Featured Articles

The significance of Joe Biden's plagiarism?

Lawrence B. Ebert
August 30, 2008 12:34

A piece in Inside Higher Ed by Jonathan Beecher Field ends with the text:Biden’s dishonesty matters to me in two ways. It suggests something of Biden’s character, indeed, in a realm more relevant to doing his job than was John Edwards’s philandering to his. The other reason is selfish. Now that...

Patent confusion at eWeek?

Lawrence B. Ebert
July 08, 2008 21:49

In Tech Titans Form Patent Trust about Allied Security Trust, Roy Mark of eWeek portrays a misleading idea that the trust was formed in response to the failure of patent reform (S.1145) in the Senate -->With efforts at patent reform stymied in the U.S. Senate, the nation's leading technology...

Recent Articles

Pouring molten pyrite?

Lawrence B. Ebert
March 22, 2012 05:11

The "Alice in Wonderland" episode of CSI on March 21, 2012 involved an incident where a victim died after having gold poured down his throat. Ted Danson did an XRF and determined that it was not gold, but rather pyrite.But pyrite doesn't exactly melt, especially when sulfur activity is not...

NCIS "The Tell"

Lawrence B. Ebert
March 21, 2012 01:02

As to IP issues in "The Tell" on March 20, there was mention of a non-disclosure agreement. As to the culprit, Carl Dalton, the in-house counsel, did it. He had two blackmarks: a lawyer and an in-law.

Supreme Court rejects patent by Prometheus Laboratories

Lawrence B. Ebert
March 20, 2012 20:52

The opinion written by Justice Stephen Breyer, for a unanimous court, said the Prometheus blood test used "unpatentable" natural laws.From the decision:Prometheus’ patents set forth laws of nature—namely, relationships between concentrations of certain metabo­ lites in the blood and the likelihood...

Terminated for wearing orange?

Lawrence B. Ebert
March 20, 2012 14:38

The Sun-Sentinel reported on March 16 that the law offices of Elizabeth R. Wellborn, P.A. fired 14 employees for wearing orange shirts.According to its website, Elizabeth R. Wellborn, PA (Deerfield Beach, FL) focuses on the representation of mortgage lenders, servicers and private investors.See...

John Cena survives three car accident in Philadelphia

Lawrence B. Ebert
March 20, 2012 03:12

Wrestler John Cena was in an auto accident on the way to an interview with KYW. A Mack truck hit a Honda Civic which in turn ran into Cena's vehicle. Cena: I usually get into car wrecks in the ring. Cena was scheduled to fight Mark Henry on March 19. The accident happened on the Schuylkill...

Hawaii-Five-O on 19 March 2012 (Kalele)

Lawrence B. Ebert
March 20, 2012 03:02

McGarrett's sister (Mary) shows up with a job as a flight attendant, and then gets arrested for diamond smuggling. It's a frame, but a complicated one. The friend of McGarrett's sister (Angela) is in on the frame.August March (Ed Asner) is the fence who knows everything. March gives them a phone...

"This American Life" and Foxconn/Apple

Lawrence B. Ebert
March 20, 2012 00:20

News.yahoo noted: On Friday [March 16], "This American Life" retracted an entire storyline told by Daisey that aired in early January after Daisey's translator said he made up significant details of the tale.Also within the article: Daisey described meeting workers whose hands were shaking after...

The fiduciary shield doctrine and patent law

Lawrence B. Ebert
March 19, 2012 15:24

Back in 2005, IPBiz posted about the Solaia patent case, which involved a non-practicing entity [NPE, here Solaia] suing others for patent infringement.Underneath the patent case was an interesting state court case, between the inventor (Michael Femal) and an attorney (James O’Shaughnessy) for one...