Will copyright be influenced by terrorism?
Does piracy help terrorism? That is the
latest thought. I'm more curious about how copyright might be modified in the coming year. Will the noose tighten further, or will IP law as a whole be examined so as to be easier for people to follow & understand?
Innovators are older
Forget the 18-year-old in the dorm room. Or dropping out of school and making it big. Recent
data says that innovators are now older than ever.
Sweden outlaws downloading copyrighted material
Because we all know who owns what we're downloading (hmm), Sweden
has made it illegal to download copyrighted material. I'm sure that this will stop illegal activity. .
IBM further helps open source
IBM keeps
putting its money and resources where its mouth is. By supporting educational institutions who are working in open source, or promoting open source, they are trying to improve understanding . . . and ultimately, of course, market opportunities!
Invest in open source
Would you invest your money in an open source company?
Some folks will -- Simula Labs. There is money to be made. . . so a specialty VC fund now exists.
Social bookmarks
Tired of seeing only your own bookmarks? Want to share more than contacts? Then try sharing your bookmarks. See the review
here.
What will Google do?
How will Google respond to several academic publishers' (the Association of American Univeristy Presses) complaints that the Google Library project will hurt them? Stories are all over the place -- Chronicle of Higher Ed, even
Business Week. Clearly the battle is being fought through the media, as a lawsuit has not been filed. Google has been talking to publishers, which says (to me) that they do not think that their project is fair-use based.
New copyright blog
I'll check in on this one from time-to-time:
http://williampatry.blogspot.com/
UC professor granted tenure. . .years later
Although I was certainly familiar with the Novartis - UC Berkeley sponsored research agreement prior to moving to the Bay Area, you certainly cannot avoid knowing more about it now that you are here. A professor who claimed that he was denied tenure because he was critical of the agreement was
granted tenure this week -- retroactively. Stay tuned for the next chapters of the reporting on this expired agreement.
Export licenses expanded
My colleagues & I have often speculated on giving licenses to students for IP generated while they are students -- e.g. giving a student a license to work they contribute to while a student in a research lab, so we are recognizing the best kind of technology transfer. This enables the student to bring something tangible to the new employer, gives the company and the university a direct relationship (which clearly identifies expectations and restrictions), and (hopefully) more easily transfers technology.
Now the U.S. is thinking of
forcing more licenseseven beyond this -- but only for foreign students & visitors -- and only for certain countries. Visitors who access "dual use" technology -- military & non-military applications -- would need to gain permission prior to accessing the technology. The
SF Weekly article talks about the impacts as well.
Do we think that U.S. citizens are all good and and these folks from 12 countries are not good? Let's look wholistically at technology access, not just pick on a few places. .
Finding information remains a problem
Bill Gates, in his annual meet & greet, said that we need more information, not less. I agree, although the reporters
overemphasize simplicity here, I think. We don't have the right information. We need information scientists to help us determine the right information, as well as help identify where it should live. The right information can exist, but if it is not findable, it doesn't matter. If a tree falls in the forest. .
Is the semantic web finally here?
Tim Berners-Lee seems
to think so. But I've heard it all before. I have doubts. Getting folks to adopt one standard data set is certainly a lofty goal. I've not seen one that works yet. . but perhaps I need to check this one out. Berners-Lee has been right before.
What is the semantic web, you ask? A great way to change data automatically, like searching for a doctor's appointment without having to talk to folks. Or look for great new connections, which is what Berners-Lee is advocating.
Can other IT methods accomplish the same thing? Perhaps in small data sets. . .
RIAA should collect only $60/year damages
Because you can now subscribe to "all the music you can eat" (well, listen to) at Yahoo! for $5/month, does that set the new damage threshhold? Mark Cuban argues
it does. Certainly an interesting perspective, but I suspect since the RIAA -- and the record companies -- don't set this price, it won't matter in the end. Yahoo! is doing this as a loss leader, and how can RIAA be blamed for that?
There's more than one way to fight spam
Economic models are another way to "fight" spam. This
paper talks about a new approach.
Hyper threading makes you suspectible to attack
Proud of your hyperthread-enabled computer? Or your patents? Check out this
article, which says the technology allows attack methods to actually hide better.
IBM pushes for a broader education
Hooray for the liberal arts education -- or least a scientific education recognizing the value of softer skills. IBM is encouraging British universities to
offer more multidisplinary courses, since software programmers are increasingly asked to be active in the service environment. Gosh, we knew communication training would come in helpful some day.
With enough power, you can write your own license
India is considering proferring its
own software license, and will try to convince programmers in India, and programmers from India in other countries, to use it. Those wanting to continue the drive to fewer software licenses are mad, especially since the desired conditions seem to be similar to the BSD license. What will happen? Stay tuned.
IBM hires new VP of IP
IBM announced that it hired
Kevin Rivette, a business consultant, to a new position -- Vice President of Intellectual Property. IBM has long had a lead in patents, and seemed to have made some money from licensing. We'll see how Rivette puts a new plan into action. Strategic use of patents, in places where they are liked (but mostly not liked), will be important if IBM is to accomplish its goals of expanding the industry as well as maintain their own position. He starts in June. Enjoy the rest of your break, Mr. Rivette!
Microsoft funnels more money to univ
Concerned about decreasing support for university research, Bill Gates discussed Microsoft's moves in the last year to
increase Microsoft's support for university research. Citing high overhead, he says that Microsoft prefers to give gifts rather than grants. Hey, ok with me.
Get me an Intellectual Property Badge
You'll have to move (and be male), but you could earn an
intellectual property badge! You just have to learn the MPA's rules.
France Fights Back
France got the idea to create a
European archive of works. Wonder where they got that idea? It actually will be great to add to knowledge. . . the more the better!
Oxford Press joins the open access experiment
This
article discusses Oxford Press' plans to allow authors to pay for open access. Plus, they are opening up their archives after one year. They announce that they are joining the experiment. True, too true. It's all an experiment!
History of post-it notes
I'm always looking for good (reasonably short) stories of innovation. The post-it note has its day in this
story. Gives some good background on the inventor, what skills he acquired & gets across that (fortunately or unfortunately) not every innovation makes it. Good article about how you find a need for a new technology.
The blog is back!
I am settled (well, settling) into an apartment in Emeryville, California (just a few miles from Berkeley) and now have my internet back. Watch for new posts soon!
