* LawLawLaw 2010-09-20

These are not the droids you’re looking for.

Greetings,

My name is Erik Heels, and this is my LawLawLaw newsletter. Why the name LawLawLaw? Because lawlawlaw.com was, at one point, the only good domain name left.

LawLawLaw includes my observations on trends in technology, IP law (trademarks, domain names, and patents), baseball (long story), and rock ‘n’ roll (longer story). I’m good at spotting trends, connecting people on social networks, and a handful of other things.

I try to keep LawLawLaw short, relevant, and timely. You should forward this to at least one other person because you are awesome. (These are not the droids you’re looking for.) Thanks!

Regards,
Erik
—
Clock Tower Law Group [trademarks | domain names | patents]
2 Clock Tower Place, Suite 255, Maynard, MA 01754-2545
website: http://www.clocktowerlaw.com
email: info@clocktowerlaw.com

—snip—

=================================================================
LawLawLaw 2010-10-20
Technology, Law, Baseball, Rock ‘n’ Roll, Etc.
=================================================================
http://www.lawlawlaw.com is a periodic publication of Clock Tower Law
Group. The opinions in LawLawLaw do not necessarily reflect the
opinions of Clock Tower Law Group, its employees, or the author.
Feel free to forward this to any colleague who might enjoy this
newsletter. Please direct content or subscription questions to
info@clocktowerlaw.com. Thanks!
=================================================================

— CLIENT STUFF ————————————————

* 61% Of Patents Switch Law Firms From Filing To First Office Action (2010-09-13)
Many of our clients come to Clock Tower Law Group from other (typically larger) law firms. Turns out switching is the norm.
http://www.patentlyo.com/patent/2010/09/single-attorney-prosecution-compact-prosecution-and-the-uspto-backlog.html

Our clients are cool: http://www.clocktowerlaw.com/clients/. Here’s what some of them are up to.

* EepyBird: Mentos And Coke Zero Fuel Rocket Car (2010-06-02)
http://www.socialtimes.com/2010/06/mentos-coke-zero-fuel-rocket-car-in-3d/

* JoinAfrica.org: Kayak.com Cofounder Paul English Plans To Blanket Africa In Free Wireless Internet (2010-05-12)
http://www.fastcompany.com/1645485/kayak-co-founder-starting-initative-to-blanket-africa-in-free-wireless-internet

* VIYM Yoga Mats Demonstrated At Blind And Low Vision Conference (2010-05-11)
http://rousettus.com/viym%e2%84%a2-demonstrations-at-the-blind-and-low-vision-conference/

* Kayak Acquires German Travel Search Engine Swoodoo (2010-05-06)
http://techcrunch.com/2010/05/06/kayak-swoops-on-german-travel-engine-swoodoo/

* PatientsLikeMe Acquires Online Pain Management Company, ReliefInsite (2010-02-16)
http://blog.patientslikeme.com/2010/02/16/patientslikeme-acquires-online-pain-management-company-reliefinsite/

— TECHNOLOGY STUFF ——————————————–

A couple of boat analogies in this section. Plus advice for those getting started with social media. Also, three new Google things you should try: Google Voice, HTML signatures, and “undo send” in Gmail. The Google Voice news is huge, because voicemail (vmail) is so very bad without it.

* Top 10 Questions To Ask Before Your Company Spends Money On Social Media (2010-09-12)
https://www.giantpeople.com/2261

* How To Enable “Undo Send” In Gmail (2010-08-22)
http://mashable.com/2010/08/22/how-to-undo-send-in-gmail/

* Kayaks vs. Canoes: The Internet Has Changed How We Think (2010-08-12)
http://www.mcgeesmusings.net/2010/08/09/how-will-the-internet-change-how-we-think/

* Gmail Gets Native HTML Signatures (2010-07-09)
http://lifehacker.com/5582903/gmail-gets-native-rich-text-signatures-no-tweaking-required

* Google Voice Opens To All (2010-06-22)
http://techcrunch.com/2010/06/22/google-voice-open/

* Andreessen’s Advice To Old Media: “Burn The Boats” (2010-03-06)
http://techcrunch.com/2010/03/06/andreessen-media-burn-boats/

* How To Tame Twitter Via Automated Websites (2010-02-10)
I was going to write an article for my blog about how I automate my Twitter account, but I think I can summarize it in two sentences: Via SocialOoph.com (free version), I automatically follow everybody who follows me to enable mutual direct messaging. Via TwitSweeper.com (paid version), I automatically unfollow spammy accounts to keep the signal/noise ratio high.
http://venturebeat.com/2010/02/10/how-to-tame-twitter-via-automated-websites/

* Social Media 3-Step Plan: Learn Rules, Master Rules, Break Rules (2010-02-09)
http://markdavidson.org/degree-artistry-involved-online-communications/

* Why I Don’t Check Voicemail (2010-01-29)
http://gizmodo.com/5459974/this-is-exactly-why-i-dont-check-my-voicemail-anymore

— LAW STUFF —————————————————

Privacy continues to be an afterthought on social networking services such as Google Buzz and Facebook. But the longer I write this newsletter, the less you care, because everything I’ve read suggests that concerns about privacy are proportional to age.

The big legal news was the Supreme Court’s decision in the Bilski patent case. See below for my detailed analysis and criticism of the case. In short, the Supreme Court (1) had the opportunity to say that software and business method patents are definitely VALID, (2) had the opportunity to say that software and business method patents are definitely INVALID, and (3) did neither. So it was a whole lot of nothing for essentially the status quo. On balance, the decision was good news for those with pending software patent applications. Over the last six months or so, my firm has seen the USPTO make significant progress in clearing its backlog of pending applications.

* Top 100 Brands Get To Claim Their “.co” Domain Names (2010-09-09)
Too bad if you are #101 or lower!
http://domainnamewire.com/2010/09/09/top-100-brands-secure-co-domains-through-special-program/

* 7 Services To Find and Reserve Your Name Across The Web (2010-08-17)
http://mashable.com/2010/08/17/reserve-social-media-names/

* A Mere Mortal’s Guide To Patents Post-Bilski (Or Why §101 Is A Red Herring) (2010-07-09)
On 06/28/10, the Supreme Court of the United States decided Bilski v. Kappos, a case about what subject matter (including software and business method patents) is eligible for patent protection under US law. Unfortunately, the Supremes blew it.
https://www.giantpeople.com/2222

* The Evolution Of Privacy On Facebook (2010-05-09)
http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2010/05/the-evolution-of-privacy-on-facebook.html

* Brown M&Ms: Business Advice From Van Halen (2010-03-01)
See also the “three full moons” clause: https://www.giantpeople.com/245
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/143/made-to-stick-the-telltale-brown-mampm.html

* Drawing That Explains Google Buzz Privacy Problems (2010-02-14)
Think visually before launching technology products.
https://www.giantpeople.com/2061

— BASEBALL STUFF ———————————————-

2009 was a season to forget because some team (from New Jersey, I think) won the World Series. And 2010 was a year to forget because every single Red Sox starting player ended up on the disabled list for the entire season! OK, it wasn’t quite that bad, but it was still an injury-riddled season of biblical proportions: human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria! Some highlights:

* Daniel Nava Hits Grand Slam On First Major League Pitch He Sees (2010-06-13)
http://browniepoints.mlblogs.com/archives/2010/06/nava_makes_a_grand_entrance.html

* Fordham’s Brian Kownacki Leaps The Catcher (2010-04-22)
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-coolest-thing-youll-see-all-day-2010-4

* Nomar Garciaparra Retires As Member Of Red Sox (2010-03-10)
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100310&content_id=8738304

Bonus points if you got the Ghostbusters reference: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087332/quotes

— MUSIC STUFF ————————————————-

* Music Makes You Smarter; Basketball Makes You Taller (2010-03-07)
This is a wonderful piece written by my (music teacher) friend Joe, whom I’ve known since I was six years old!
http://jwright781.blogspot.com/2010/03/music-makes-you-smarter-basketball.html

* OK Go’s Rube Goldberg Music Video For “This Too Shall Pass” (2010-03-02)
http://www.boingboing.net/2010/03/02/ok-gos-rube-goldberg.html

— RANDOM STUFF ————————————————

* New iPhone! Did You Say Something? (2010-08-18)
http://www.businesspundit.com/theres-some-truth-to-this/

* XKCD: Computer Problems: Try Pressing More Buttons! (2010-04-08)
http://xkcd.com/722/

* Dilbert Revisits Twitter: Riboflavin (2009-11-24)
http://mashable.com/2009/11/24/dilbert-dogbert-twitter/

* My Wish List (2010-12-25)
Finally, my holiday wish list, for those wondering what to buy for me this year. (Hi Mom – thanks for reading!)
Dance lessons: http://www.buzzfeed.com/awesomer/attractive-dance-moves-as-determined-by-science (2010-09-10)
iRetrofone iPhone base: http://gizmodo.com/5524357/iretrofone-basedock-your-iphone-in-last-centurys-technology (2010-04-16)
iChime programmable doorbell: http://www.thinkgeek.com/d326/ (2010-03-12)
Home theatre speakers: http://gizmodo.com/5423023/the-best-51-speaker-systems-you-can-buy-for-800-or-less (2009-12-10)

END