Gene Cavanaugh’s Techdirt Profile
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About Gene Cavanaugh
Juris Doctor and registered patent attorney, specializing in small entity patenting (mostly Jepson patenting) and small entity trademarks. Skilled in large entity patenting, but avoid such work.
Former executive in several companies, with high marks for executive ability (but "too idealistic").
Semiconductor process and design expert.
My undergraduate degrees are in Math and EE (BS).
Also reasonably skilled in aerospace matters, but a long time ago.
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Limiting patents
As an IP attorney (aka "patent" attorney), I wholeheartedly agree and support that viewpoint.
Patent illustrations
Boy, is someone ever missing the point! Apparently they know nothing about patent law.
Illustrations (at least one, specifically) are REQUIRED in patents, and where they don't make sense this can lead to strange results.
Further, a disclosure REQUIRES a related illustration, and an illustration REQUIRES a related disclosure (that's what the numbers with leaders are for, for the totally ignorant!).
Ridiculous patents
This is Congress at work. They decided the USPTO should be self-supporting, and since they regularly dip into USPTO funds (they say they no longer do that ...), they have put pressure on the USPTO to generate as much funding as possible. The present Director, David Kappos, is doing just that; killing small entity patenting (they pay half-price; can't have that!!), and putting the award for a patent up for sale. Give the USPTO enough money (and there are multiple "legal" ways) and you can patent anything - say, motherhood.
Luddite comments
Do you really think people have the time to read stuff this long?
An old man went to Church. When asked by the pastor how he liked the (very long, tedious) sermon, he said "if you want to sell me a lot of hay, bale it first".
Africa summit
Follow the money. So long as Darth Vader (aka big entertainment) doles out the "grease", the US will slide toward Nazism.
DMCA takedowns
RIGHT ON! This is closer to Nazism than I care to be.
Protect the internet and individual rights
All these things miss the point. So long as donors are allowed to make unlimited contributions to politicians (the worst Supreme Court holding ever), big money will make all the important decisions.
Campaign Finance Reform, anyone?
PTO and inflationary pressures on granting patents
Actually, it is MUCH worse than that. The inflationary pressures apply only to large entity patents, which are known to curb innovation, encourage useless litigation, and generally harm our economy.
Small entity patents have steep discounts (50 to 75 percent) that, considering the need for the USPTO to balance revenue to performance (they are self-supporting), causes the USPTO to tend toward disallowing any small entity patents, even if they are HIGHLY innovative - it is called "getting rid of the loss-leaders".
I have a paper on that I would love to publish!
Piracy
Yes and no. Yes, we want to protect our foods and medicines; no, legislating alone doesn't do that; it is too prone to industrial lobbying.
What is needed is a strong FDA (something too many politicians DON'T want, probably to appease their big business donors?); and to extend that analogy, clean up the absolutely insane IP laws we already have. Passing yet more laws only muddies the issue.
Tasing in GG Park
I don't see it that way. The guy was "fleeing". The Ranger had every right to detain him, if only to talk to him, and he was avoiding even that common courtesy.
Argue that we shouldn't have law enforcement ("somebody shot your child, stole your wallet, and fled? Gee, that's a shame") but if we have law enforcement, and there is a total lack of respect for it on the part of someone, they asked for what they got. I personally feel the Ranger should have been congratulated on enforcing a respect for the law.
Old Media
Well put. I will add; old media (the "old guard" generally) will feel increasingly uncomfortable with all this; the anti-SOPA and anti-PIPA movements, the "occupy" movements; any move by the rest of us against entrenched interests. That is why it is so important to change government. A politician in California pointed out that he opposed term limits, because the "new" people didn't know how to . I wrote in "that's WHY we have term limits - DUH!".
shroedinger's cat and music
The problem is the legal system. It allows litigants to pursue "alternative theories", that is, if one lie doesn't work, you can use another.
As an attorney, I believe the legal system needs to be fixed. The underlying thinking even seeps into the IP system, and the results are always bad; encouraging deceit.
ACTA et al
It is time to go after the "bought and paid for" politicians. In California, we need to find Boxer and Feinstein new jobs.
Edible clothing
Well, you'd look "good enough to eat"!
Google and the Motorola patents
WAIT! Why are we "pegging" at an extreme YA (yet again)? We seem to be saying if "they" (Apple, Motorola, Oracle, etc.) don't move aggressively on patents, Google shouldn't, and if "they" DO move aggressively on patents, Google shouldn't???
What happened to fairness, balance of power, etc.? Are these just meaningless terms when applied to Google?
Insanity
At one time, the nation was dedicated to useful things; and music similar arts were something extra. At that time, we became a great nation; admittedly with very few artists, since only the best stayed in the profession.
Today, we are a nation of "artists", with very few people doing useful things, and it shows.
War on drugs
The comment "The so-called war on drugs is a joke. A sick, sad, stupid joke. It didn't get rid of drugs, it didn't reduce drug use, or drug smuggling, or drug violence, or drug related deaths. It didn't, in fact, do a damned thing. All it does is keep a lot of law enforcement types employed chasing their tails." overlooks the fact that, like Prohibition, stupid, meaningless "wars" like this greatly reduce the prestige of government.
"Justice" in the US
Great article, but I disagree with the "worst part" - the worst part is we are developing huge groups with a very legitimate anger against the injustice of the American system, and they will be life-long antagonists (many will be criminals, and largely due to the inequities they experience).
Prince's work
Right on; though it shouldn't matter whether it helps or hurts the original artist. It is new art.
When Shakespeare developed his work, he undoubtedly "hurt" the people whose work he built on, since he ran his works at the same time they did, and "everyone" wanted to see his plays.
The point is, society profited greatly from his work, less so from the work of the people he borrowed from.
Internet and jobs
So true. At the same time, the big issue is being ignored; with money tied up by the one percent (think: No New Taxes, or Welfare For The Wealthy), we can't afford teachers, or street improvements, or utility improvements, or ....
So, these people have to "reinvent" themselves and compete with others for the rapidly dwindling jobs, and putting downward pressure on wages and benefits (A TAX ON THE MIDDLE CLASS to finance welfare for the wealthy!).
That is the big problem, even though it is only a part of the overall illness in our economy. I submit it is the biggest part.