The following free, multi-country patent retrieval software was recommended by Carl Oppedahl on the EFS list: GetIPDL (installation/usage tips). Similar tools/links found here.
A recent US patent (Delphion version) covers a WOODEN STICK or TREE BRANCH for a dog to play with. I am not, repeat, not, making this up.
A recently-published US patent application (not yet issued): Computer implemented method of paying intellectual property annuity and maintenance fees. Uhh… a patent on a method for paying patent annuities. Whatever. For more “curious” patents, see this link.
A recent article of interest to IP lawyers of a normative bent: The Case Against Intellectual Property, by Michele Boldrin (University of Minnesota) and David K. Levine (UCLA).
Interesting new article, Patents and Copyrights: Do the Benefits Exceed the Costs?, Julio H. Cole, Journal of Libertarian Studies. Most of us IP lawyers either hope so, or don’t much care.
London’s The Independent reports that agents of “the avant-garde, experimentalist composer John Cage, who died in 1992” are upset that “Mike Batt, the man behind the Wombles and Vanessa Mae, has put a silent 60-second track on the album of his latest classical chart-topping protégés, the Planets.” Cage’s reps apparently claim that Batt’s minute-of-silence infringe Cage’s copyrights in Cage’s song (sic), 4’33”, which “contains” four minutes, thirty-three seconds of silence, “composed” (sic) by Cage “in his”prime” (sic). “As [Batt’s] mother said when I told her, ‘which part of the silence are they claiming you nicked?’.” Batt’s defense? “[M]y silence is original silence, not a quotation from [Cage’s] silence.”
For those interested in IP, patents, or economic freedom, the 2002 Economic Freedom of the World report may be of interest (press release). Released by the Cato and Fraser Institutes, the report also contains a separate study, Index of Patent Rights, which gives countries a ranking for their patent protection based on several objective factors, such as enforcement, etc.
Hong Kong tops the Economic Freedom list this year, followed by Singapore and the United States, which climbed from fifth to third place. The US leads all other nations in the patent rights study.
Due to demand for it on another patent law email list I am on, I created the PatentLawPractice Yahoo group today. Click here to join.
Why I like The Greenbag (click “submissions”): “Citations should be accurate, complete, and unobtrusive. Familiar sources need no citation. Authors may use whatever citation form they prefer; we will make changes only to keep footnotes from looking like goulash.”
Philosophy of Punctuation: For those who get worked up about proper use of commas, dashes, semicolons, and the like, see this fascinating article by Paul Robinson, author of Opera, Sex, and Other Vital Matters.
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