decoration decoration
Stories

GROKLAW
When you want to know more...
decoration
For layout only
Home
Archives
Site Map
Search
About Groklaw
Awards
Legal Research
Timelines
ApplevSamsung
ApplevSamsung p.2
ArchiveExplorer
Autozone
Bilski
Cases
Cast: Lawyers
Comes v. MS
Contracts/Documents
Courts
DRM
Gordon v MS
GPL
Grokdoc
HTML How To
IPI v RH
IV v. Google
Legal Docs
Lodsys
MS Litigations
MSvB&N
News Picks
Novell v. MS
Novell-MS Deal
ODF/OOXML
OOXML Appeals
OraclevGoogle
Patents
ProjectMonterey
Psystar
Quote Database
Red Hat v SCO
Salus Book
SCEA v Hotz
SCO Appeals
SCO Bankruptcy
SCO Financials
SCO Overview
SCO v IBM
SCO v Novell
SCO:Soup2Nuts
SCOsource
Sean Daly
Software Patents
Switch to Linux
Transcripts
Unix Books

Gear

Groklaw Gear

Click here to send an email to the editor of this weblog.


You won't find me on Facebook


Donate

Donate Paypal


No Legal Advice

The information on Groklaw is not intended to constitute legal advice. While Mark is a lawyer and he has asked other lawyers and law students to contribute articles, all of these articles are offered to help educate, not to provide specific legal advice. They are not your lawyers.

Here's Groklaw's comments policy.


What's New

STORIES
No new stories

COMMENTS last 48 hrs
No new comments


Sponsors

Hosting:
hosted by ibiblio

On servers donated to ibiblio by AMD.

Webmaster
Myriad Genetics before the High Court | 265 comments | Create New Account
Comments belong to whoever posts them. Please notify us of inappropriate comments.
Off Topic
Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, April 12 2013 @ 11:45 AM EDT
how-the-air-force- and-spacex-saved-dragon-from-doom

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Researchers of collaborative consumption make Vancouver their laboratory
Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, April 12 2013 @ 12:29 PM EDT
Chris Diplock believes his research has the potential to make Vancouver not only greener but less lonely. The Sharing Project, founded by Diplock, is already generating nationwide buzz for its plans to explore exactly how Vancouverites could share both goods and services -- one neighbourhood at a time.

"The Sharing Project focuses on finding out what Vancouverites want to share, and how they want to share it, in different regions and neighbourhoods across the city," explains Gala Milne, the project's community engagement manager. "Determining the demand for, say, if Kitsilano wants to share watersports equipment, like kayaks and canoes, or if people in Strathcona want to be sharing tools, or space, or skills."

Known by a variety of titles (the Peer-to-Peer Market, The Collaborative Economy, Collaborative Consumption), the Sharing Economy is hardly unique to Vancouver. In fact, it's already exploding on a worldwide scale, having enjoyed a surge of popularity in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis.

By expert's estimates, the market is already worth approximately $26 billion, and, in March 2013, a story on the Sharing Economy even graced the front page of The Economist. However, despite these gains, the concept is still a relatively new one.

Jesse Donaldson, The Tyee

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Blackberry Files Formal Complaint about "False and Misleading Analyst"
Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, April 12 2013 @ 02:07 PM EDT
CBC: BlackBerry disputes 'false and misleading' Z10 returns report

There is a rather interesting story in the news today about Blackberry. The company is claiming that an "analyst" has been made a "false and misleading report" about the return rates of the new Blackberry Z10.

Blackberry says they are making a formal complaint to authorities claiming that their shareholders are harmed by the allegedly false report. Blackberry are claiming that the "false statements" were being made to influence the stock markets.

Normally Groklaw readers wouldn't have any interest in the problems of a proprietary phone maker, but we have previously seen a good many cases of "independent analysts" who turn out to actually be PR consultants who will write anything for pay. In this case, Blackberry is responding robustly to what they feel is a similar case, and it will be interesting to see how this turns out.

The Z10 has been released in my country for a while now, and I've seen them in the stores (although I don't have one myself). Everyone that I have heard of who has tried one says they are a very nice phone, although rather expensive (almost as much as an iPhone). The release in the USA comes after the release in a number of other countries. For problems to suddenly crop up now seems rather unlikely. I'm not saying that the Z10 will be a commercial success, as the dominance of MS Windows in the PC market shows that the best product doesn't always win. However, it does make the report in question sound a bit suspicious.

If this is a case of a "shill for hire", then I doubt that Apple, Samsung, or Google are behind it. They are all so far in the lead that their most likely strategy would be to ignore Blackberry. A more likely suspect would be someone who desperately wants their phone to be the "third ecosystem" and sees the new Blackberry phones as being a direct challenge to that (Blackberry will be coming out with more phones at various price points). I wonder who that could be?

BlackBerry will file a formal complaint with Canadian and U.S. authorities about a "false and misleading" analyst report that alleged consumers are returning the company's new Z10 touchscreen smartphones in large numbers.

On Thursday, analyst firm Detwiler Fenton alleged in a research note to clients that customers were returning their Z10 units in abnormally high numbers to U.S. carrier Verizon.

The research firm refused to make either its report to investors or its methodology available to BlackBerry, even after the company said the firm’s findings were "absolutely false."

BlackBerry claims it and its shareholders have been harmed, and will call for an immediate investigation by authorities.

"These materially false and misleading comments about device return rates in the United States harm BlackBerry and our shareholders, and we call upon the appropriate authorities in Canada and the United States to conduct an immediate investigation," said BlackBerry chief legal officer Steve Zipperstein. (...)

"Everyone is entitled to their opinion about the merits of the many competing products in the smartphone industry, but when false statements of material fact are deliberately purveyed for the purpose of influencing the markets, a red line has been crossed."

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Charles Carreon on the hook for $46k
Authored by: designerfx on Friday, April 12 2013 @ 02:53 PM EDT
After all his harassment of the Oatmeal, push comes to shove.

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130412/11090722691/charles-
carreon-has-to-pay-46k-legal-fees.shtml

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

CISPA - Google, Yahoo, Cisco and Oracle support controversial cybersecurity bill
Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, April 12 2013 @ 08:05 PM EDT
In a letter sent to the leaders of the House Intelligence panel on Wednesday, TechNet CEO Rey Ramsey said the cybersecurity bill addresses the need for industry and government to be able to send and receive information about cyber threats to one another in real time. He also commended the Intelligence panel leaders for taking steps to address privacy concerns with their bill, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), but also said the trade group looked forward to continuing talks on "further privacy protections."

"We commend the committee for providing liability protections to companies participating in voluntary information-sharing and applaud the committee's efforts to work with a wide range of stakeholders to address issues such as strengthening privacy protections," Ramsey writes. "As the legislative process unfolds, we look forward to continuing the dialogue with you and your colleagues on further privacy protections, including discussions on the role of a civilian interface for information sharing."

Jennifer Martinez, The Hill

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Linux Minut XFCE
Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, April 12 2013 @ 08:09 PM EDT

Just installed Linux Mint XFCE on my desktop. Install went well (better than PCLinux OS which I'd tried first - it refused to partition the disc).

Problem is that it seems that Linux Mint uses Mono. Oh well, off to look for another alternative...

Wayne
http://madhatter.ca

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Unzip & foreign files
Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, April 12 2013 @ 09:33 PM EDT
I have a French *.zip file of *.pdf's.

Unzip has no objections, claims the zip file is not corrupt and unzips it
without problems.

However Ocular won't open the *.pdf files "cannot open file". Both
Dolphin and Konquer file managers claim that subdirectories in the unzipped file
don't exist. Strangely Midnight Commander which often objects to file names
with odd characters in them has no problem.

I have tried with -U -UU -L individually and in combination but to no effect.
The problem is a character(s) which shows as a diamond with ? in it in reverse.
I have eventually found it in the unicode tables: Specials - replacement
character "U+FFFD"

Any thoughts as to how to unzip or decode filenames?

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Ireland - Poor mother same right as wealthy to chose own lawyers in childcare cases
Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, April 12 2013 @ 09:47 PM EDT
The HSE had argued a person was not free to have unlimited choice of legal representation in all circumstances. To allow persons like this mother who were "manifestly" eligible for legal aid but who chose private lawyers to then seek their costs against the HSE was contrary to public policy and "catastrophic" for the HSE's finances, it argued.

The judge rejected those arguments and agreed with the mother's lawyers - John Rogers SC, with Margaret Farrelly - the case was "not about legal aid" or an attempt to indirectly establish a right to legal aid in civil cases.

The case was about the right of an individual litigant who is not on legal aid, and has not applied for legal aid, to be treated in the same way as any other litigant not on legal aid "without arbitrary, capricious or invidiuous discrimination" that, on the arguments of the HSE and Attorney General, "could be based only on her supposed lack of means", the judge said.

The mother had chosen her lawyers, was entitled to do so and now sought her costs as would any litigant who won their case.

Mary Carolan, The Irish Times

---

couldn't find decision
http://www.courts.ie/

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

A new twist on M$ tax per processor?
Authored by: squib on Saturday, April 13 2013 @ 10:59 AM EDT
This article in Boing Boing suggests M$ has gotten out of paying tax by getting Washington State’s Legislature changed. Their solution, make up the short fall in unpaid taxes by instead taxing night-clubs that don't permit their patrons to dance, but where dancing is theoretically possible. What next? Motels that don't provide window only phone recharging facilities but could if they wanted too? Oh, the mind boggles at the opportunities.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Banker's Institutionalized Fraud is a "Trade Secret"
Authored by: Anonymous on Saturday, April 13 2013 @ 03:39 PM EDT
At the meeting yesterday, Federal Reserve staff argued that the documents relating to widespread legal violations are the “trade secrets” of mortgage servicing companies.

In addition, staff from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) argued that these documents should be withheld from Members of Congress because producing them could be interpreted as a waiver of their authority to prevent disclosure to the public of confidential supervisory bank examination information.

Yves Smith, Naked Capitalism

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Checkmate North Korea
Authored by: Anonymous on Saturday, April 13 2013 @ 08:21 PM EDT
http://i.imgur.com/l0G0Il9.jpg

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Are those people who like a certain distro to be called Debiants? n/t
Authored by: SirHumphrey on Sunday, April 14 2013 @ 10:18 AM EDT

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

News Pics?
Authored by: Anonymous on Sunday, April 14 2013 @ 02:38 PM EDT
There are a lot of contributions to the "News Pics" thread,
but I have yet to see _ANY_ pictures!

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Software patents
Authored by: Anonymous on Sunday, April 14 2013 @ 06:32 PM EDT
The promoters of software patents (seeming to this non-lawyer as extreme
examples of salami slicing ... but who would ask me) claim physical world
parallels.
So how would the Wright brothers have flown against a 'patent' for a cambered
wing to generate lift? I am sure a cambered wing could be defended as a material
object (with model even). It only 'uses' a law of nature (Bernoulli's principle)
to generate a tangible and useful result ...
Perhaps I am too naive for this deep debate ...

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Apple and Samsung are being beaten
Authored by: Anonymous on Sunday, April 14 2013 @ 06:49 PM EDT
In a country where about 800 million people live on less than $2 a day, Karbonn handsets start from 3,599 rupees ($66) and Micromax’s from 3,999 rupees, less than the cheapest Apple and Samsung smartphones. The iPhone 4 is available for 26,500 rupees and Samsung’s Galaxy Y Duos Lite for 6,110 rupees.

“India is poised for a smartphone boom; just look at the Internet penetration and potential,” Deepak Mehrotra, chief executive officer of Gurgaon-based Micromax, said in an interview. “But we don’t see any point to offering a Ferrari.”
Bloomberg

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

iPhone 5 = $15M
Authored by: Anonymous on Sunday, April 14 2013 @ 07:24 PM EDT
gsmarena.com

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Myriad Genetics before the High Court
Authored by: Ed L. on Sunday, April 14 2013 @ 07:32 PM EDT
Monday, 15 April 2015: Will the Supreme Court end human gene patents after three decades?.

---
Real Programmers mangle their own memory.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

The NSA Is Building the Country’s Biggest Spy Center (Watch What You Say)
Authored by: JamesK on Sunday, April 14 2013 @ 09:20 PM EDT
Under construction by contractors with top-secret clearances, the blandly named Utah Data Center is being built for the National Security Agency. A project of immense secrecy, it is the final piece in a complex puzzle assembled over the past decade. Its purpose: to intercept, decipher, analyze, and store vast swaths of the world’s communications as they zap down from satellites and zip through the underground and undersea cables of international, foreign, and domestic networks.

---
The following program contains immature subject matter.
Viewer discretion is advised.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Biofuels bad says lobbyist front
Authored by: Anonymous on Sunday, April 14 2013 @ 11:00 PM EDT
`The UK's "irrational" use of biofuels will cost motorists around £460 million over the next 12 months, a think tank says.'

Chatham House’s independent expert is lobbyist

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Canada - Universities square off against copyright group
Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, April 15 2013 @ 03:06 AM EDT
Some universities no longer feel the need to pay for the services of Access Copyright which has provided a pool of protected intellectual work for almost two decades while distributing royalties to the writers, artists and publishers it represents

A group universities are now opting to navigate the world of intellectual property rights without a middle agent.

Simmering tensions are now threatening to boil over as Access Copyright takes one of Canada's largest universities to court — a move some see as a warning to others who've ended relations with the agency.

Access Copyright is claiming Toronto's York University, which opted out, has improperly been reproducing and authorizing the copying of protected works.

CBC

---

Michael Geist too

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Groklaw © Copyright 2003-2013 Pamela Jones.
All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective owners.
Comments are owned by the individual posters.

PJ's articles are licensed under a Creative Commons License. ( Details )