Idea Lawyer Blog

Panelists (L to R) : Lawrence Lessig, Andrew Keen, Hal Varian, Tom Rubin, Paul Cappuccio, and the Honorable Alex Kozinski

Or is it Center for Internet and Society? After a full day Saturday, I have a stack of cards, and a jumble of notes. Then there was the Open Source reception..followed by the sale at Tommy Bahama on Sunday....a busy weekend it was .......up next: our interview with Andrew Keen, author of the controversial "The Cult Of The Amateur: How Today's Internet is Killing Our Culture"
Followed by World of Warcraft.....who said we're not eclectic :)

TEST Build Your LEGO MASTERPIECE

And the url (reachable via a link in the above article) for the Mac
download. The program's apparently from Lego itself, and v. 2.0 just
released a few days ago:

LDD

Markey Bill on Net Neutrality
Rep. Charles "Chip" Pickering (R-Miss.), who has argued against Net neutrality regulations in the past, is now co-sponsoring the rewritten measure, which is being called the Internet Freedom Preservation Act.

Post-Writer's Strike comments re-hash the same old tune: there's gold in the new and different; Yes thanks so much for sharing...and those who are betting on the web for media, marketing and advertising (see www.mediapost.com) tout web based "content" as the SOURCE
MEDIAPOST editor writes:

The Big Media companies need to get over their obsession with their own series. They need to put their resources and brand muscle behind unconventional development online and on air. They need to stop relying on the 90/10 or 75/25 splits with online distributors of their existing content. It’s easy, but it’s not the future. As long as the network companies can collect $10 to $50 CPMs for advertising on their familiar programming streamed online, they won’t be motivated to engage in anything more enterprising than Hulu, Veoh, Joost and their own branded sites.

Bravo’s recent acquisition of the whimsical series “Television Without Pity” is a measured step in the direction of original creation. But it’s still too safe. Surely, dozens of new viable online showcases for incubating premium Internet talent and product (such as 60Frames, Channel 101, Funny or Die) will help Big Media find new ways to place financial bets on original fare. The strike has also encouraged venture capital and other funding sources to get behind new online homes–such as Visual Arts–for professional TV and film writers.

Vuguru’s “Prom Queen” has provided a skillful template for creating original, appealing short-form fare for a demographic wedded to their mobile phones and social networks. What about a witty video blog journal that captures daily commuting, grocery shopping, or chauffeuring kids, and blends grassroots and professional contributions?

Breaking News Alert
The New York Times
Tuesday, February 12, 2008 -- 10:42 PM ET
-----

Writers Vote to End Strike

Hollywood's writers made it official, ending their bitterly
fought strike at the 100-day mark by an overwhelming margin.
Of 3,775 writers who cast ballots, 92.5 percent voted in
favor of ending the strike.

Read More:
http://www.nytimes.com/?emc=na

-----
Visit our mobile site for the latest news:
http://m.nytimes.com
-----

As my blog cred grows, I get more requests to publicize and endorse...so far no perks, other than "moral happiness" (see my Feb 2008 book review column on Stumbling on Happiness)
In any event, thanks to John Tsai of UC Berkeley who asked so very nicely that I publicize the following:

IP & Entrepreneurship Symposium

March 7 & 8, 2008 ~ UC Berkeley Law School

Co-sponsored by the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology (BCLT) and the Berkeley Technology Law Journal (BTLJ).

BCLT's 12th Annual Symposium will explore the role of intellectual property -- and patent law in particular -- in promoting entrepreneurship and in providing incentives to entrepreneurs, bringing together speakers from a broad range of disciplines, including economics, law, business, and other fields. The panelists include distinguished professors, attorneys, entrepreneurs, and venture capitalists who have been actively involved in the information technology, biotechnology, pharmaceutical and green technology sectors.

At the Symposium, BCLT will introduce its project on intellectual property and entrepreneurship, launched this year with the generous support of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. We will discuss the current state of knowledge about the field of intellectual property and entrepreneurship, as well as our plans for empirical and theoretical research.

To that end, we will explore such questions as whether, when, and why entrepreneurs obtain patents, focusing on the role that patent rights play in decisions to invest in start-ups and how investors and entrepreneurs assess the scope and value of their own and other firms’ patent rights in the course of deciding which business opportunities to pursue. Furthermore, we will explore the challenges that entrepreneurs face when licensing or enforcing patents, looking at issues such as the effects of “patent trolls” on entrepreneurs and how patent thickets, standards, and the need to cross-license may present strong barriers to entry for entrepreneurs.

We plan to discuss the role patents play in an increasingly open and collaborative innovation environment, exploring the effects of patent rights on issues such as open source software, open standards, interoperability and employee mobility. Lastly, we will explore the timely question of whether entrepreneurs should care about patent reform initiatives.

Registration discounts are available for BCLT Sponsors and Entrepreneurs. Details are here:
http://www.law.berkeley.edu/bclt/entrepreneurship/registration.html

You can also contact David Grady at or call 510-642-3702.

10.5 units of MCLE credit will be available for attendees of the symposium.

Symposium Website:
http://www.law.berkeley.edu/bclt/entrepreneurship/

Register Now:
http://www.law.berkeley.edu/bclt/entrepreneurship/registration.html

About BCLT:
http://bclt.berkeley.edu

About BTLJ:
http://www.btlj.org/

Seen at THE PETERSEN in Los Angeles...

Is this classic design the future of transportation?

Stanford offers so much to us here in Palo Alto/Silicon Valley. If you missed this talk, see the Dec 6 (below) on facial recognition cues. Perhaps by then I'll have played to oft touted new games, and some discourse informed by experience will ensue.

***SYMBOLIC SYSTEMS FORUM***
( http://symsys.stanford.edu/ssp_static?page=forum.html)

How Science Thinks: The Science and Engineering of Science and Engineering

Prof. Jeff Shrager
Associate Professor in Symbolic Systems, CommerceNet

Thursday, Nov. 29th, 2007
4:15-5:30 pm
Building 380, Room 380C (Math Corner)
MAP: http://campus-map.stanford.edu/index.cfm?ID=01-380
(Parking in nearby lots at no charge after 4 pm)


ABSTRACT:

For over three decades cognitive scientists have been studying how science works and how scientists think. What have we learned about scientific cognition and about science as a human activity? How has this informed cognitive science more generally? How has it helped us build semi-automated discovery systems and better tools to support scientific practice and facilitate discovery? How does this all play with the Web 24.0 vision? (**) In this talk I'll use some of my own, and a lot of other people's research to lead a guided tour to some partial answers to these interesting questions.

Jeff Shrager is consulting associate professor of Symbolic Systems. His work spans human and machine learning and development, and both computational and "wet" marine biology and drug discovery. He current leads the Health Care Initiative at CommerceNet which is using Web 24.0 technology (**) to build Virtual Pharmaceutical Companies to address rare and orphan diseases.

(** If Web 1.0 is the current web, Web 2.0 the social web, Web 3.0 the semantic web, and Web 4.0 the programmable web, then Web 24.0 (1*2*3*4) is be the programmable social semantic web. I just made this term up for this talk, but it's actually rather appropriate, as you'll see!)

***

More upcoming events:

Dec. 6 SSP Forum: David C. Wilkins, Symbolic Systems Program, "Learning to Recognize Facial Emotions: Art Versus Psychology", 4:15-5:30 pm, 380-380C

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