LawLawLaw #53 – Technology, Law, Baseball, Rock ‘n’ Roll.
Startup Stuff
Since the last LawLawLaw, the big news in startup world is that exits have declined. So maybe more exits in 2024?
Technology Stuff
* Mathematicians Discover Elusive ‘Einstein’ Shape: ‘The Miracle That Disrupts Order’ (2023-04-11)
https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/the-miracle-that-disrupts-order-mathematicians-invent-new-einstein-shape/
Law Stuff
First, some nick-nacks and misc. Then we’ll cover the latest trends in so-called artificial intelligence.
* New Economic Initiative Would Require Companies Go Back To Naming Products What They Do Plus ‘O-Matic’ (2023-07-06)
https://www.theonion.com/new-economic-initiative-would-require-companies-go-back-1850597038
Which reminds me of the SNL sketch referenced here:
* Trademarks For Product And Service Names (2007-10-04)
Trademarking product and service names.
https://www.clocktowerlaw.com/3050.html
The USPTO has created a “Design Patent Bar” with lower standards that the regular “Patent Bar.” So you are not qualified to sit for the Patent Bar but you can prosecute design patents? What could go wrong?!
* Design Patent Bar Now Reality (2023-11-15)
https://patentlyo.com/patent/2023/11/design-patent-reality.html
* Patent Grants Down 3% in 2023 (2023-12-29)
But we need to see the per-capita numbers. If the population increases by 5%, then I’d expect issued patents to increase by 5%. Math, people.
https://patentlyo.com/patent/2023/12/patent-grant-total.html
I dislike the term “artificial intelligence” because it is neither: it is not artificial, it is math. It is not intelligent, it is math. I also dislike the term “generative AI” because we’re not really generating anything, we’re merely dealing with logical inputs and outputs. Take a meat grinder, for example. You input beef, grind it, and ground beef is the output. Perhaps “generative ground beef” is what we should call it.
That said, I know copyright fair use when I see it. And ingesting huge amounts of copyrighted material to train LLM models is not fair use, full stop. I predict that copyright infringers like OpenAI will get sued out of business.
* More Authors Sue OpenAI For Copyright Infringement (2023-09-12)
https://ipwatchdog.com/2023/09/12/authors-sue-openai-copyright-infringement/id=166698/
* Game Of Thrones Author Sues ChatGPT Owner OpenAI (2023-09-21)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-66866577
* Spotify Will Not Ban AI-Made Music, Says Boss (2023-09-25)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-66882414
* AI Risks Largely Overlooked By Business Leaders (2023-11-12)
https://douglevin.substack.com/p/ai-risks-largely-overlooked-by-business
* Sports Illustrated Accused Of Publishing AI-Written Articles (2023-11-28)
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-67560354
* Sports Illustrated Publisher Fires CEO Ross Levinsohn After AI Scandal (2023-12-12)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-67619015
* New York Times Sues Microsoft And OpenAI For ‘Billions’ (2023-12-28)
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-67826601
Baseball Stuff
I use the word “baseball” loosely.
* Patrice Bergeron Announces Retirement From Boston Bruins (2023-07-23)
https://www.stanleycupofchowder.com/2023/7/25/23806901/patrice-bergeron-announces-retirement-boston-bruins-national-hockey-league-center-selke-stanley-cup
* Craig Breslow Becomes New Head Of Baseball Operations For Red Sox (2023-10-24)
https://www.overthemonster.com/2023/10/24/23931179/report-craig-breslow-becomes-new-head-of-baseball-operations-for-red-sox
https://www.mlb.com/redsox/news/red-sox-craig-breslow-head-of-baseball-operations
https://www.overthemonster.com/2023/10/25/23931652/meet-the-new-guy-boston-red-sox-hire-craig-breslow-cbo-gm-chaim-bloom-analysis
* Erik Heels Bet On The Red Sox, Won Some Money, And Had Zero Fun (2023-11-03)
Based on the sports betting ads on TV, I thought that betting would be more fun. And that this blog post would be longer.
https://www.giantpeople.com/17397.html
* Red Sox Trade Alex Verdugo To Yankees For 3 Pitchers (2023-12-05)
Based on Verdugo’s post-trade comments, this should reinvigorate the Red Sox Yankees rivalry.
https://www.mlb.com/redsox/news/yankees-red-sox-alex-verdugo-trade
https://www.mlb.com/redsox/news/alex-verdugo-traded-to-yankees-for-3-pitchers
https://www.overthemonster.com/2023/12/5/23990115/red-sox-trade-alex-verdugo-to-yankees-for-prospects
* Red Sox Trade For 2-Time Gold Glove OF Tyler O’Neill From Cards (2023-12-08)
https://www.mlb.com/redsox/news/tyler-oneill-trade-red-sox-cardinals
* Shohei Ohtani: Baseball Star Joins LA Dodgers In Record $700M Deal (2023-12-09)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-67673620
http://joyofsox.blogspot.com/2023/12/ohtani-announces-hes-signing-with.html
* Yoshinobu Yamamoto Signs With Dodgers On $325 Million Deal (2023-12-22)
https://www.npr.org/2023/12/28/1222056337/yoshinobu-yamamoto-becomes-the-highest-paid-mlb-pitcher-in-joining-the-dodgers
Music Stuff
We lost some great artists since the last LawLawLaw newsletter was published.
* David Crosby: US Rock Legend Dies Aged 81 (2023-01-19)
https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-64341315
* Burt Bacharach, One Of Pop’s Greatest Songwriters, Dies Aged 94 (2023-02-09)
https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-64587070
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-64586383
* Harry Belafonte Obituary: A US Icon Of Music, Film And Civil Rights (2024-04-25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-11811290
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-65390525
* Singer-Songwriter Gordon Lightfoot Dies Aged 84 (2023-05-02)
https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-65455240
* Tina Turner: Music Legend Dies At 83 (2023-05-24)
https://www.bbc.com/news/65669653
* Tony Bennett: Legendary New York Crooner Dies Aged 96 (2023-07-21)
https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-66271090
* Robbie Robertson, Leader Of The Band “The Band,” Dies Aged 80 (2023-08-09)
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-66457469
* Jimmy Buffett: Margaritaville Singer Dies Aged 76 (2023-09-02)
https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-66694147
And this (along with skinny jeans) is one of the dumbest trends: the return to vinyl, a far inferior music storage medium. Why would you want to play a vinyl record that deteriorates every time you play it? CD audio (and 5x MP3 compression) remain far superior.
* Vinyl Records Outsell CDs For First Time In Decades (2023-03-13)
https://www.bbc.com/news/64919126
Related:
* 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
Other Stuff
* The So-Called “Culture Wars” (2023-03-16)
“Political cartoonist Jen Sorensen recently published this cartoon at The Nib about the harmful mischaracterization of human rights battles as mere ‘culture wars.'”
https://kottke.org/23/03/the-so-called-culture-wars
* Big, Small, Loud, And Quiet Are Relative Terms – The Thing They’re Relative To Is A Sewing Machine (2023-03-24)
https://xkcd.com/2754/
* The New Rubik’s Cube World Record Is Just 3.13 Seconds (2023-06-16)
https://kottke.org/23/06/the-new-rubiks-cube-world-record-is-just-313-seconds
* 52 Interesting Things I Learned In 2023 (2023-12-26)
https://kottke.org/23/12/52-interesting-things-i-learned-2023
END (OF STUFF)
Since 2001, LawLawLawTM has documented trends in technology, law (mostly patents and trademarks), baseball (mostly Red Sox), and music (mostly rock). Click here to subscribe to LawLawLaw.
