A newsletter by Clocktower Law Group founder Erik J. Heels about trends in technology, intellectual property (IP) law (patent law, trademark law), baseball, and rock ‘n’ roll.

Greetings,

My name is Erik Heels, and this is my LawLawLaw newsletter: subscribe at http://www.LawLawLaw.com. LawLawLaw is about technology, law (mostly patents and trademarks), baseball (mostly Red Sox), and music (mostly rock).

Today’s disclaimer du jour of the day: No lifeguard on duty.

Thanks for reading!

Regards,
Erik
—
Clocktower
Patents, Trademarks, Boston
http://www.ClocktowerLaw.com/Contact

—snip—

LawLawLaw

Technology, Law, Baseball, Rock ‘n’ Roll

Tech Stuff

I’m always amused by “year in review” articles that appear before December 31st. How do they know?

In the past year, social networks trended down. At least for me. All of the online empires have a beginning, middle, and end. As much as I like Google, it would be nice if they updated their UI on key products (cough, Gmail, cough) more than once per decade. So don’t be surprised when random Google products suddenly end.

* How To Delete Your Embarrassing Tweets Now That They Are Searchable (2014-12-25)
95% of Tweets are junk.
http://lifehacker.com/delete-your-embarrassing-tweets-now-that-they-are-searc-1670324254

* What Happens to Your Social Accounts When You Die (2014-07-01)
Probably won’t happen to you.
http://lifehacker.com/this-graphic-shows-what-happens-to-your-social-accounts-1598128947

* Apple Kills Aperture And iPhoto (2014-06-27)
Urg. What am I supposed to use now? Picasa?
http://kottke.org/14/06/rip-aperture-and-iphoto

* How To Regain Your Social Networking Virginity (2014-04-01)
Simplifying your life on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and other social networks.
https://www.giantpeople.com/4888.html

Patent Law Stuff

Patent law, much to my chagrin, has become polluted by politics. Not as polluted at copyright law, but give it time. The sooner we return to the rule of law – vs. the rule of man – the better, because man keeps changing her mind. Trust me, you don’t want courts and politicians dabbling in patent law.

* SCOTUS Publishes Alice Guidelines v2 (2014-12-15)
Yay, more guidelines! More dabbling!
http://www.uspto.gov/blog/director/entry/guidance_on_subject_matter_eligibility

* Former Exec. From [Anti-Patent] Google Named USPTO Director (2014-10-16)
Incumbents always want to protect their incumbency. How convenient for Google to now be anti-patent after it has established dominance in the marketplace. Will all former Googlers who are now swearing off patents also swear off all of the money they earned from Google?
http://www.ipwatchdog.com/tag/michelle-lee/

* SCOTUS Publishes Alice Guidelines v1 (2014-06-25)
And continues to dabble in patent law.
http://patentlyo.com/patent/2014/06/puts-guidelines-alice.html

* SCOTUS Decides ‘Alice v. CLS Bank’ Case (2014-06-19)
While dabbling in patent law.
http://patentlyo.com/patent/2014/06/cls-bank-is-out.html

* Why Startups Should Always Do Patent Searches (2014-05-23)
The USPTO will never require mandatory patent searching. But I can dream.
https://www.giantpeople.com/4898.html

* The Who, What, Where, When, Why, And How Of Patents (2014-03-12)
Patent law in plain English. But not in that order.
https://www.giantpeople.com/4873.html

Other Law Stuff

* Explore The World’s Biggest Data Breaches With This Interactive Chart (2014-12-27)
Better security, please!
http://lifehacker.com/explore-the-world-s-biggest-data-breaches-with-this-int-1674976065

* Twitter Bug Makes Tweet Archives Unreliable For eDiscovery (2014-11-17)
Tweets from 2010 and earlier suffer from URL redirection problem.
https://www.giantpeople.com/4987.html

* Court Notice Scam (2014-10-16)
We are all victims.
https://www.giantpeople.com/4965.html

Baseball Stuff

* Red Sox Remake Starting Rotation, Bet on their Infield Defense (2014-12-13)
I’m going to pretend that the 2014 season never happened.
http://www.gammonsdaily.com/red-sox-remake-starting-rotation-bet-on-their-infield-defense/

* Top 10 Reasons Shane Victorino is Worth 22 Seconds of Music (2014-03-26)
Don’t worry, about a thing, ’cause every little thing, gonna be all right!
https://www.giantpeople.com/4881.html

* One More Look Back: Top 5 Moments Of The 2013 Postseason (2013-11-12)
By Surviving Grady.
http://www.survivinggrady.com/2013/11/one-more-look-back-top-5-moments-of-the-2013-postseason.html

* Red Sox World Series Game 6: More Than A Game (2013-10-31)
A top 10 moment at Fenway with my best friend.
https://www.giantpeople.com/4792.html

* Red Sox great Yastrzemski’s statue unveiled (2013-09-22)
Go Yaz!
http://m.redsox.mlb.com/news/article/61390428/red-sox-great-carl-yastrzemski-honored-with-fenway-statue

Music Stuff

* Rocker Jack White Rescues Music Archives of Paramount Importance (2014-12-08)
It’s a clever title because “Paramount” has two meanings.
http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/rocker-jack-white-rescues-music-archives-of-paramount-importance/

* Does Bitrate Really Make a Difference In My Music? (2014-10-31)
Yes, see below.
http://lifehacker.com/5810575/does-bitrate-really-make-a-difference-in-my-music

* MP3 vs. CD: The Beer Test (2008-12-07)
Unless you’re a dog, a whale, or a computer, you’re not going to be able to tell the difference between a good MP3 and CD audio.
https://www.giantpeople.com/1236.html

In-Case-You-Missed-It Stuff: Clocktower And Its Clients

* The Long Tail Of Mobile Games (2014-12-20)
By Jon Radoff.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2014-12-18-the-long-tail-of-mobile-games

* AppNexus Completes Acquisition Of Open AdStream (2014-10-31)
By AppNexus.
http://blog.appnexus.com/2014/appnexus-completes-acquisition-of-open-adstream/

* Finding A Great Lawyer For Your Start-Up (2013-12-01)
By Andy Palmer.
http://blog.koalab.com/2013/12/01/finding-a-great-lawyer-for-your-start-up/

* Free Your Law Practice’s Computing Budget (2013-09-09)
Don’t let your software party like it’s 1999.
https://www.giantpeople.com/4781.html

Random Stuff

* The Visual Trickery That Turns Hockey Rinks Into Lakes of Fire (2014-12-12)
Shouldn’t it melt?
http://www.wired.com/2014/12/epic-fullcourt-optical-illusions/

* This Chart Shows Which ‘Superfoods’ Are Backed With Scientific Evidence (2014-11-25)
I’m glad coffee made the list.
http://lifehacker.com/this-chart-shows-the-superfoods-backed-with-some-scie-1663444143

* You Can Fit Every Planet In The Solar System Between Earth And The Moon (2014-10-26)
But please don’t.
http://io9.com/you-can-fit-every-planet-in-the-solar-system-between-ea-1650941597

* Why 12-Foot Traffic Lanes Are Disastrous for Safety and Must Be Replaced Now (2014-10-08)
Slow down, people! Plus: what’s better, having 1000 SUVs drive to the dump, or one dump truck?
http://www.citylab.com/design/2014/10/why-12-foot-traffic-lanes-are-disastrous-for-safety-and-must-be-replaced-now/381117/

* 1984, Pop Culture’s Best Year Ever (2014-09-18)
Also not a bad year for turning 18.
http://kottke.org/14/09/1984-pop-cultures-best-year-ever

* Learn The Basic Elements Of Good Design (2014-07-30)
In under a minute.
http://lifehacker.com/learn-the-basic-elements-of-good-design-in-under-a-minu-1613414565

* All The Personal Finance Advice You’ll Ever Need (2013-09-19)
On a 4×6 index card.
http://kottke.org/13/09/all-the-personal-finance-advice-youll-ever-need

* The Surprising Ages Of The Founding Fathers On July 4, 1776 (2013-08-13)
James Monroe was 18, Benjamin Franklin was 70. At least I wrote a newsletter today!
http://kottke.org/13/08/the-surprising-ages-of-the-founding-fathers-on-july-4-1776

END

The LawLawLaw newsletter, available at http://www.LawLawLaw.com, is a publication written by Clocktower Law Group founder Erik J. Heels and published by GiantPeople LLC. The opinions in LawLawLaw do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Clocktower Law Group, GiantPeople, their employees, or the author. Feel free to forward this to anyone who might enjoy it. Send content/subscription questions to info@clocktowerlaw.com. Thanks!