Idea Lawyer Blog

Here is my slideset from Jan 20, 2007 presentation
Executive Primer on Software Patents

Germane to the correction to the Mixerman site...musicians: if you have access to a computer and an internet connection - don't delay- registration soon closes for sign up for a unique on-line music collaboration opportunity...check it out on the CAPE sign up thread.. no fees; no spam...far superior to "my space" for getting superb music talent (worldwide) on a complete piece usable as a demo and which will get internet radio play.....check it out.

A reader kindlypointed out an error in my links
Mixerman's site is
http://womb.mixerman.net
Sorry for any confusion.

It's a brisk zero degrees in Park City Utah, but you can see the short films from the 2007 Sundance Film Festival online: http://festival.sundance.org/2007/.
Feel free to use the comment feature to express your reactions ....
Next week we'll talk a bit about music rights clearance (for all you film makers and musicians out there..)

The New Spam puts me in mind of retail ploys ubiquitous in the carriage trade of brick and mortar.
My regular readers may recall I announced a talk I'm giving January 20 in Berkeley on patents and open source (see earlier Post). Haberdashery distinguishes Live appearances from Internet radio and conference calls. My voice is ready for prime time with one cup of coffee bean slurry and a two minute Zen-oid clearing exercise. "Live" requires donning some variety of garb or raiment.
Suffice it to say as part of preparing for a Live event, I had occasion to be in a retail establishment. A high rent brick and mortar, part of the entertainment is a full performance of the siren song of seduction. Cued by my exit from the fitting room in raiment, the attending sales diva emits the comforting percussive short gasp, a nd delivers the solo a cappella : "no one looks as good in that [insert genus or species here] as you do!!!" The well-choreographed retail staff hit their marks at the chorus and extoll the truly stunning and remarkable and singular fashion triumph. Playing the role of "the Mark", you a) suspend any disbelief in the credibility of the sirens and b) leave the store with some tissue paper and a bag with handles, and, tote that Logo Bearing Bag hither and yon, further advertising either i) you are the sort of person who obviously benefits from patronizing such establishments and are to be emulated; or ii) thank heaven you finally found the answer to whatever image issues you present, cuz the answer is , of course, in the bag, and such bold admission that you currently are the "before" picture and laudably seek to portray an "after". In short, you are walking endorsement.
A primitive siren song of sorts is emerging int the New Internet Spam. Daily I get communications asking me to link, shill, promote, mention, recommend or otherwise advertise other blogs. And at first glance, they appear to be written to me, as they reference my blog. Upon closer inspection, they are little more than impersonal fliers- it becomes obvious the sender has not read my blog, is not seeking to make any connection, and is simply selling themselves. One amusing digital shyster poses as a Germanic admirer who writes in ESL prose, and offers gusty encouragement to "keep up the good work" and includes a link to some pharmaceutical company. Lars the Bot as I've dubbed "him", is starting to really care about my writing career. As his attentions increase, no doubt he'll send me a list of the techno music he prefers. [Be still my heart].
Another type is the self-promoting attorney at blog, who apparently want to post, link and be merry in the promiscuous and indiscriminate digital lemming fields of blogland.
And the lust for "blog traction", to "get a buzz", to show traffic and get numbers of hits...of getting three of your anonymous friends to post equally self-serving and uncritical comments [Lars has friends tell him how great he looks and then the thread is all about how anyone who is anyone should want to be like them, those lucky guys]. Is the least common denominator now click your heels [post] and repeat three times [get your cronies to cackle in tune]. Based on this rigorous discourse, whatever you post is worthy or repetition a la linking/endorsement? So, Toto, you want me to carry the bag with handles with the Logo on the side, do you -
Even the Cliff Notes for Dale Carnegie's "How to Make Friends and Influence People"
arm one to spot the impotence of the tepid New Spam. Lars and his friends can be forgiven as they are earnest Bots, and to their credit, they actually pretend to be personal despite their illiteracy. But among attorneys at blog, mass mailings to other attorneys bespeaks a sort of unsophisticated desperation to get any scrap of attention. In a profession where relations of trust and confidence are paramount, the New Spam is clumsy fumbling of a powerful communication tool and a missed opportunity for genuine relationship of value with other professionals.
I suspect the root cause of the sham shilling is a shopping ettiquette deficit. Had any of the attorney at blog prose posers honed their interpersonal skills in the badlands of brick and mortar retail, they would know there are powerful magic words to utter to close the deal....i.e. to get the Mark to Link to You....
When "the Mark" says "I don't know if I like this Linking to your Blog....I'm not sure it's a flattering look"....the prose poser MUST intone the ritual response, to wit: "No one looks as good in that [blog] as you do!"......
Comments? Lars?

Oh the target you are as a leader in digital downloads. Intertainer, the defunct video-on demand company (backed by Intel, Microsoft, Sony, NBC and Comcast) has filed a high profile lawsuit. See the NYT Patent Lawsuit Names Leading Technology Firms by John Markoff and Miguel Helft
Intertainer's 9 patents claim to be "broad" {As is said in the patent biz- you may have more than one patent, but how many inventions do you have? One invention in 9 countries is still one invention] Take a look at Intertainer's US patent 6,925,469- the patent is 15 pages with 7 drawings and 45 claims... Claim 1 claims: a system...comprising a processor...a database...a file repository...and a server...Looks like this could be another eData case (a case where the issued patent was so broad and the attempt to litigate caused such an industry outcry, the USPTO withdrew the patent entirely...
And with a file date of 2001 -(we patent scriveners were writing video on demand cases in the early '90s) it remains to be seen how strong the "presumption of validity" on this issued patent may prove to be.

Panel talk on Open Source and Patents in Berkeley, CA on January 20, 2007. Presenters: Deborah Neville, internationally known speaker on IP, Michael D Scott, author of no fewer than half a dozen authoritative treatises on computer law, and professor at Southwestern Law School; and Michael Krieger, authority on international software patent rights. http://www.calbar.gov/sei for more information and to register.

For my musician audience: here is a useful pitch discrimination tool.
Let me know how you score....
http://tonometric.com/adaptivepitch/ap.htm