Gene Cavanaugh 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: No, Having Open WiFi Does Not Make You 'Negligent' And Liable For $10,000

    Gene Cavanaugh ( profile ), 20 Aug, 2011 @ 10:53pm

    Open WiFi and negligence

    Right on, Mike! Here in Mountain View (Google HQ) I often use Google WiFi. I have my own secured account on it, but that is available only in my house. If I go to the local coffee shop, all that is available is open WiFi, provided by Google.

    So, If I use open WiFi, as supported by Google, Google is negligent - or I am?

    Ridiculous!

  • On the post: MPAA Calls MPAA Intellectually Dishonest For Claiming That Infringement Is Inevitable

    Gene Cavanaugh ( profile ), 19 Aug, 2011 @ 03:24pm

    MPAA and Piracy

    I am getting really sick of all this.
    The US government seems be spending an undue amount of money trying to support entertainment (trivia), while spending not nearly enough on making necessities more secure and updated.

  • On the post: Will TV Providers Finally Realize That People Really Are Cutting The Cord — And Not Just Because Of The Economy

    Gene Cavanaugh ( profile ), 14 Aug, 2011 @ 09:16pm

    Cutting the cord

    We have been buying the minimum price Comcast, but recently we find:
    1. The price is going up with no real reason for it,
    2. The quality of content is getting more and more abysmal,
    3. Over the air (free) TV gives us more channels, much better channels, and is more responsive to our desires in many, many ways.
    We are definitely going to cancel. For several years, we got channels we weren't supposed to have, but Comcast invaded our space and took them away - and we found we didn't miss them!

  • On the post: Silver Linings: Bilski Ruling Does Seem To Be Limiting Some Software Patents

    Gene Cavanaugh ( profile ), 06 Aug, 2011 @ 01:43pm

    Software patents

    Former software engineer; now IP attorney - I have never seen, nor do I ever expect to see, a software patent that should have been granted.
    Hopefully the courts will set aside the "presumption of validity" normally accorded to the USPTO for software patents.

  • On the post: Should Doctors Who Put Their Names On Ghostwritten 'Journal' Articles For Big Pharma Be Sued For Fraud?

    Gene Cavanaugh ( profile ), 06 Aug, 2011 @ 01:32pm

    Big Pharma

    I know you get readers by being controversial, but under your reasoning, nothing of much importance in everyday life falls under RICO, so why have it?
    In other words, even though I know this is just an off-the-top-of-the-head comment, it does not make you look very good.

  • On the post: What's In A Name: The Importance Of Pseudonymity & The Dangers Of Requiring 'Real Names'

    Gene Cavanaugh ( profile ), 06 Aug, 2011 @ 12:59pm

    Anonimity

    Good article, and I agree wholeheartedly. All too often, not allowing anonymity merely allows gestapo-like controls of commentary.

  • On the post: Spamford Wallace Surrenders To The FBI; May Finally Go To Jail

    Gene Cavanaugh ( profile ), 06 Aug, 2011 @ 12:57pm

    "Spamford" Wallace

    Pegging again.
    If the POSSIBLE term is 40 years, so what?
    If he was SENTENCED to 40 years, massive miscarriage of justice.
    If he faces such a term, and then acts in a totally scornful way, continuing on, then maybe 40 years is reasonable.
    Pegging on a POSSIBLE term as if it was the sentence makes no sense whatsoever.

  • On the post: When Innovation Meets the Old Guard

    Gene Cavanaugh ( profile ), 06 Aug, 2011 @ 12:48pm

    Khan Academy

    Pegging again. Today, everyone seems to be into advocacy (read: self-centered argument) rather than logic.
    Many years ago, I was taught in my early days of college that there was a "Yale" experiment. All mention is now gone from the literature, so perhaps it was simply a fiction work (I am not much on conspiracy theories).
    A group of gifted students were given a "Khan Academy" style education. The result (in the general population) was a bunch of misfits - high suicide rates, high substance abuse, nothing of any value to society.
    So, jumping from education to something completely different might be a disaster - carefully blending it into the system might be a very good thing.
    The main thing is to prevent extremists from "out with the old, in with the new" type silliness.

  • On the post: Google Being More Aggressive About Bad Patents; But Should It Go Even Further?

    Gene Cavanaugh ( profile ), 05 Aug, 2011 @ 12:45pm

    Patent reform

    Good article.
    I have been thinking about it a lot, and nearly all modern patents, and certainly ALL software patents, should be abolished.
    There is no question, in my mind, that patents the way the founders intended for them to work are good, and encourage innovation, but I know of no mainstream patents of today of any type that are not harming the economy.
    And I am an IP attorney.

  • On the post: Google Being More Aggressive About Bad Patents; But Should It Go Even Further?

    Gene Cavanaugh ( profile ), 05 Aug, 2011 @ 12:45pm

    Patent reform

    Good article.
    I have been thinking about it a lot, and nearly all modern patents, and certainly ALL software patents, should be abolished.
    There is no question, in my mind, that patents the way the founders intended for them to work are good, and encourage innovation, but I know of no mainstream patents of today of any type that are not harming the economy.
    And I am an IP attorney.

  • On the post: Our Response To Arthur Alan Wolk's Threat To Sue Us

    Gene Cavanaugh ( profile ), 05 Aug, 2011 @ 11:26am

    Wolk

    Good for you! If you are sued, count on me to contribute to a defense fund; and if, as I am sure will happen, the Courts award you all costs, you can keep my contribution anyway.

  • On the post: Planet Money Continues To Show How Damaging Software Patents Are To Innovation

    Gene Cavanaugh ( profile ), 05 Aug, 2011 @ 11:20am

    Software patents

    They're terrible. As a former software engineer and an IP attorney, I think they are a threat to our society.

    Good article.

  • On the post: Patent Loving Court Strikes Again: CAFC Orders USPTO To Reconsider NTP Patents It Had Rejected

    Gene Cavanaugh ( profile ), 05 Aug, 2011 @ 11:11am

    CAFC

    Excellent article until I got to the somewhat idiotic statement "somewhat idiotic and dangerous "presumption of validity," - what would you suggest? Perhaps we shouldn't have a USPTO - I am open to that - but to suggest we have a USPTO, but anything they do is suspect, is to say you shouldn't have it at all.
    Or haven't you heard how idiotic it is to tell someone to do something, then assume they did it wrong? Not just demoralizing, IDIOTIC!

  • On the post: Is Google Antitrust Investigation Simply A Repeat Of Wasteful Microsoft Antitrust Effort?

    Gene Cavanaugh ( profile ), 03 Aug, 2011 @ 09:41am

    Google Investigation

    WHAT!?!? The REASON Firefox, et al were successful is that the government was successful in getting Microsoft to unbundle (or at least, stop the predatory practices) that were keeping the others from having a competitive posture!!!
    To say they were successful in SPITE of Microsoft's actions is to rewrite history in a very naive way.
    Microsoft being able to lock out everyone else caused them to stop investing in IE (why should they? They were telling everyone they had to use it!); and their inability to react quickly to the government's actions did open the gates for their competitors, but fluffing off the effect of the government's actions is (politely) extremely naive.

  • On the post: House Committee Approves 'Keep Every American's Digital Data for Submission to the Federal Government Without a Warrant Act of 2011'

    Gene Cavanaugh ( profile ), 30 Jul, 2011 @ 10:32am

    Ridiculous and dangerous legislation

    Kudos, Mike, for giving us this.
    It is common to pick a minority and invent all sorts of reasons to see them as "evil", usually lawyers, sometimes doctors, sometimes police, etc. Politicians are a frequent target, but Zoe Lofgren is obviously working in our behalf.

  • On the post: Misleading Scientific American Report On Traffic Cameras

    Gene Cavanaugh ( profile ), 30 Jul, 2011 @ 10:22am

    Red Light Cameras

    Thank you. I knew that report was wrong, I just didn't know why, and now I do.

  • On the post: The Very Basis Of Our Patent System… Is A Myth

    Gene Cavanaugh ( profile ), 30 Jul, 2011 @ 10:11am

    Arguments against patenting

    "Second, invention by one and only one person or group is exceedingly rare. Far more common are different groups struggling with the same incremental problem, and achieving the same solution at roughly the same time. Ogburn and Thomas conducted the classic study here. They document 148 instances of simultaneous invention. Only rarely, they find, does an inventor come up with an idea that is not developed in similar form by others working independently. Data on litigation tells a similar story; empirical evidence suggests that between 90 and 98% of modern patent lawsuits are against independent inventors, not copiers."

    Good argument against patents AS THEY EXIST TODAY, doesn't even consider patents as the founders intended.
    Also, a little misleading: merely suing an inventor does not mean an ORIGINAL inventor, more likely to mean a COPIED invention.

  • On the post: The Very Basis Of Our Patent System… Is A Myth

    Gene Cavanaugh ( profile ), 30 Jul, 2011 @ 09:54am

    Patenting again

    Lemley really shoots himself in the foot here:
    "Lemley does admit to a few true independent inventions... but, in almost every one of those cases, the invention was more of an accident, such as with penicillin, vulcanized rubber, the pacemaker and film -- all of which resulted from accidents or mistakes, rather than any sort of "individual genius " that needed to be rewarded."
    OOPS! Goodyear accidentally discovered vulcanization, but spent a LOT of money testing it and making it useful - money that HE said he would not have spent had he not had patent protection.
    The discoverer of penicillin (name escapes me) got a lot of money from (essentially) VCs to test it thoroughly - money he would NOT have gotten without patent protection.
    I believe the same is true of the other inventions, but I know less about them - however, there is every reason to believe that NONE of them would have moved forward if the technology could have been stolen and exploited by others!

    Even so, most patents today should never have been granted. I spend more time explaining to potential clients why they may not want to apply for a patent than otherwise.

    Also, I absolutely refuse to do software, business, or so-called "broad" defensive patents.

  • On the post: Could The Supreme Court Invalidate Software Patents?

    Gene Cavanaugh ( profile ), 30 Jul, 2011 @ 09:07am

    Software patents and the Supreme Court

    GREAT article and idea! Of course, even though I am an IP attorney, I refuse to do "defensive" or software patents. I have come to the conclusion that while there have been isolated cases in the past where defensive patents made a little sense, the problems FAR outweigh any benefit.
    When I am asked to do software, business, or defensive patents, I offer to help them find an attorney that will help them - I won't.
    It costs me a lot of money, but I sleep well at night.

  • On the post: Intellectual Ventures' Response To This American Life: Oh Those Crazy Reporters Don't Understand Disruption

    Gene Cavanaugh ( profile ), 30 Jul, 2011 @ 09:00am

    IV and patenting

    Good article. It would have been a great article if it had not been so biased.
    ALL defensive patents (the only type IV has) are bad; we all know that. I suspect IV knows it, but likes the money.
    ALL patents (indirectly quoting both sides in the argument) are:
    1. NOT defensive, and
    2. NOT bad or "disruptive".

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