We’re still digesting today’s lengthy decision in the Oracle v. Google appeal, but we’re disappointed—and worried. The heart of the appeal was whether Oracle can claim a copyright on Java APIs and, if so, whether Google infringed that copyright. According to the Federal Circuit today, the answer to both questions was a qualified yes—with the qualification being that Google may have a fair use defense.
Category: Ignorant or unreasonable
The best description of the Oracle-Google case so far
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.
Western Union Gets A Patent On An Exchange For ‘Alternative Currencies’
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.”
Aspen to Students: Your Property Book is Not Your Property
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.
Nothing to hide, nothing to fear…
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.
This is wrong on so many levels
Alabama’s chief justice: Buddha didn’t create us so First Amendment only protects Christians
Speaking at the Pastor for Life Luncheon, which was sponsored by Pro-Life Mississippi, Chief Justice Roy Moore of the Alabama Supreme Court declared that the First Amendment only applies to Christians because “Buddha didn’t create us, Mohammed didn’t create us, it was the God of the Holy Scriptures” who created us.
I would love to see his irrefutable evidence of this.
Dina Mackney follow-up
Court Tells Ex-Wife Of Husband Who Killed Himself To Use Copyright To Delete Anything He Ever Wrote Online
Last week, we [Techdirt] wrote about the unfortunate situation, in which it appeared that a lawyer representing Dina Mackney was claiming copyright on her ex-husband’s suicide note (in which he says many unkind things about his ex-wife) and demanding the content be removed. Since then, we’ve found a lot more of the details of what happened, and discovered a lot of additional content that Mackney’s lawyer has been able to remove from the internet with the help of a judge — who not only gave the ex-wife full control over her ex-husband’s “intangible assets” but further directed her to seek to delete all sorts of content from the internet.
This smells a lot like thought police
The Morality Police in Your Checking Account: Chase Bank Shuts Down Accounts of Adult Entertainers
In the latest example of a troubling trend in which companies play the role of law enforcement and moral police, Chase Bank has shut down the personal bank accounts of hundreds of adult entertainers.
I guess this is both ignorant AND unreasonable
Censorious Parent Calls Cops On Teen Giving Away Books In A Local Park
