb of Chicago), Illinois, USA
84. Hartford, Connecticut, USA
85. Littleton, Colorado, USA - Littleton government
86. Milan, Italy
87. Rockville, Maryland, USA
88. Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
89. Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
90. Ft. Worth, Texas, USA
91. Helsinki, Finland
92. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
93. Lisbon, Portugal
94. Manila, Philippines
95. San Antonio, Texas
96. Spokane, Washington -
97. Thames Ditton (a suburb of Greater London), UK - Wulfweard the White
98. Vienna, Austria - Vienna Daily Photo, Change Management Blog
99. Zurich, Switzerland - Zürich Daily Photo, Expat-Experience Zürich

^Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/14/2007 03:46:00 AM

LAW PUNDIT Thursday, December 13, 2007 12/13/2007 06:23:00 PM [Home] [Print]

The Amazing Swirling Dancing Silhouette Appears to Swirl Either Right or Left Depending on the Dominant Half of Your Brain

Via Terra Byte. If you stare at the swirling silhouette figure long enough, you should see her swirling left sometimes and right sometimes, at least, we can.

The swirling silhouette is an optical illusion.

We have discovered that if you stare at the shadow of her lower foot, that shadow foot goes back and forth left and right but never goes full around, and that is the secret of the entire figure - which never does in fact go around in a full circle. We looked at the animated dancer.gif offline with Paint Shop Pro Animation and that is in fact the conclusion to be drawn.

By the way, the shadow of the arms at the bottom goes right - middle - left always.

^Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/13/2007 06:23:00 PM

LAW PUNDIT 12/13/2007 02:01:00 PM [Home] [Print]

SpringWidgets from Fox Interactive Media : Web Widget Applications for Bloggers and Desktops Widgets for Users, e.g. RSS Widget

Web Widgets and Desktop Widgets (small customizable easily portable applications) are the coming thing, no question about it.

SpringWidgets from Fox Interactive Media

We have, for example, tried out and applied the customizable SpringWidgets as launched in November 2007 by Fox Interactive Media. We have installed a SpringWidget on our desktop as an RSS reader widget and find it to be a possible replacement for our old-fashioned blog readers and news aggregators. Moreover, one can make one's own SpringWidget, e.g. our LawPundit Widget, which we feature at the top of the right column of our blawg (this is similar to the SpringWidget RSS desktop widget). It is an easy method of publishing and syndicating blog postings just about anywhere, including social networking sites and by e-mail.

SpringWidgets have been reviewed by Michael Arrington at TechCrunch, who writes inter alia:

"Each widget can be embedded on a website or placed on a desktop. And they are easily shared, so if a website visitor sees a widget they like they can click a link and add it to their own site, or their desktop, or both. That’s an important innovation, and a useful one for websites. For example, a blog could include a widget on the site that shows the RSS feed for the blog. Loyal readers could download the widget to their desktop."

^Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/13/2007 02:01:00 PM

LAW PUNDIT Tuesday, December 11, 2007 12/11/2007 05:00:00 AM [Home] [Print]

Data and Document Storage and Retrieval : Does the "E" in E-Discovery stand for "Expensive" ?

At the relatively new ALM site, EDD Update, Monica Bay (known inter alia for her blog The Common Scold) refers to an article by Terry Sweeney in Byte & Switch titled " 'E' in E-Discovery May Be for 'Expensive' ", dealing with the burgeoning problem of costs for data and document storage and retrieval.

^Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/11/2007 05:00:00 AM

LAW PUNDIT 12/11/2007 02:49:00 AM [Home] [Print]

LawPundit Patent Reform Act Posting is Rated at the Postgrad Level - Megaliths.net is Rated at the Genius level : OK - It's All in Good Fun

We ran some blog readability tests on LawPundit, for example on our recent posting on the Patent Reform Act of 2007.

Criticsrant.com gave that posting a College PostGrad rating:

Criticsrant.com

But we did better with our work on the megaliths. Our main page at Megaliths.net received the genius rating (we knew it all along):

Criticsrant.com

We posted at LawPundit about these readability tests nearly a year ago on January 6, 2007.
See our posting on Website and Blog Readability Tests Online.

Hat tip to Chinese Law Prof Blog where we saw the recent link to Criticsrant.com.

^Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/11/2007 02:49:00 AM

LAW PUNDIT Monday, December 10, 2007 12/10/2007 01:02:00 AM [Home] [Print]

European Patent Office (EPO) Revokes Amazon Gift Ordering Patent as Not Being an Inventive Step acc. to Article 56 of European Patent Convention (EPC)

Via German patent attorney Axel H. Horns at his blog on intellectual property law (Blog@IP::JUR) we became aware today that the European Patent Office (EPO) - after an opposition hearing - has revoked the Amazon "Gift Order Patent" (not to be confused with the Amazon 1-Click Patent, which was never granted in Europe).

The December 7, 2007 EPO Press Release reads as follows:

EPO revokes Amazon's "Gift Ordering" patent after opposition hearing

The so-called "Gift Order Patent" has been revoked by the EPO in an opposition proceeding today after a hearing involving three opposing parties and the patent proprietor, Amazon Inc. The patent relates to a method for purchasing goods over the Internet to be sent as gifts.

The contested patent is European Patent EP 0 927 945, granted to Amazon Inc. on 23 April 2003. This patent relates to an invention in the field of computer-implemented inventions (CII). It specifies a method by which a person can purchase a product as a gift and have it shipped based on the e-mail address of the recipient. Based on this e-mail address, the system will then contact the recipient to obtain a valid postal address for shipping. This patent is not to be confused with the “One-Click” patent application, which was withdrawn after the first EPO examination and never granted in Europe.

The parties who have lodged opposition against the patent – all of whom were represented at the hearing – are Fleurop Interflora Businesses and two non-government organisations in the IT field, namely the German Society of Information Sciences, and the Foundation for Free Information Infrastructure (FFII).

One of the opposition’s main arguments against the patent – among others – was that it fell short of meeting the criteria of providing an “inventive step”, as defined in Article 56 of the European Patent Convention (EPC). On these grounds, the three opposing parties asked for the patent to be revoked.

The European Patent Office as an intergovernmental executive institution is not itself a party to this case. The EPO's Opposition Division acts as an independent arbiter and issues rulings in conformity with the European Patent Convention and the applicable international and European law.

About the European Patent Office
Background Information on Computer Implemented Inventions (CII)

See also
Slashdot - 2007
and
IPEG - undesirable patents in 2006

Please note: Over the last few years, we have believed that our view at LawPundit of modern developing patent law is and has been more realistic than that of much of the legal mainstream. We think that our opinions at LawPundit accurately represent the trend and direction of intellectual property law in general, and that this EPO decision is just more evidence of that legal vector of development, both in the USA and Europe.

^Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/10/2007 01:02:00 AM

LAW PUNDIT Sunday, December 09, 2007 12/09/2007 10:41:00 PM [Home] [Print]

Apple's Steve Jobs Has a Message : Stay Hungry for Life and Pursue your Destiny

Via the MindValley Blog (the blog is now found here), we ran across the 2005 Stanford Commencement Address as delivered by Steve Jobs of Apple. That speech is known under the title of "Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish" and contains an essential message which is timeless. Jobs urges us to stay hungry for life and to stay foolish in following our own inner voice and pursuing our own individual destiny.

Do yourself a favor and read what he said,

or, better yet, view the YouTube video of the speech

and/or show it to your children:

We found the video via Top 12 Inspirational Videos from YouTube

and YouTube video of Jobs' 2005 speech at Stanford.

Here are a couple of excerpts:

"Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life....

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

Yup, that's right.

^Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/09/2007 10:41:00 PM

LAW PUNDIT 12/09/2007 02:30:00 AM [Home] [Print]

The Conception of a Child is Not an Invention - But Don't Be Too Sure : The Patenting of Living Things is In Vogue

Somewhere in the near future.... government agent Troll stands on the broad side of a hill and views the brightly burning wheat in the valley below. As far as the eye can see, the fields of harvest-ripe grain are engulfed in flames, as Troll's pyromanic troops - armed with a court injunction to stop patent-infringing plant growth immediately - dutifully destroy the autumn harvest crop of the patent-infringing clan of the Hungries. "That'l learn 'ya," yells Troll out loud to the fleeing Hungries, "patents rule the world, and don't forget it".

How did the status of the patent law reach that scenario?

The Patenting of Living Things - Granting Monopolies on Life Forms

The patenting of living things - as so many other patent areas - has gotten out of hand at the USPTO, as written up at the New York Tiimes by Michael Chrichton in Patenting Life.

Chrichton's comments are contested at Patent Docs, but we find the latter unpersuasive and one-sided, as it takes an - in our opinion - pro-patent apologist position to dangers that others see, rather than tackling the hard issues of constitutional law, patent abuse and the fact that patents often create monopolies that in turn grant money and power to their holders which far outlive the length of the patent, to the detriment of the common weal.

Reach-Through Royalties Extend the Duration and Scope of Patents

Indeed, "reach-through royalties", which can contractually bind the user of a patent far beyond the expiration date and scope of the patent, have become common. As written at the Wiggin and Dana Biotechnologly and Life Sciences Advisory, When Is A Reach-Through License Appropriate, BioInsights, April 2002, Issue 4:

"A reach-through license creates royalties to the research tool developer on the sales of products that are discovered or developed through use of the research tool, even though the patented invention is not incorporated into the final product, i.e., the manufacture, use and sale of the final product does not infringe any patents claiming the enabling tool. The recent proliferation of reach-through licenses has created controversy, with proponents arguing that reach-through licenses create incentives to further research tool development, while opponents claim that reach-through licenses extend the patent rights of the research tool owner, inhibiting dissemination, freedom of use and ultimately research and product development."

See also the DOJ's Variations on Intellectual Property Licensing Practices
and IP Handbook of Best Practices

Patent Monopolies Far Outlive the Actual Duration of Patents

As someone who has spent many professional years in the highly profitable monopoloy-and-patent-based pharmaceutical and chemical industries, it is not without reason that we wrote previously at LawPundit:

"One of the things that the political, corporate and legal establishment in the United States does not appear to appreciate is that patent monopolies, once granted, far outlive the actual duration of patents, and give the holders of those patents - on a silver platter - industrial empires which last centuries. The best example of that in Europe is the post monopoly of Thurn & Taxis, whose family, hundreds of years later, is still one of the wealthiest families in Europe.

Alexander Graham Bell's patents were challenged something like 600 times during his lifetime, but his patent-based monopoly could not be shaken and AT&T (later known as "Ma Bell") went on to control nearly the entire US telephone market, creating one of the most powerful monopolies of the modern business age."

Patent Monopolies, Anti-Trust and the Federal Circuit

The purpose of the patent provision of the US Constitution was to enable inventors to profit fairly from their discoveries. The actual application of the patent provision of the Constitution by legislators and courts has led, by contrast, however, to the creation of economically harmful vast monopolies, which are characterized by all of the monopoly evils that laws such as the anti-trust laws were once designed to prevent, but which are ineffectual against patent-based monopoly power. Indeed, Robin Feldman, in Should We Breathe Life into Patent Misuse?, has written:

"In the last decade, the Federal Circuit has reframed the doctrine of patent misuse by prohibiting a finding of misuse without the application of antitrust law. This shift has all but eliminated patent misuse as a live doctrine, separate from antitrust. The Federal Circuit’s approach is inconsistent with legislative and judicial precedent and threatens to distort both patent and antitrust law."

Marcia Coyle at The National Law Journal on October 19, 2006 wrote about the heart of the problem in Critics Target Federal Circuit: Reversals cast patent court in harsh light. Our own criticism of the overly pro-patent, seemingly insular Federal Circuit certainly mirrors what Coyle writes in that article, for example:

"With the recent Senate confirmation of Judge Kimberly Moore, the court now has a full complement of 12 active judges....

Last year, before she became a Federal Circuit judge, Moore, in an empirical study of district court reversals, reported the reversal rate, eight years after the Supreme Court ruling, was rising instead of declining as judges got more experience with claim construction.

The fault, she wrote, rests with the Federal Circuit, which was not providing sufficient guidance: "There have not evolved any clear canons of claim construction to aid district court judges, and in fact the Federal Circuit judges seem to disagree among themselves regarding the tools available for claim construction." "

Coyle quotes Timothy R. Holbrook about the US Supreme Court and the Federal Circuit:

""I think the Supreme Court has started to pay attention to patent law for two reasons: disquiet with the Federal Circuit and also because patent law and patent reform are so on the radar screen," said patent scholar Timothy R. Holbrook of Chicago-Kent College of Law."

Coyle writes further:

"There have been two major recent studies of the patent system that noted problems, as well as patent reform proposals introduced in Congress, said Holbrook. On the "disquiet" reason, he said, "everyone thinks the Federal Circuit is pro-patent."

Bioengineered Bacteria and the Plant Patent Case

One of our "unfavorite" cases in patent law is the "unobvious" Federal Circuit decision in Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. v J.E.M. Ag Supply, Inc., 200 F.3d 1374 (Fed. Cir. 2000), affirming Pioneer Hi-Bred Int’l, Inc. v. J.E.M. Ag Supply, Inc., 49 U.S.P.Q.2d 1813 (N.D. Iowa
1998)) (you will have to register for free at FindLaw to read this case at that link)

That case upheld the validity of a patent for plant seed. The "Pioneer Plant Patent Case" has led to foreseeable monopoly practices in seed corn sales some years later. The case was taken by certiorari to the US Supreme Court and unfortunately affirmed there 6-2 in J.E.M. Supply v. Pioneer Hi-Bred International, 534 U.S. 124 (2001), through a majority opinion authored by Justice Thomas who observed:

"Pioneer sells its patented hybrid seeds under a limited label license that provides: "License is granted solely to produce grain and/or forage." ... The license "does not extend to the use of seed from such crop or the progeny thereof for propagation or seed multiplication." ... It strictly prohibits "the use of such seed or the progeny thereof for propagation or seed multiplication or for production or development of a hybrid or different variety of seed....

Relying on this Court's broad construction of 35 U. S. C. § 101 in Diamond v. Chakrabarty, 447 U. S. 303 (1980), the District Court held that the subject matter covered by § 101 clearly includes plant life...."

Justice Breyer in dissent wrote about Chakrabarty, a case about bioengineered bacteria and not about plant patents:

"Respondent and the Government claim that Chakrabarty controls the outcome in this case. This is incorrect, for Chakrabarty said nothing about the specific issue before us."

Clearly, the issue was not "clear", as alleged by Thomas, otherwise Breyer would also have been in the clear about it. As Thomas wrote in his majority opinion:

"The question before us is whether utility patents may be issued for plants pursuant to 35 U. S. C. § 101 (1994 ed.). The text of § 101 provides:

"Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.""

Prior to the Pioneer Hi-Bred case, a plant seed had never before been found to be patentable by a higher US court.

One reason that seed-grown plants were not patented for the first 200 years of the existence of the United States was that it was not foreseen by the nation's founders that plant seeds should fall under the patent clause. Why should they be patentable now? Reduplication is a process carried out by Mother Nature, it is not an invention of man. Man to this day has not invented a single seed - he has only retooled existing seeds as hybrids - by chance or by design, but the original seeds are not his invention and they are anticipated by the prior art of the Supreme Maker. No plant seed can violate basic genetic rules - these are predetermined.

Biogenesis is defined as: "[t]he principle that living organisms develop only from other living organisms and not from nonliving matter".

35 U. S. C. § 101 provides that "compositions of matter" could be patented, and Justice Thomas described his view of Congressional intent in this regard as follows:

"This Court thus concluded in Chakrabarty that living things were patentable under § 101, and held that a manmade micro-organism fell within the scope of the statute. As Congress recognized, "the relevant distinction was not between living and inanimate things, but between products of nature, whether living or not, and human-made inventions." Id., at 313."

The conception of a child through human seed is not an invention - or - according to the standard voiced by Justice Thomas, is it? Surely, according to the flawed reasoning in the Pioneer Hi-Bred case, it should be possible for a sperm bank donor to patent his donated semen - nothing is more "human-made" than that - and thus to obtain patent rights to the progeny of that semen. For why should a hybrid "plant" have any greater patent rights than a new "hybrid" human? Armies of "patented" human clones seem not far off the horizon of the future. And yet, these are not the kinds of "discoveries" that the US Constitution intended "to secure" by patent law.

A second reason that the plant varieties now being produced in our modern day were not produced in the first 200 years of the existence of the United States was because they were not obvious prior to recent developments in modern genetic science. It has only been possible to develop such varieties in the last several decades, because they are obvious now, given the state of the art of that new biotechnology. Hence, in our opinion, new genetically-engineered plant varieties are anticipated by modern genetic "prior art", which makes them obvious per se and hence unpatentable. Judge Newman may be aware of "unobvious varieties" (her term) - we are not. As Breyer noted in his Supreme Court dissent in referring to the oral argument about the issue of obviousness in this case:

"See Tr. of Oral Arg. 26, 30. But see S. Doc., at 20-21 (suggesting little difference [between PVP certificates and plant patents] because patent office tends to find "nonobviousness" as long as the plant is deemed "new" by the Department of Agriculture)."

In that context, here is a question for judges and Justices to ask upon oral argument:

"The claim is that this plant seed is "unobvious". If that is so, how is it that the alleged inventor came upon it now? Please describe the steps which led to this alleged discovery and why it was not made 10 or 50 or 100 or 200 or 2000 years ago. Is it "more obvious" in our biogenetic age than it was years ago, and why? Why should this now suddenly obvious and yet for patent purposes allegedly nonobvious plant seed be patented? For whose benefit?"

See Also

Hayden A. Carney, at Christie Parker Hale, "ENTER: Human-Made Inventions, Living or Not" Patent and Trademark Office Welcome Mat

Harold C. Wegner, Supreme Court Patent-Eligibility Lessons from the J.E.M. Case: From Seeds To Business Methods, Biotechnology Law Report. 2002, 21(1): 18-20. doi:10.1089/073003102317359808.

Kevin J. DUNLEAVY, Emerson V. BRIGGS III (2000), Tribunals uphold Patent Protection for Plant-Based Biotechnology Inventions in the United States and Europe, The Journal of World Intellectual Property 3 (4), 555–559.
doi:10.1111/j.1747-1796.2000.tb00142.x (paid subscription or online purchase required)

The Oyez Project, J.E.M. Supply v. Pioneer Hi-Bred International, 534 U.S. 124 (2001), available at: <http://www.oyez.org/cases/2000-2009/2001/2001_99_1996/>
(last visited Friday, November 23, 2007).

^Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/09/2007 02:30:00 AM

LAW PUNDIT Saturday, December 08, 2007 12/08/2007 09:41:00 PM [Home] [Print]

Some Secrets of Good Head Coaching - Also for Lawyers

OK, what does this have to do with law?
See e.g. the Lawyer Coach Blog and Five Principles of Coaching

Some Secrets of Good Head Coaching

The LawPundit discovered by chance some years ago that he had a natural talent for coaching as he co-coached an amateur European youth football (soccer) team in Germany. The result was an undefeated team and recognition in the German soccer magazine Kicker.

In our first regular season game, we faced the league champion of the previous year, who had won 6-1 against our team's players the year before. 6-1 is a virtual blowout in soccer.

This time, we emerged victorious 11-1. Although our talent base was thin, we fielded the better TEAM game after game, and maintained that same average goal difference throughout the season, scoring 56 goals and giving up only 5 goals in our conference. In other words, we gave up fewer goals the entire season than the same players had given up in their first game the previous year.

Although we had the same players, we had a vastly different TEAM.

What were our coaching secrets?

Please note that the following coaching "secrets" are not secrets to good head coaches, whether in sports, law, executive or other corporate matters. Indeed, the reason that we have such an extraordinarily high opinion of the head coaching abilities of someone like Larry Kehres of the Football Division III Mount Union Purple Raiders, is because we have seen Kehres, college football's winningest coach, publicly express exactly the same principles that we have applied independently as a coach ourselves.

But one need not listen to us - listen to Kehres. As one veteran rival coach remarked about Kehres: "How does he win all the time?... I wish I knew, because then I might beat him one day." That reminded me of a comment made by one of the local coaches to a friend of mine about my own coaching: "How does he always win?"

Here are some "secrets" about winning as a coach that we have in common with Larry Kehres.

Secret Number 1 : Recruit the Right Players and Hold Them to Higher Standards
(This can also apply to the recruitment of the right personnel in any organization)

Stephanie Storm quotes Kehres:

"You have to recruit good people, then assist them in their development."

Milan Simonich quotes Kehres at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette concerning his recruiting of players:

" "I only ask them three questions, but they're important.... Are you a good man? Do you have a passion for football? Do you plan on getting the grades you're capable of?" "

Stephanie Storm in the Akron Beacon Journal of November 28, 2003, writes:

"Football might be the focus of the coach's life, but he teaches his players that their values ought to extend beyond the field.

During football season, players' grades actually improve.

Coach says it's important that we hold ourselves to higher standards, especially when so much attention is focused on us during the season,'' wide receiver Randell Knapp said." [emphasis added by LawPundit]

Kehres expects his players to give their best, every day. As quoted by Nancy Armour at The-Review.com:

""I'm proud of the fact that our men do learn that you have to do, day in and day out, what you're supposed to do," Kehres said. "I don't expect (victories). However, do I expect a certain level of performance throughout the offseason in terms of what we do and then, in the season, in how we practice so that we would have a chance to go down that path? Yes, I expect that.""

Secret Number 2: Prepare Your Team to Play with Passion and and as much Perfection as they are Capable of

Larry Kehres says that "The job of a coach is to prepare his team."

This involves training in all of its aspects, including mental and physical preparedness.

As Milan Simonich writes at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

"He [Kehres] took a solid program and turned it into a spectacular one by emphasizing precision, mental preparation and weight training."

Players on and off the field must know what responsibilities they have and what action they are to take in any particular game situation. A player who is undisciplined off the field is not likely to exercise discipline on the field. It is the whole player that counts.

The onus hereby is on the COACHES. Kehres is quoted by Al Eisele at the Huffington Post:

" "I always try to get the assistant coaches who work with me to understand that if there's no learning by the kids, there's no teaching.... I've tried hard to get the coaches to accept that as the only measure of performance, and there are just no excuses accepted. If there's no learning, there's no teaching....." "

That standard of teaching and learning demands extremely knowledgeable and effective education of players.

Stephanie Storm in the Akron Beacon Journal of November 28, 2003, writes:

"Kinnard and many other team leaders point to the precision with which the program is run, the attention to every detail all the way down to scheduling the number of minutes for each practice drill, as a main reason for their overwhelming success."

The result of that philosophy is awesome.

Milan Simonich writes at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

"He works for perfection," said Matt Caponi, a senior defensive back and a Baldwin High School graduate. "That's how his offense has been for the last three years -- perfect." ...

On the field, Kehres lays down a singular challenge to everybody who pulls on a helmet. "I expect them to play better than they ever thought they could," he says."

Coaches, when is the last time one of your players called your offense - perfect?

Jack Ewing, president of Mount Union College, is quoted by Milan Simionich at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as saying about Larry Kehres and the football team program:

"This is a culture of excellence that I have never seen before."

Every coach creates a "culture" of some kind by his coaching. What is yours?

Secret Number 3 : A Coach Must be Absolutely Objective at All Times

Effective coaching demands absolute objectivity about the skills, strengths and weaknesses of players and coaches, on both sides of the ball. Wishful thinking is at the heart of bad decision-making.

If you have a weaker team than the opponent - accept it. A weaker team can beat a stronger team if the coaches correctly recognize that they are weaker and take proper measures to try to offset that weakness. Here we can point to Stanford's incredible record upset of USC this year 24-23, even though Stanford was the underdog by more than 40 points. Prior to that game, as Ted Venegas, USCFootball.com Columnist for Rivals.com wrote at Yahoo sports:

"The Cardinal have completely revamped their approach defensively. Before this season, they ran a passive 3-4 defense which was of the read and react variety. This year, they do nothing but attack.... Defensive coordinator Scott Shafer came to the conclusion that Stanford did not have the talent to remain passive, so they have to force the action."

The Stanford upset of USC was enabled by good coaching under the leadership of football director and head coach Jim Harbaugh and the Stanford coaching staff, who objectively recognized their weaknesses and compensated for them.

The principle also applies to basketball. Tubby Smith, former basketball coach at Kentucky and now in his first year at Minnesota where the team is sporting a 5-1 record as opposed to 2-6 last year with much the same players and a similar schedule, says about coaching:

"If you're not skilled enough offensively, defensively you can make up for it with hustle and sheer determination and effort," Smith said. "We feel like we have to overachieve."

Secret Number 4 : A Coach Must Work Optimally to Develop the Players He Has

Stephanie Storm in the Akron Beacon Journal of November 28, 2003, in "Team Concept Rules" writes about Larry Kehres' assessment of players as follows:

"When he [Kehres] thinks back to the start of the run that began Mount Union's dominance, Kehres remembers a meeting held among the team's staff in the early '80s when he was an assistant.

'We just decided to quit pouting about what we didn't have and concentrate on improving the players we had,' Kehres said.

'We went with the idea that if some of the players we recruited weren't as good as some others when they arrived, it was our job to help them catch up,' Kehres said. 'It was sort of, "Come on, let's quit whining and feeling sorry for ourselves and make the most of what we've got."

What happens when you do not develop players properly (required in college ball) but expect them to perform automatically (as is more likely in the NFL) can be seen at Notre Dame, where Charlie Weis, a former NFL offensive coordinator, went 3-9 this year as the head coach of the Irish. As Posted at FanBlogs.com (and cited at BlogIron) by Kevin Donahue:

"Charlie Weis is an outstanding offensive mind - without question - but he is failing as a head coach.

There is nothing in his resume to suggest that Weis is capable of developing talent. He certainly didn't have to develop players in the NFL, just show them the plays, tweak here & there, and collect the trophies. But now - with his team needing it the most - Weis is not developing talent at Notre Dame.

Good recruits are coming into the Notre Dame system and - but for their own inner passion to excel - languishing under Weis. There is no such thing as marked improvement, it is simply a transaction with Weis. It almost as if the recruits are NFL free agents, signing with the team and then expected to use their talents to improve the team. There's nothing to suggest that Weis is actually taking a player from one level and ELEVATING his game to the next level. And this is Weis's Achilles' heel - he isn't developing players."

Nebraska had the same problem with Bill Callahan, who had proven himself as an offensive coordinator, but not as a head coach, having inherited a Super Bowl team for one successful season and then going 4-12 the next year. It is one thing to develop offensive plays for professional football players at the top - both Callahan (Oakland) and Weis (New England) were offensive coordinators for Super Bowl teams - but it is an entirely different matter to head coach a college team, that may not have the talent at all to execute effectively many of the plays that a brilliant offensive mind can come up with. Plus, equal attention has to be paid to the defense. The job is simply a different one and a coach must adapt coaching to the personnel that he has.

Secret Number 5 : A Coach Must Adapt the Style of Play to the Players Available

Stephanie Storm in the Akron Beacon Journal of November 28, 2003, quotes Kehres about the style of play that a football team should have, dependent on the players available:

"Some years you don't have the kind of players you need to say, run the option,'' he said. 'As a coach, you can't just do what you want to do. You have to match it to the ebb and flow of the kind of players you have."

Especially coaches who rely on a "fixed system" and then try to force that fixed system upon their players, whether those players are suited to that system or not, are not likely to be successful. Larry Kehres adapts continuously - to the times and to his players
Let us tune in to Division III football and the blog, the D3 Football Daily Dose, where commenter Mainjack writes as follows about Mount Union's head coach Larry Kehres ("LK" in the posting quoted below), :

"I’ve been a bit surprised that no one has mentioned how LK has adapted his teams over the past 15 years to stay ahead of the curve. In the early 90’s when the west coast offense was first starting to creep into the language, LK embra[c]ed it, and blew people away with his 5 wideouts and wide open passing. Back in those days as soon as MUC got anywhere near mid-field, they were going for the bomb. As the 90’s came to a close, and defenses were figuring out the west coast schemes, LK went to a very good running back, a blocking fullback and a tight end. Chuck Moore and Dan Pugh helped remake the Mount union offense, and allowed the passing game to be as successful as it needed to be. Now you have Kmic absolutely carrying the load behind a massive offensive line, with deep threat possibility in Garcon, and two or three other receivers doing damage on short routes……when necessary.
Football is cyclical, but LK has always stayed one step ahead of where the game is going, which is why they have not had many down years (if you can call one loss a down year)."

Secret Number 6 : A Coach Must Concentrate on the Basics

One of the things that shocked this writer about the Callahan-coached Huskers was that they seemed to have forgotten how to block and tackle with passion, i.e. the most basic skills required of a top football team. Coaches who spend all their time designing plays and looking at films of opposing teams are not going to be successful if the basics are thereby neglected. The game must still be played - on the field - not just on the drawing board.

One coach who understood this was UCLA's fabled basketball coach, John Wooden, who made his highly touted players run basic basketball drills like shooting layups continuously, as he explained, so that layups would be made automatically during game situations and not be missed. The same applies to tackles in football. Indeed, the attention to fundamentals by John Wooden was legendary. As written by Kyle Colvett for Inside Tennessee at Scout.com:

"The most basic of football skills and behaviors need to be emphasized. John Wooden, he of the ten NCAA basketball titles at UCLA, the Wizard of Westwood, used to begin the practice season with an entire session on how to put on socks and shoes. Players were troubled by blisters and foot problems and he discovered that the players didn't smooth out all the wrinkles around their heels and around their little toes, places where the blisters were prone to occur. He sometimes noted that they didn't lace their shoes properly or that they wore shoes that were a size too large. Such details mattered."

Secret Number 7 : Yelling and Screaming is NOT Good Coaching, but Ritual and Routine ARE : Sports Psychology, Mental Fitness and Mental Discipline

See in this regard, for example, Secret Ingredient at FootballPracticePlans.com, which is about sports psychology. We mention it here because sports psychology is immensely important, and as pointed out there, quite correctly:

"Studies show that yelling and screaming does NOT work with 94% of youth football players… and it can make it even harder for them to improve...

Varsity high school football coaches that use routines and rituals with their teams are three times as likely to have a winning record...."

That is absolutely correct. We have seen time and again on playing fields where coaches, parents, relatives and fans are screaming and yelling at their players, all to no avail.

SCREAMING AND YELLING is a sign of poor coaching, poor parenting, poor relations to other people, and poor spectating. It is a sign that you are unable to cope rationally with the situation that faces you. It is evidence of a lack of mental fitness and an absence of mental discipline. This does not mean that one can not be intense and enthusiastic, but it does mean that coaches yelling and screaming at players is simply a waste of time. John Wooden is quoted as saying:

"Intensity makes you stronger. Emotionalism makes you weaker."

The job of any coach is the same as that of any parent or educator, it is the job of rational instruction. Such instruction often best involves ritual and routine, to improve focus and reduce error.

One of the secrets of Tiger Woods, the best golfer of all time, for example, is ritual and routine. As written by Bill Cole, founder and CEO of Procoach Systems, Silicon Valley, California, in What Makes Tiger Tick?:

"[Tiger] maintains personal rituals before playing and practicing, and before each shot he takes."

Cole points out clearly that physical AND mental fitness must be elements of proper instruction for successful coaching. With respect to the mental fitness of Tiger Woods, Cole observes these strengths, which a coach should try to implement in his coaching and inculcate in his players:

1) Very high personal standards (Larry Kehres agrees) and accountability
This applies to conduct off and on the field

2) Unrelenting mental discipline
On our soccer team, for example, we demanded and enforced strict mental discipline. Players were not allowed to yell at other players or to argue with referees - these were grounds for us, the coaches, to immediately remove a player from the field. Players were expected to concentrate on THEIR playing of the game and on nothing else.

3) Confidence-building by focused practice - achieving permanence of skills through practice
For example, we often see people at golf driving ranges, senselessly hitting one ball after the other as fast as they can, gaining nothing from the exercise. Practice must be focused on gaining permanence in a given skill. Practice must focus on "perfecting" something, which means that time must be taken to concencrate on what is being done. John Wooden is quoted for this:

"Do not mistake activity for achievement."

4) Focus on the process - not focus simply on winning or losing
Studies show that the difference between equally-talented champions and non-champions is the absence of fear in champions - they are not haunted by the fear of losing, but concentrate on the process of winning, doing what it takes to win, regardless of the specter of losing.

Some selected sites touching upon good coaching are:

Wooden's Pyramid of Success
"Success is peace of mind, which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to do your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming." - John Wooden
The Mental Game Coach (TM)
Training and Coaching Tips for Youth Basketball Practice by Bryan McCormick
No-How Coaching by Coach John Gagliardi, some of whose No-Hows are:

No fear of being different
No throwing away money
No top-heavy staff
No reverence for titles.
No busy work
No substituting Mission Statements for doing the job
No withholding honor earned
No substituting reams of paper for action
No being a jerk
No focusing on mistakes.
No substituting putzing for achieving
No celebrating the heros only
No overloading by overanalysis
No fear of taking a risk
No giving power to setbacks
No settling for less than the best
No focus on winning everything

GiveMeFootball.com for soccer coaching
Football Training - soccer coaching links
Football Coaching Strategies - by the AFCA - detailed at Human Kinetics

Running game—Tom Osborne, John McKay, and Darrell Royal
Passing game—Bill Walsh, Steve Spurrier, and LaVell Edwards
Defense—Dick Tomey, Barry Alvarez, Dave Wannstedt, and Jerry Sandusky
Kicking game—Spike Dykes and John Cooper
Philosophy, motivation, and management—Eddie Robinson and Joe Paterno

Offensive Football Strategies - by the AFCA
Defensive Football Strategies - by the AFCA
The AFCA (American Football Coaches Association) has more books
- check your online bookshop
Football Tools - Training Systems, Playbooks, DVDs etc.
Grant Teaff with the Master Coaches
Youth Coaching Information at Y-Coach
Better Coaching - Australian Sports Commission
Guide to Coaching Youth Football
FootballCoachingSites.com
UK Football Coaching Network (soccer)
Better Rugby Coaching by Dan Cottrell
Coach Carl - Cycling
New Sports Technology and Coaching Solutions- e.g. XOS Technologies
GuidetoCoachingBasketball.com including links to basketball coaching sites
Progressive Leadership FAQ on [Corporate] Coaching, Knowledge Management and Organizational Development
ACTO - Association of Coach Training Organizations (Corporate) see their directory
10 Steps to Better [Corporate] Coaching - TSO Consulting
Five Principles of Coaching

^Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/08/2007 09:41:00 PM

LAW PUNDIT Friday, December 07, 2007 12/07/2007 01:01:00 PM [Home] [Print]

The Patent Reform Act of 2007 (PRA) : A Contra Opinion by Irving S. Rappaport, Esq.

We previously posted our pro opinion about the Patent Reform Act of 2007 (PRA) here at Law Pundit.

Irving S. Rappaport, Esq., of Palo Alto sent us a contra opinion which - in the spirit of fair and democratic dialogue - we publish below with his permission (we have converted the document from .pdf format, we have linked cases and URLs online for purposes of this text document, we have moved the footnotes to the end of the text, prior to the appendix, and fixed some typos):

"Irving S. Rappaport, Esq.
1500 Edgewood Drive
Palo Alto, CA 94303
(650)321-7024

I am the former Chief Intellectual Property Counsel to Apple Computer, National Semiconductor, Data General Corp, Bally Manufacturing, and Medtronic. I believe the 2007 Patent Reform Bills will harm our economy and should not be passed.

Despite the rhetoric of the current naysayers, I strongly believe our patent system is working and stimulates innovation in all industries, without exception. The patent system is not perfect, but it continues to enable both startups and large companies to leverage patents for competitive advantage.

The U.S. patent system has always been the bedrock of the U.S. economy because it rewards innovation. The Founding Fathers recognized this (as well as the potential for abuse) when they established the patent system in 1790. The system was reformed in 1793 and again in 1836, when the USPTO was established. Despite regular criticism of “inefficiencies” and “obvious inventions” the system has played a crucial role in building the economic strength of the U.S. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is doing a reasonable job, given the recent explosion of information. From 1965 to 1987, the number of new utility patent applications filed annually rose steadily and slowly from 95,000 to 128,000, or about 35%. By comparison, in the last 20 years the number has more than tripled to 426,000 annual filings in 2006.¹ Some have pointed to this dramatic increase as proof enough that the system is out of control. However, those decades showed a similar acceleration in the growth of the economy. From the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s, the S&P 500 more or less doubled. Since the mid-1980s it has increased nearly eight-fold. Furthermore, there are more engineers and scientists alive today than in all of recorded history and more U.S. patent applications are being filed annually from outside the U.S. Just in the U.S. the science and technology employment zoomed from about 200,000 people in 1950 to almost 5.5 million in 2000. (See Appendix A)

Critics also contend that the current patent system has led to an explosion of litigation. But this is not what the numbers show. From 1970 through 1986 there were between 800 and 1100 new patent infringement cases filed each year. From 1987 through 2005 the numbers rose from about 1200 a year to approximately 2,500 annually over the last 9 years of the period. Of those cases, about 100 go to trial each year and the remaining 2,400 are settled. In my opinion these numbers suggest the system is in balance and working. In 1970 the number of infringement cases brought represented about 1% of the applications filed. In 2005 that percentage was down to 7/10 of 1%.² If anything, litigations have declined as a proportion of filings. An examination system will never be perfect and yes, many patents that issue have little or no economic value. However, our free-market system ensures that the valuable ones will rise to the top.

Many people in numerous industries have concerns that the Patent Reform Act of 2007 will further weaken our patent system by limiting choice of venue for patent suits, changing to a first-to-file rather than a first-to-invent system, which favors large corporations, revising the standards of willful infringement and inequitable conduct, providing post-grant review of patentability, and unnecessarily limiting infringement damage recoveries.

Some of the large high-tech companies supporting the legislation do so from the greed of not wanting to pay licensing fees for using other people's inventions. I believe some of the companies supporting the present bills have such a stranglehold on their industries that they no longer need patents and can delay the cycle of creative destruction resulting from new patented inventions that exists in our current system, a dangerous reason for change. While the current patent system levels the playing field for small and large entities alike, the Patent Reform Act of 2007 would tilt the playing field towards the large, incumbent corporations – the very supporters of the bill.

With very cheap labor now available in many countries, the weakening of our patent system may undermine one of the few competitive advantages many U.S.-based companies still enjoy. Economists know a patent system is the best way to build domestic innovation. In fact the Chinese are studying the U.S. system closely. Chinese patent applications have exceeded two million applications and are increasing at 25% per year. In 2005, 1,115 patent infringement cases were filed in China.³ Consider a scenario where the U.S. greatly weakens our patent system and the Chinese put a very strong patent system into place. Such result could be very detrimental to the U.S. economy.

One final reason to refrain from radical patent reform right now is that several recent Supreme Court decisions in KSR v. Teleflex, eBay v. MercExchange, and MedImmune v. Genentech, have already created considerable new uncertainty and weakened our patent system. MedImmune makes it easier for licensees to bring declaratory judgment actions to invalidate patents. eBay makes injunctive relief more difficult to obtain. Injunctive relief is the fundamental power inherent in a patent system. Without it, deeppocketed infringers need only be concerned about making payments for infringement, but not about losing their markets. The most recent ruling, KSR, makes it easier to invalidate patents under the “obviousness” test.

The KSR ruling has already begun to change some fundamental assumptions about the validity of previously issued patents, often in unpredictable ways. The “obviousness” test has been shaped by the case law preceding and following the passage of the 1952 Patent Act and represents close to 100 years of jurisprudence and thinking of our best legal minds. As a result of KSR, there is no longer a clear test for obviousness and many cases decided in the last few months demonstrate the slippery slope of finding any combination of known elements to be obvious.

Rushing passage of a bill with additional significant changes to our patent system on the heels of these landmark Supreme Court decisions is unwise, untimely and unnecessary, and support for the bill is misguided. Most media accounts of the changes are uninformed, and support from a handful of large high-tech companies appear to give the bill legitimacy. In fact, these companies are lobbying hard to make their current competitive advantage permanent. But these are not reasons to make further untested, sweeping changes to our patent system. The system needs some time to absorb the latest landmark court decisions, which have already weakened our system. Even these bill' supporters admit passage will further weaken the system.

Instead of weakening the patent system, Congress should be searching for ways to strengthen it. For example, Congress should increase the resources of the USPTO and outline measures to improve the processes used to examine patents prior to issuance. In addition, Congress should establish special patent courts with judges having years of training in patent law. We have learned by experience that the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has added to the quality of appellate review to patent cases. We should expect the same from our district courts.

My 45 years of patent law experience confirms that a strong patent system is what allows for development of innovative products and services. Without the exchange of limited exclusive patent rights, investors will have no reason to invest money in America. Keep America's economy strong by not adopting changes that will stifle patentable inventions and have potentially disastrous effects on our economy!

Sincerely,

[signature]

Irving S. Rappaport
__________

¹ http://www.uspto.gov/go/taf/appl_yr.htm
² Admin. Offc. of U.S. Courts, annual reports
³ http://infringement.blogs.com/philip_brooks_patent_infr/china/index.html

Appendix A

[LawPundit note: we do not reproduce the two tables in Appendix A but only link to those tables online]

http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind98/access/c2/c2s1.htm

[Table at http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind98/c2/tt02-01.htm]

http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind98/access/c2/c2s1.htm

[Table at http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind06/c3/fig03-01.htm]"

^Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/07/2007 01:01:00 PM

LAW PUNDIT Tuesday, December 04, 2007 12/04/2007 02:23:00 PM [Home] [Print]

Tomorrow's Europe : The Democratic Deficit in the EU and the Deliberative Polling of Major European Union Questions by James S. Fishkin of Stanford

THE EU DELIBERATIVE POLLING EXPERIMENT :
"TOMORROW'S EUROPE"

Via the Stanford News Service we were alerted to an October 10, 2007 Stanford Report by Lisa Trei on Polling that puts Europe in one room that pointed to an experiment in deliberative polling for the EU held in Brussels in which 362 people from 27 EU countries, representing 21 different languages, for three days discussed the future of Europe in a program called "Tomorrow's Europe", as coordinated by Notre Europe and sponsored by Allianz-AGF as the organizational sponsor as well as by sponsors Thalys, Foundation Open Society Institute - a Soros Foundations Network, Renée B. Fisher Foundation, and the Hippocrene Foundation.

The reason for the experiment was explained by its conductor, Stanford Professor James S. Fishkin, as the phenomenon of a "democratic deficit" in the EU. Lisa Trei wrote in this regard:

"According to Fishkin, the EU has turned to deliberative polling to address a so-called "democratic deficit"—a perception of many Europeans that they cannot take part in EU-related debates because they are too complex and technical."

RESULTS OF THE EU DELIBERATIVE POLLING EXPERIMENT:
TOMORROW'S EUROPE

In Citizens resist expansion of European Union, support later retirement, Lisa Trei produces a summary of the results of that EU deliberative polling experiment "Tomorrow's Europe".

Topics covered were:

EU enlargement - EU citizens find that enlargement has been too fast and they are cautious about admitting more countries to the EU

National Sovereignty and qualified majority voting - EU citizens put their own national sovereignty first and were not ready for weighted systems of majority voting (i.e. qualified majority voting)

Pension systems and pension policies

The role of the EU in the world, including the problem of Russia, energy supply issues, and diplomatic relations

^Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/04/2007 02:23:00 PM

....LawPundit