Slashdot Mirror
Slashback: GPLv3, Firefly, iTunes
Richard Stallman speaks on GPLv3 and patents. Elton J. Won writes "A public forum on the updated GPL was held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Although Stallman solicited comments from forum attendees. he made clear that the GPL version 3 will not alter the license's basic stance on software patents. From the article: 'the GPL version 3 is explicitly meant to discourage litigation based on software patents. "This is not a placeholder. This is the text we currently plan to go with unless we're surprised by seeing a better idea," Stallman said.'" Relatedly RMS also recently expounded on some of these thoughts in an interview with PCPro.
Firefly fans refuse to go quietly into the night. CMGaretJax writes "The Browncoats, a fan group based around the hit cult TV show Firefly, and the more recent movie, Serenity, have set up a website for donations from people who want to see another season of Firefly. So far they have raised $840 dollars against an estimated cost of 1 million per episode. An admirable attempt, and one that will hopefully pick up steam, the show really is too pretty to die."
Student receives sentence for felony web-page charge. EMB Numbers writes to tell us that Michael Stone, the student who was recently charged with a felony for encouraging others to bog down a school server with web page refreshes, has cut a deal with the prosecutor for a lesser misdemeanor offense -- criminal mischief. Stone was given a suspended sentence of 60 days in jail along with 20 hours of community service. Although he declined to comment on camera Stone's mother stated that she appreciate all the support he received from the online community.
GP2X GPL issues resolved. gizmateer writes to tell us that after quite a bit of noise from the online community it appears that Gamepark has bowed to the pressure and will be releasing the source for the most recent version of the GP2X firmware. From the article: "Please stop posting to this board about GPL. Dignsys will post up the sources to the new firmware version 1.3.0 next week on http://source.gp2x.de. They intend to release it once the binaries to said firmware have been released."
Korean cloning scientist may get to keep his patents. Billosaur writes "According to an article on the New Scientist web site, disgraced Korean cloning researcher Hwang Woo-Suk may get to keep his patents for the process of creating embryonic stem cells via cloning human embryos. Already the UK patent office is looking into the validity of the patents in Europe. From the article: 'As long as an invention is not clearly contrary to scientific laws - like time travel - research has no bearing on the grant of a patent.'"
Apple changes their tune for iTunes mini store. jjbelsky writes "Apple has modified the iTunes MiniStore in response to the anger caused by its release of personal information. All users of iTunes, whether or not the music store is enabled, are now presented with a page informing them that when a song is selected 'information about that item is sent to Apple.' Users who do not click on the 'Turn on MiniStore' button will not have their privacy invaded."
Targets of RIAA lawsuit turn on i2hub operator. Doros writes "After being forced to fork over thousands of dollars to the RIAA, students want i2hub operator Wayne Chang to cover their losses. From the article: 'At least 42 students have been named as defendants in John Doe lawsuits filed by the recording industry. The industry trade group has offered to settle each case for $3,750, lawyers for the students said Tuesday. "Had the students known that they were exposing themselves to copyright infringement liability by using the i2hub service, they likely would not have used the service," the legal group wrote.'"
Adults exempt from Chinese online limits. Dotnaught writes "The Chinese government has yielded to pressure from adult online gamers and exempted them from its online gaming addiction policy. The rules, which went into effect last October, require that after five hours of consecutive play, players cease earning any virtual rewards such as experience points or beneficial items. To avail themselves of the exemption, some 26 million gamers will have to register their real names and identity card numbers with the authorities. The system hasn't proven particularly effective -- minors reportedly skirt the limits by logging onto different accounts or switching to another game after reaching the time limit."
Bill Thompson follows up Mac security remarks. Bralkein writes to tell us that in response to the overwhelming amount of feedback Bill Thompson received on his recent Mac security article, he has penned a response to his critics. In his reply, he admits that there were a few flaws in his article, and he acknowledges the high level of security provided by OS X's UNIX foundations. However, he stands by his assertion that the Mac cannot boast complete immunity to all security problems. As a Mac user himself, he still believes that the Mac community needs to remember that security is still an issue for them, too.
Firefly fans refuse to go quietly into the night. CMGaretJax writes "The Browncoats, a fan group based around the hit cult TV show Firefly, and the more recent movie, Serenity, have set up a website for donations from people who want to see another season of Firefly. So far they have raised $840 dollars against an estimated cost of 1 million per episode. An admirable attempt, and one that will hopefully pick up steam, the show really is too pretty to die."
From the site: We are in the process of returning all donations received. We came up against insurmountable odds and legal issues launching our fund-raising drive
A nice idea, and god I'd love a second series, but it was admitedly reaching for the stars, literally!
The problem with slashdot is that most of its users were bullied and stuffed into lockers as kids!
The Browncoats effort is already over by the looks of things, lasting a mere 36hrs, so that item is already out of date. Shame, I still hope someone will find a way to bring Firefly back. From the site:
No more donations are being taken at this time!
We are in the process of returning all donations received. We came up against insurmountable odds and legal issues launching our fund-raising drive. firefly@browncoatsriseagain.com
If the money is buring a hole in your pocket, please buy a DVD. Firely and Serenity sales at this time will further our cause. We will continue the fight to re-light Firefly using other methods. Thank you for you support in our first 36 hours of activity.
Oh no... it's the future.
Recall, also, the attempt to "Save Enterprise" the same way. The money was raised (much more than $840!) & it was still axed.
Turns out that what they thought was hope was just a candle flame and they all died.
I think the following site sums up my opinion of iTunes mini store "issue"....
iTunes MiniStore Is Now Opt-In
- Greg
Start a happiness pandemic
That's a pity. If there's no money to be made from inventing a time machine I don't think I'll bother working on mine any more. I'll just get back to my perpetual moction machine then.
-- SIGFPE
Good deal. This should never have been charged as a felony to begin with, but I agree he needed a reality slap. I haven't looked far enough into the case to have a strong opinion on the sentence, but 60 days, even suspended, sounds a little heavy. Then again, if there's more to it than I've caught from the news, maybe it's fine.
I loved the series, but was a bit disappointed with the movie. (Well done, but tried to wrap up / kill off too much stuff that should have been used to tittilate us for a couple of years.) In principle it could go on, but I can't see the magic ever being recaptured at this date.
I wish Joss would give up on the dead horse and turn his attention to something new - on a different network.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
Gorram it.
You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake -- but you could be if you got off your ass.
Apple has modified the iTunes MiniStore in response to the anger caused by its release of personal information.
This is why I like Apple. And it's also the difference between Apple and MS. Users matter.
Per Square Mile, a blog about density
They may be able to raise 1 million, but if nothing eventuates out of it who gets the money??
As much as I would love to see more firefly, I really don't want to put my money into reviving a tv show when I don't know where the money is going, i'd much prefer to increase my current donations to more needy causes like Oxfam.
"The Chinese government has yielded to pressure from adult online gamers and exempted them from its online gaming addiction policy. The rules, which went into effect last October, require that after five hours of consecutive play, players cease earning any virtual rewards such as experience points or beneficial items. To avail themselves of the exemption, some 26 million gamers will have to register their real names and identity card numbers with the authorities. The system hasn't proven particularly effective -- minors reportedly skirt the limits by logging onto different accounts or switching to another game after reaching the time limit."
And people were wondering why Chinese players prefer not to frequent Chinese servers. There were the recent (slashdot story) accusations of gold farming, which is possible. Or, the Chinese players of WoW perhaps want to circumvent this limit by playing on an outside server...
Note, I don't know anything about WoW servers within China, and whether they acutally conform to this 5 hour limit or not, but then again, I don't play WoW on Chinese servers either.
Try to hack my 31337 firewall!
Link doesnt make any sense
If they ressurect both Firefly and Arrested Development then my subscription is pretty much a done deal.
Well, as long as they keep them two seperate shows, that is...
I RTFA & then corrected myself, how embarassing.
I was hoping to see some discussion on the whole i2 thing?
1) Patent
2) Lawyer
3) Apple
4) Stupidity
You figure out what the 4th item is.
---
w00t!
"Don't let fools fool you. They are the clever ones."
...as long as they keep them two seperate shows...
Great, now I'm going to be writing scripts in my head all day about FireflyAD!
One of my mates showed me an episode or two of this. He was enthusing about it, saying how amzing it was. I thought it was pretty shit. Maybe it's because I generally don't like Sci-Fi but the show really was bad. The dialog was, for want of a better word, shallow and tacky. That 'western style' guitar music was really fucking annoying too. There wasn't even that much action in it!
It might sound like I'm trolling here but I honestly am not. I'd like someone to tell me what's good about that show. Maybe I'm missing the show's point or something?
This isn't a hard concept to understand. Really, it isn't. If you're downloading music that you see on CDs in stores, for free, it's illegal.
Blaming the i2hub's operators is a diversionary tactic. It's pretty obvious that they chose to connect to a file sharing network, and IANAL, but I'm pretty sure that shows intent on their part.
GLaDOS for President 2016! "Well here we are again. It's always such a pleasure." -- GLaDOS, 2011
In thinking about patents resulting from illegal behavior (I don't know if what the Korean guy did was illegal -- possibly fraud if nothing else), it would be interesting for a gov't to issue the patent, but assign it to the public domain.
That'd keep people from profiting from the illegal behavior, and also not allow someone else to come in and profit from it just because they're "clean".
500GB of disk, 5TB of transfer, $5.95/mo
'As long as an invention is not clearly contrary to scientific laws - like time travel - research has no bearing on the grant of a patent.'"
So I guess they're saying there's no need to prove you've invented anything... it just has to pass the laugh test.
Of course, time travel is perfectly possible... and with relativistic travel, arbitrary time travel into the future is not only possible, but a proven fact.
You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
I generally don't like Sci-Fi but the show really was bad.
If (allSciFi == Bad) then sciFi.firefly = bad;
You can't take the sky from me...
For what it is worth, I don't care if Apple is tracking what I am listening to. If it helps iTunes to recommend new music that I didn't know about, great (which it already has)! Should they have done things differently? Could they have? Sure. Whatever. I don't care! Its a fucking song.
I'm amazed at how outranged people will get over one thing, but let another go into the night.
http://www.lakelocal.k12.oh.us/lhshome.htm
>Users who do not click on the 'Turn on MiniStore' button will not have their privacy invaded.
how the fuck is it an invasion of privacy?
no personal data is collected or sent, or ever was. it's a feature that turns your library into iTMS links, basically just a tabbed version of the little arrows that have been there for ages. oh noes! hyperlinks and tabbed browsing! teh interweb is stealing my identity!
and even though it was blown way out of proportion, Apple still responded quickly and as desired.
It's not wrong to dislike something just because the groupthink says you should like it
No, it just mean you're sooooooo much better than everyone! Since you don't like something because others like it, by rejecting something popular, you set yourself appart! You're special!
You can't take the sky from me...
Am I the only one noticing here that iTunes was updated faster than a major Windows flaw without me even noticing or installing anything new??
I just don't get it why some other network doesn't just pick it up and start making new episodes. Okay, I do realize that Fox owns the TV rights to the show but, heck, I'm sure they'd sell for the right price. Besides, there is a rabid group of fans practially demanding more episodes.
Why can't some network like Sci-Fi, FX, USA, or something make a mini-season of 6-12 episodes then run them over and over again. Sure, Firefly doesn't have as many viewers as, say, CSI but the fans watch the hell out of it over and over again. Surely that has to help with ads.
Heck, cut production costs down from $1Million. Just have Mal keep the boat flying on the outer edge of the 'verse for a while and center most episodes on the boat and in the desert or something. Keep the special effects down for a few episodes.
Then again, what do I know?
"A government is a body of people, usually notably ungoverned." - Shepard Book Quoting Malcolm Reynolds
The consumer should never be put into the situation where they are reponsible for how a company behaves.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
I've been trying to get this company to release their sources for about a year now: Infrant. They make a middling network storage appliance. I'd like to poke around in there to see why their performance is so bad. I've tried contacting GNU, but there doesn't seem to be a good point of contact for GPL violations (I sent a message to the email addresses they publish, but they seem to go unserviced). Infrant claims I'm the only one asking for source, even though I know that not to be the truth. Note that they are hostile towards anyone who asks about this in their forums and downright abusive in email on the topic.
I hate buffy.
I liked firefly.
Becasue of firefly I watched angle, which I liked.
so don't stereotype
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
"CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--Richard Stallman, the founder of the Free Software Foundation, debated proposed changes to the General Public License at a public forum but made it clear that provisions to protect users from patent litigations will remain intact."
...because "hacker" sounds way sexier than "code drone."
'As long as an invention is not clearly contrary to scientific laws - like time travel - research has no bearing on the grant of a patent.'
I think Einstein would say otherwise. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/time/think.html and http://www.iit.edu/~bosabri/time.html
I love humanity, it is people I hate
Stone was given a suspended sentence of 60 days in jail along with 20 hours of community service. Although he declined to comment on camera Stone's mother stated that she appreciate all the support he received from the online community.
oh ya, only 60 days in jail... that makes about as much sense as throwing a person 5 years in federal prison for growing their own marijuana. This country is done for, whoever has to mop up this mess has their work cut out for them.
Okay, I'm gonna go off an a rant here. I'd love to hear more about why the effort to solicit donations for another season of Firefly was cut off after a mere 36 hours. However, sans details, it sounds suspiciously like the face of the powers that be (RIAA or MPAA, take your pick). These guys are deathly afraid that their business model is going to die on them before they've had a chance to corner the market in a new medium (i.e., the Internet).
Think about this a moment. What would happen if this donation idea ACTUALLY WORKED? What if we could figure out a way to stick it to the money grubbing industries by CUTTING OUT THE MIDDLEMEN (i.e., the Distributors)? This would also, coincidentally, make for efficiencies in production (less costly) and theoretically increase the salaries of those involved, because they wouldn't have to take care of the PIMP (sorry, I mean the distributors.)
Still, I'd love to hear the details of this item. One of the earlier posters suggested a group concentrate on buying ADVERTISING for the show and then put up potential advertising revenue as capital for a renewal of the series. That sounds like a promising idea. I just know I'm sick of letting these corporate assholes call the shots on stuff when there is clearly a market for a given item. (And don't start ranting about how the 'free market' determined Firefly should die when the box office returns were disappointing. Let's see how the DVD sales and rentals stack up against the competition. . . . (Currently #4 top seller at Amazon, behind 'Wedding Crashers', 'Biggest Loser Workout', and 'The Constant Gardener', with the Firefly boxed set in the #6 slot.)
To patent a time machine you must have Patent #1.
Users who do not click on the 'Turn on MiniStore' button will not have their privacy invaded
It's just doing a WebObjects query for related albums. Jesus Christ, my privacy isn't being invaded over that. There's more information stored via the Google cookie, and where is the Slashdot outrage over that? That information has been confirmed to be stored indefinitely, along with your email in Gmail. Oh no, Slashdot is storing your IP in its weblogs! In fact, every server does!
Non-issue, in my opinion.
"Sufferin' succotash."
Here's the target: http://lake.stark.k12.oh.us/hs/
And here's the weapon: http://reloadevery.mozdev.org/
"May the days be aimless. Let the seasons drift. Do not advance the action according to a plan."
60 days is 0.16 years. Sounds like a lot less that way, does it not? Well, that sort of perception is how we get the pointlessly long incarcerations for the slightly more serious crimes. Maybe it's just me, but very few crimes merit more than 365 days behind bars, and yet most seem to result in more than that.
My other body is also not wearing any.
GOB finds it difficult to gain re-entry in the Alliance when he performs his illusions in front of River, who immediately knows all of the tricks.
Michael is mistaken for Mal, and has to fight a duel to defend Inara, who is being stalked by Carl Weathers.
Tobias is jealous of Lindsay's attraction to a "real doctor" like Simon, and hatches a plan to win back his wife by going to Boston to renew his medical license. He gets on the wrong bus, heading toward Canada.
Mal, mistaken for Michael, is arrested for another George Sr. crime, and escapes prison with the help of Jayne, using GOB's Segway as a getaway vehicle. They hit an inordinately fortified sand castle on the beach, and break it.
GOB, devestated at the loss of his Segway, and no company funds to buy another, begins to drink heavily with Jayne. They visit George Sr. in prison, and the three sing "The Hero of Canton" and the two are escorted out by guards.
Kaylee finds it difficult to fight off the affections of GOB after she fixes his Segway.
River is arrested after the Bluth Company's Mr. BananaGrabber commercial triggers another "incident," this time in Klimpy's Family Style Restaurant.
Wash buys the Bluth company jet back, and before GOB can take it to South America, he and Zoe fly off for a vacation. Unfortunately, Maeby is hiding in the bathroom, and is left there while the couple goes to their resort.
Simon, misunderstanding Kaylee's behavior with GOB as flirting, embarks to seduce Lindsay to get revenge. He later realizes that Lindsay is the type of woman that his father would have wanted him to marry, and breaks up with her by saying, "I've made a huge mistake."
George Michael is infatuated with River, but is slightly frightened of her after she looks at Ann and "fixes" her Bible in front of her parents.
Pastor Veal, on a flight back to California from a conference, is mistaken for Wash, and is left in the cockpit to land a plane safely after both the pilot and co-pilot have panic attacks.
Buster thinks Kaylee is the most beautiful woman he has ever seen, and tries to fight GOB and Simon for her affections. He looks online for doctorate programs, believing Kaylee is attracted to doctors, and mistakenly signs up to be a guest on the show of popular television counselor, Dr. Phil, after he submits what he believes to be an admissions essay answering the question "Do you have a family member you believe is living a double life?"
Mr. Universe becomes a public relations agent for the Bluths, holding press conferences from his ion cloud (now relocated to the smog air of California), and using Lenore as a spokeswoman, launches a pro-Bluth campaign, with great success. When an interrupted video feed reveals Mr. Universe to be the real public relations agent, and Lenore revealed to be fake, the Jewish community celebrates, and they all hire Mr. Universe to be their consultant. Women across the country, relieved to see that Lenore has perfect makeup because the makeup is permanently on her skin, also hire Mr. Universe.
George Sr. and Book discuss religion, and Book finds insight in George Sr.'s "Caged Wisdom" tapes.
"Curse your sudden, but inevitable betrayal!"
That's Mr. GNU Linux Gayrag to you, dickwad.
Forget $1 million per hour episode. That's laughable. It costs shooting in Vancouver Canada with tax breaks $3 million per hour for those crummy Lifetime movies with ZERO:
*Special effects
*Special sets
*Special "creature" makeup etc.
You're likely talking about $4 million per shooting in Vancouver, with lots of cheap ass Linux render farms or whatever Jackson used for LoTR.
Bottom line something with VERY minimal mass appeal and sub-culture audience like Firefly will only fly if/when the cost of production gets appreciably lower than competing product price-points.
Now THAT is a show I'd watch!
"You best to be watching that claw, Buster. You may be part machine but you're still human where all the sticky parts live." -Mal.
It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.
It's actually a crossover that was suggested a while ago when someone from another message board commented that Nathan Fillion and Jason Bateman look a lot alike. I'm going to write the complete "episode" and post it on my blog.
"Curse your sudden, but inevitable betrayal!"
Fundraising for episodes won't help bring Firefly back...20th Century Fox (or whatever Fox company owns the television rights to Firefly) has shown no interest in selling future production rights to the series. I see three requirements for the show to be brought back, and I don't see anyone other than Fox bringing it back:
1. The ability to bring production costs down. Way down. Why did Fox bring Family Guy back? I'm sure the production costs for two episodes (the equivalent to one full Firefly episode) are far below the $1 million price tag for a single episode of Firefly.
2. Firefly must attract a wider audience to get a better timeslot. Advertising rates for TV will vary based on the show, day of the week, and time slot. The show needs support from ad revenue, and the better the timeslot, the better the ad rates.
3. Willingness to admit (internally, between Fox execs) that they [Fox] made a mistake. It's fairly obvious that there is a lot of support for the show -- they thought it was fair to sell movie rights to a Firefly derivative; huge DVD sales of the series; rebroadcast rights to SciFi for the original series -- and they chose to ignore it. Bite the bullet, Fox, and it won't be all that bad. In time, you might even be forgiven.
It might sound like I'm trolling here but I honestly am not. I'd like someone to tell me what's good about that show. Maybe I'm missing the show's point or something?
I think it's kind of like Babylon 5.
Take a bunch of Star Trek fans. Take their beloved franchise and brutally drive it into the ground. They need something else sci-fi to latch onto...
Also, if you don't watch much TV (and you watched it particularly because a friend was talking about this), you may simply be complaining about TV in general. TV plots are, in general, pretty simplistic and bad. They're designed for the least-common-denominator, and they have a small fixed timeblock to set up, tell a story, and wrap up. They have to allow Average Joe to relate to them, they have to not be offensive, and they have to conform to a ton of other requirements.
Any program relying on (nontrivial) preemptive multithreading will be buggy.
Suspended sentence.
My other body is also not wearing any.
WE the interested parties WANT to watch FireFly.
Would we pay $9.95 to see it?
Would we pay $4.95 to see it?
Would we pay $2.95 to see it?
How many of us are there?
I'm NOT in favour of then taking a chance on us. I want to make sure that the economic situation is in response to reality (for a change.)
How long can a podcast episode be available, realistically? (I know that its just taking up a few gigs on a server, and that the cost of storage is dropping and so is the cost of transmission but still.)
How many downloads can we expect? (iPod DRMed style, you own the content and you can watch it as often as you want and whenever you want.)
How long can we drum up interest in these shows?
Once we can answer these questions and back the answers with some statistics, we can get the shows produced.
This is the beginning of a viewer led revolution.
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
My sister's a big Buffy fan, but when she heard that line (it's in the first few minutes), she told me, "This sounds like it's the worst TV show ever!" In Joss' defense, though, the whole beginning of the pilot was rewritten to satisfy the Fox execs.
Did I read that right -- they've raised $840? Total?
HA HAHAH AHHAHAHA HHAHAHAH
Hahaha hahahahaha hahaha haha hahah ahahah
hahah ahahaha hahah ah
ahem.
Sorry. I'm sure $840 will completely convince the necessary assholes that Firefly must stay on the air.
I, for one, welcome our new Antichrist overlord.
Distributing music on the web for free, and selling it at stores? Both of my old bands did it, my new band will do it. My old bandmate is doing it. A pal who just got signed is doing it.
I'm sure the RIAA and the many companies it represents are gleefully rubbing their hands together at your total generalization, and hoping that the 'free music online = illegal' meme takes hold. Musicians who have to distribute their own music hate it, and those who would love to lobby those independents out of existence love that doublespeak. As far as intent, I've met alot of people who have no clue what exactly copyright is, so it wouldn't surprise me that they didn't indend to infringe. Then again, who are we all kidding? What college student hasn't heard the word 'Napster'?
It also wouldn't surprise me if the RIAA claimed infringement on works that weren't theirs, as the've done in the past.
All that said, words are important - use them carefully.
Either the submitter is a cluless moron intent on brewing a tempest in a tea pot, or he is a spiteful troll intent on promoting "teh Apple sux".
Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get to the front door - the cheatinghousewifeonmystreet is ringing my bell.
Seriously FreeNet does not work. Somebody fix this, or provide an encryption system for Shareaza or something!
rhY
I hold very few opinions. I hold information based on observation and fact. If you wish to disagree, please use facts.
I'm very fond of Apple, but I was incensed by the disregard for privacy that itunes 6.0.2 seemed to indicate. I used their feedback web form to convey my alarm, made some grumpy posts to their discussion forum, and generally tried to express to them that this was a serious transgression.
Apparently they heard and reacted to me and the presumed lots of other people saying the same thing, and reacted in precisely the right way. I never much cared about the mini-store one way or the other, I was only bothered by the transmission of personal data without my very explicit knowledge and consent. Defaulting to off with a prominent opt-in dialog is a perfectly good solution to this.
So it appears that it was just an oversight on their part, a concern that never crossed their minds, and that they were willing to make corrections as soon as the issue was brought to their attention. That seems quite forgivable, and indeed I'm proud of Apple for reacting so quickly and correctly.
I'm a nerd/geek/etc. I know about, but never saw, the Firefly TV series. After all the hype, I would love to see it, but I feel that it'd be setting myself up for some emotional trauma. I'd probably get hooked to the 'substance' and then it'll be suddenly cut off. I couldn't handle the withdrawal.
So if Fox aren't willing to spend money to make money on Firefly, why not let the rights go?
'As long as an invention is not clearly contrary to scientific laws - like time travel - research has no bearing on the grant of a patent.'"
So I guess they're saying there's no need to prove you've invented anything... it just has to pass the laugh test.
You actually aren't far off. So what? The USPTO's function, contrary to what I often see people seem to think, is not to exhaustively investigate each option. They'll approve anything that's nominally new. It's then the function of the courts to see if the patents are actually new. To fully investigate every patent, even those that will never be used or that are irrellevant to anyone, would be far to huge a waste of resources.
-Daniel
Did you at least have to demonstrate a working model of your invention at one time?
Rubber stamping everything then relying on the courts is far more of a waste of resources, IMO. We're talking real businesses spending real money and losing real producivity because so many people are gaming the system to make a quick buck.
The "laugh test" I'm speaking about should also apply when the "invention" is laughably obvious, as so many of them are.
You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
Fox: "Okay...let's see here...that's 40 30-second spots...that'll run you about $6 million a week...and let's assume a short 13 episode season...that will be $78 million please."
Firefly fans: "We've raised $900"
Fox: "Security, could you come in here please?"
-Eric
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
Thanks for sharing that. I had a good chuckle.
BTW, I think you meant Lucille instead of Lenore.
Because, as it turns out, your patented concept doesn't have to be possible.
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
No, I meant Lenore. Lenore is the name of Mr. Universe's lovebot.
"Curse your sudden, but inevitable betrayal!"
anyone else read "Elton John" from a first glance?