Author: KS

So Diabetes-Benz lays claim not only to its actual line of cars, but also to the very idea of doing a car in that way, simply because they declared that convention when implementing their car.

Link (Popehat)

Remember how the USPTO isn’t supposed to be granting patents on “abstract ideas” like escrow services or payment settlements? Right, so it appears that on April 1st (yes, April Fool’s Day) of this year, the US Patent Office granted Western Union a patent on an exchange for “alternative currencies.”

Link (Techdirt)

The latest attack on first sale comes from Aspen Publishers, and the target is the lucrative textbook market. Aspen is insisting that students who are assigned and purchase physical textbooks Aspen published cannot resell those books to recoup some of the expense.

Link (EFF)

US officials and apologists often say “those who have nothing to hide have nothing to fear”.
This one example should be more than enough to disprove that expression:

We recently wrote about a new lawsuit from some Muslim men, suing the US government after they were all placed on the no-fly list for refusing to become informants. Some of the stories were ridiculous, displaying just how aggressive and coercive the FBI has been in trying to force totally innocent people into becoming informants, even when they lack any actual connection to any terrorists or terrorist organizations. But those disgusting stories pale in comparison to a story reported by Nick Baumann at Mother Jones, in which it becomes quite clear that the US governmentwrecked the lives of multiple family members (mostly US citizens) after one American muslim man refused to become an informant. 

Link (Techdirt)