RECENTLY
#1. House Bill Would Exempt USPTO from Sequestration.
- Tony Dutra at Bloomberg BNA reports a Bill has been introduced into the House that would exempt the USPTO from government cuts forced by sequestration. The Bill, and an accompanying letter signed by several Silicon Valley Congressman urgers Congress to exempt the USPTO because that Office is funded solely by fees paid with the applications it receives. The USPTO stands to lose about $150 million in funding.
#2. Judge's Facebook Friends not grounds for Recusal
- Venkat Balasubramani at Eric Goldman's Technology & Marketing Law Blog reports on two cases that seek to answer the question whether or not Facebook "friendships" are grounds for Judicial recusal. The two opinions are further evidence of the way the social networking site is affecting the law in very basic ways by defining or redefining relationships.
#3. Library of Congress Logging Blawgs
- Michel-Adrien reports the redesign of the Law Library of Congress' Legal Blawg Archive. The LOC has been archiving these blogs for years. However, only certain blogs are archived, generally the most reputable blogs that are also tied to Law Schools and provide an academic style of information and legal analysis.
#4. New Digital Rights Management Technology (& the Fictitious Lillian Virginia Mountweazel).
- James Bridle at The Observer reports that Germany's Fraunhofer Institute recently revealed that it is working on a new digital rights management system, entitled SiDiM. Regular DRM involves making changes to the code of the media. The proposed SiDiM, however, make literal changes to the content of the media. For example, the word "unhealthy" would automatically change to "not healthy" and thus distinguish a plagiarist's work from a licensed work. Indeed, there is precedence for this: the "Mountweazel" is a made-up word inserted into a dictionary to catch unwary plagiarists, which originates in the fictitious Lillian Virginia Mountweazel who first appeared in the New Columbia Encyclopedia of 1975.
JOBS
Patent Search Attorney – Large Corporation – Evanston, Ill.
- Cardinal Intellectual Property, an Intellectual Property Search and Services company, is seeking a Patent Search Attorney to work in its Evanston, Illinois office.
Patent Attorney / Agent – Law Firm – Fairfax, Va.
- MG-IP Law, PLLC is accepting resumes for a Patent Attorney or Patent Agent with an electrical or computer science background and at least two years of experience. MG-IP is a growing top 40 IP firm located in the northern Virginia area and offers a flexible work environment.
UPCOMING EVENTS
- IPO Annual Meeting. Boston MA. September 15-17, 2013. View the Meeting Program here
- AIPLA Annual Meeting. October 24-26, Marriott Wardman Park, Washington, DC (703-415-0780)
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