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One of the results of the word processing era is just how easy it is to simply cut-and-paste things, and perhaps no profession has made more use of this than lawyers. We’ve seen it where lawyers include the name of the a href=”http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080601/1542541281.shtml”wrong defendant/a in a lawsuit, for example. Now, a court in the UK has a href=”http://www.out-law.com//default.aspx?page=9415″ target=”_new”slammed some lawyers for practicing boilerplate cut #038; paste lawyering/a, noting that a drafted contract was so meaningless at points that it’s clear the lawyer who drafted it had no idea what parts of it were talking about. The court noted “malapropisms, poor uses of terms and drafting errors” all of which “made interpretation of the agreement difficult.”
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In fact, it was so extreme that the judge actually looked to figure out what was most likely imeant/i between the two original parties, rather than what the actual contract says. This is pretty rare, as most courts tend to default to the actual text of a contract, rather trying to get into what was meant, as that opens up all sorts of questions. Yet, in this case, what was actually in the contract was apparently so terribly written that the court decided to go in the other direction.
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It appears that Google’s YouTube subsidiary is caving to various government pressure concerning whatever videos the government doesn’t like. This started a while back when Google gave in to pressure from Thailand’s government to a href=”http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20070406/135305.shtml”ban/a videos critical of that made fun of the country’s king. But, now the pace is ramping up. Last week, Google gave in to Senator Lieberman, agreeing to a href=”http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080912/1540472258.shtml”ban/a videos from terrorists, and the latest is giving in to pressure from the UK government to a href=”http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7621013.stm” target=”_new”ban videos that show weapons used to intimidate people/a. Now, YouTube has always banned hate speech or threatening videos, so this new ban seems to go above and beyond that — including videos that show weapons being used to intimidate that iaren’t/i threatening videos themselves. That seems pretty pointless again. The same videos will quickly appear on other sites, and rather than using YouTube as a way to track down anyone who might be breaking the law, Google is helping the UK government put their head in the sand and pretend no one ever is filmed doing anything bad with weapons.
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We had just mentioned Scott Harrison a href=”http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080910/0408132224.shtml”recently/a as an extreme example of patent attorneys getting their own patents and suing. In Harris’ case, the a href=”http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20071019/020936.shtml”trouble began/a when it was discovered that he (through a shell company) was even filing patent infringement lawsuits against some of the clients of his own law firm. He was fired and a lawsuit quickly followed. That lawsuit was a href=”http://thepriorart.typepad.com/the_prior_art/2008/08/scott-harris-v-fish-richardson-litigation-is-settled.html”settled/a just last month, and Harris wasted little time a href=”http://thepriorart.typepad.com/the_prior_art/2008/09/harris-mce-lawsuit.html” target=”_new”suing more companies over his patents/a. In this case, the patents in question involved a a href=”http://www.google.com/patents?id=x8QOAAAAEBAJ”system/a and a a href=”http://www.google.com/patents?id=w_gVAAAAEBAJ”method/a for making use of traffic data on a GPS system. He’s sued eight GPS makers, claiming there are “a lot of companies are infringing my patent.”
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Interestingly, he also notes: “When I thought of this and tried to put it into practice, it was pure science fiction.” That would seem to raise questions about the legitimacy of his patents. If it was pure science fiction, then it would suggest that he wasn’t able to put it into practice (and, certainly, he does not seem to be actively engaged in the market). If that’s the case, then he would have effectively just patented “science fiction” and is now suing the companies that actually figured out how to turn science fiction into reality. Since they’re the ones who made the leap (and took the risk in building the products and bringing them to market), why should Harris get to put a tax on them?
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It’s definitely been cool to see various musicians embracing aspects of the business models that we discuss around here concerning using free music to improve your business model — but what would be even more exciting is seeing an ecosystem of companies start to spring up in order to support and enable this type of activity (and, no, we’re not talking about a href=”http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080912/1514312256.shtml”MySpace Music/a). For a while we’ve seen platforms like Sellaband, ArtistShare and BandStocks, that help in some ways, and now we’re seeing a new generation of platform providers. Earlier this year, we mentioned a href=”http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080623/0154541476.shtml”TopSpin’s platform/a, which appears targeted at bigger bands, providing them with a platform for embracing these new models. And now, a href=”http://www.mathewingram.com/work/2008/09/17/so-this-one-time-at-bandcamp/”Mathew Ingram/a points us to the a href=”http://waxy.org/2008/09/bandcamp_launch/” target=”_new”launch of Bandcamp, which makes it easy for a band to set up their own website/a.
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It was created by the guys who did Oddpost, which a href=”http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20040709/1736254.shtml”became/a Yahoo Mail. Basically, it’s a system to make it incredibly easy for bands to set up their own website, streaming all their tracks (none of this 30-second-soundbite stuff), and then offer a variety of ways for people to download the music — either for free, for a set price or at pay-what-you-want. The site takes care of all of the encoding (you just upload lossless files and it creates a bunch of different options). Basically, it’s designed to give the bands a lot more options than just having a MySpace page. Also, the concept of sharing the music is a big part of it, as the songs come with embeddable players that can easily be placed on websites with a few clicks. And, for the band, it provides detailed stats, including how many people are downloading each track (including whether they completed the download) and where the songs are being embedded.
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As a critique, right now, all of the band sites I’m seeing on Bandcamp look generically similar, which may be a limitation. Also, you would think some community tools would be useful, as well as enabling other aspects of new business models beyond just selling music (such as buying tickets to concerts, or tiered support offerings). However, obviously the site just launched, so hopefully these types of improvements are in the plans. As an example, you can check out the Bandcamp page for the band a href=”http://themonolith.bandcamp.mu/”Monolith/a, or see the embedded player here:
center
object classid=”clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000″ width=”400″ height=”100″
param name=”movie” value=”http://bandcamp.mu/EmbeddedPlayer.swf/album=4168832345/”
/paramparam name=”quality” value=”high”/paramparam name=”bgcolor” value=”#FFFFFF”/paramparam name=”allowScriptAccess” value=”always”
embed src=”http://bandcamp.mu/EmbeddedPlayer.swf/album=4168832345/” width=”400″ height=”100″ type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” pluginspage=”http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer” quality=high bgcolor=#FFFFFF allowScriptAccess=always
/embednoembeda href=”http://themonolith.bandcamp.mu/album/meet-you-at-the-monolith”The Sounding by The Monolith/a/noembed
/param/object
/center
Either way, what’s exciting is to see this infrastructure being built up to support bands embracing these types of models. For too long, people have complained that what we talk about is too difficult because bands just want to make music, rather than focus on building websites. Well, now they don’t have to worry so much about that part.
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The really sad part, though, is that the things that TopSpin and Bandcamp are doing are iexactly/i what the big record labels ishould/i have been doing five or even ten years ago to help bands embrace the opportunity of the internet. Instead, they continued to claim the internet was a threat, and have suffered because of it. Luckily, these days, if an old obsolete business insists on ignoring opportunities, others can step in and provide those services instead.
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The Department of Homeland Security has been actively (though with a href=”http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080710/1531421643.shtml”really weak arguments/a) a href=”http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080808/0122171927.shtml”defending/a its policy of searching laptops at the border, even without probable cause. Yet, at the very same time that it was staunchly defending the policy and refusing to testify in front of Congress over it, it was also issuing a report a href=”http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/vulnerabilities/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=210601724″ target=”_new”warning international travelers not to take laptops, since foreign governments often search them/a. You see, when iforeign/i governments do it, it’s evil espionage. But when iwe/i do it, it’s for our own security:
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“Foreign governments routinely target the computers and other electronic devices and media carried by U.S. corporate and government personnel traveling abroad to gather economic, military, and political information.”
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Either way, it looks like DHS’s own freedom to search laptops without probable cause may soon get curtailed. The Senate has been making noise for a while about introducing a bill to reign in the laptop searches, and Rep. Loretta Sanchez a href=”http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Mobile-and-Wireless/Bill-Targets-Laptop-Search-and-Seizures/” target=”_new”introduced some legislation in the House last week/a that would establish clear rules, compared to the a href=”http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080801/0310141861.shtml”anything goes/a policy currently in existence. Kind of sad that we need special legislation to make it clear that the 4th Amendment should apply at the border, but such is life these days.
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In most of the discussions we’ve had over the years concerning the legalities of open WiFi networks, the issue was whether or not it was a href=”http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080619/0934321457.shtml”legal/a to access an open WiFi network. Over in India, they’re taking a different approach, apparently a href=”http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News_by_Industry/Trai_plans_to_prevent_WiFi_abuse/articleshow/3491302.cms” target=”_new”preparing rules that would outlaw ioffering/i an open WiFi network/a (via a href=”http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/09/17/1336255#038;from=rss”Slashdot/a). This is in response to the recent bombings in India, where officials believe the bombers used open WiFi networks to email each other. That seems like a pretty big overreaction. If it’s not open WiFi, the terrorists will come up with other ways to communicate — and in the meantime you inconvenience everyone else, and make it impossible for those who iwant/i to offer open WiFi to do so.
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For years, we’ve been responding to highly questionable reports or unsubstantiated claims that “txt spk” was somehow destroying the English language and seeping into all sorts of written communications from students who just didn’t know any better. Much of that myth was apparently built off of a a href=”http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20030303/0155222.shtml”paper/a that was posted to the internet, that many people then insisted must have been true — but which later turned out to be a hoax. Yet, the myth prevailed despite plenty of studies that showed children of this generation are a href=”http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20030303/0155222.shtml”better writers/a because they spend much a href=”http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20051031/1836235.shtml”more time/a with the English language than earlier generations. And, despite widespread opinion, they usually a href=”http://www.techdirt.com/blog/wireless/articles/20041223/1427218.shtml”know/a which type of writing is proper for which context. In fact, studies showed that there were a href=”http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20060731/1938242.shtml”no ill effects/a of students learning “txt spk.” Yet, because the myth is so strong, even when studies come out disproving the myth, the press often a href=”http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080424/172712937.shtml”misrepresent the results/a.
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One of England’s top linguists has seen enough, however, and has gone through all the research, along with some of his own to come out with a book a href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/sep/16/academicexperts.languages” target=”_new”dispelling the myth that texting hurts a child’s language skills/a. As he notes in a recent interview:
blockquotei
“Almost every basic principle that people hold about texting turns out to be misconceived. Misspelling isn’t universal: analysis shows that only 10% of words used in texts are misspelt. Nor are most texts sent by kids: 80% are sent by businesses and adults. Likewise, there is no evidence that texting teaches people to spell badly: rather, research shows that those kids who text frequently are more likely to be the most literate and the best spellers, because you have to know how to manipulate language.”
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“If you can’t spell a word, then you don’t really know whether it’s cool to misspell it. Kids have a very precise idea of context - none of those I have spoken to would dream of using text abbreviations in their exams - they know they would be marked down for it.”
/i/blockquote
Hopefully, with more studies and academics pointing this out, we can start to put this myth to bed.
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Well, well, well. The latest story about a “solution” to the “problem” of piracy has an interesting twist to it. A company named Nexicon, claims that it’s about to launch a href=”http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=10057″ target=”_new”an automated piracy tracker/payment collector/a. It says that it’s able to watch various file sharing systems, tracking who’s sharing and downloading unauthorized files — and then sends them an iautomated/i letter demanding they pay up, including a “convenient” one-click payment system where you can settle up via your credit card or PayPal. Even better, the company claims that it’s trying to patent this method, which is hardly new or unique (and, you have to wonder if Nexicon is paying Amazon a license for using “one-click” payments — as the company even seems to brag that it copied Amazon’s one-click solution).
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There are plenty of questions raised by this. First, if it’s actually put into use as described, it would be the first time we see the industry attempting to target idownloaders/i as opposed to uploaders. All of the various lawsuits and pre-settlement letters have always targeted those who share the unauthorized content. But the article claims this will go after downloaders (though, it’s not entirely clear how they’ll know who actually downloads the file). Then, of course, there’s the whole a href=”http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080714/1551101673.shtml”extortion/a question of demanding payment to avoid a lawsuit — especially when the actual evidence may be rather flimsy.
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As for the patent application (which a casual search did not turn up), it’s hard to see how copying the same strategy that’s been used for years by the recording industry, merged with the already-questionably-patented Amazon 1-click method is somehow patentable.
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Oh yeah, there are also some questions about Nexicon itself. Just last week the company announced a a href=”http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/080911/lath041.html?.v=101″deal with YouTube/a to provide some audio fingerprinting technology — at which point Wired pointed out the a href=”http://blog.wired.com/business/2008/09/youtube-copyrig.html” target=”_new”rather bizarre history of Nexicon/a. It started out as an online cigarette seller, that got a href=”http://www.atg.wa.gov/pressrelease.aspx?#038;id=3868″sued/a for taking orders from kids, falsely advertising cigarettes as being tax-free and then (not surprisingly) a href=”http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202424226748″failing/a to report taxes. Then there were the problems with the SEC over a href=”http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1053113/000089843203001130/cyconet-nt10q.txt”not filing/a its tax returns on time as well as a href=”http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1053113/000000000005030006/filename1.txt”questionable activities/a in some sort of a href=”http://www.alacrastore.com/mergers-acquisitions/Nexicon_Inc-2513910″reverse stock swap merger/a. Oh, and did we mention at one point the company was going to be a a href=”http://web.abqtrib.com/archives/business/013100_cyko.shtml”portal/a? These are the folks who are going to be popping up automated messages demanding you pay up for downloading a Frank Zappa tune?
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For a few years now, there’s been a a href=”http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20050714/0944207.shtml”push/a to open up the patent process to peer review using a system called a href=”http://www.peertopatent.org/”Peer-To-Patent/a. It a href=”http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20060508/2219245.shtml”launched/a a couple years ago, and the Associated Press is running an article suggesting that it can a href=”http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/379058_patents15.html?source=rss” target=”_new”help fix many of the patent system’s problems/a. While I’m not against the idea of Peer-to-Patent, it appears that supporters of the system are overplaying it, while downplaying the many weaknesses of the program.
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First of all, the AP report makes the same mistake many people do in suggesting that prior art is the equivalent of obviousness. The two are separate conditions related to patent approval. You can have obviousness without prior art, so repeating the myth that prior art is what’s needed to show obviousness doesn’t help matters.
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But the bigger problem, only mentioned briefly at the very end of the article, is that most of the time the problem with patent lawsuits is that no one who looked at the patent would have thought it actually applied to the technology that it’s being used against. People are filing incredibly broad patents, waiting for others to create successful technologies that might, sorta-if-you-squint infringe — and then suing. Those types of patents aren’t caught by the peer review process. In fact, a big part of the problem is actually getting the right people to look at those patents while they’re in the peer review stage. Most people don’t have the time to sort through the Peer-to-Patent list and see if they spot anything that’s relevant to them. So, the folks who are skilled in the art probably aren’t looking, and the patent gets through — and only becomes an issue later. If peer review is going to be useful, at the very least, examiners should go looking for those actually skilled in the art to get their reviews of the patent, rather than waiting for “the crowd” to come to them.
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