A new development on the state of the NTP v. RIM case is mentioned in this article. Another of NTP's patents has headed south, thanks to the Patent Office, so they may have started looking for some new artillery. The patent law, which many have declaimed against on/., or spoken with great certainty on, is actually in great flux right now. There is a case pending in the U.S. Supreme Court, EBay v. MercExchange, having to do with small companies who don't currently manufacture anything shutting down big companies by using court injunctions. It hasn't been decided yet. Congress was considering the issue, passed the ball to the Supreme Court, but is still contemplating other important changes to the patent system.
There was some discussion about submarine patents. Symbol Tech v. Lemelson Foundation was the case that laid those to rest, though as one/.er pointed out, a change in the rules about patent terms has just about eliminated the possibility that new ones will arise in the future
In the meantime, Microsoft has given and gotten some in the patent litigation wars. The Supreme Court refused to take up their loss against Eolas Technologies for basic browser patents. Eolas was a small firm holding patents developed by the University of California. The case has gone back to district court for further proceedings. This kind of case, like the Visto case, hinges on whether the courts and/or the Patent Office will uphold or invalidate the patents at issue. This co$t$ $ome time and effort to re$olve, a$ everyone know$.
Re:They needed space to test a vacuum?
on
Space Lichens
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· Score: 0
Well, I ain't no physicist, but I'm thinking, in terms of a lichen (not any higher organisms, but then that's not what they were experimenting on) slowly rotating a chamber would mean that any moisture or internal fluids in the organism would have no consistent direction of up or down. What else would be affected, in terms of a simple organism like a lichen, by weightlessness? Probably not its nervous system. Maybe the movement of intracellular bodies, like the DNA during reproduction, but even this is probably more dependent on the forces of the physics of the cellular processs than on the force of gravity.
The cosmic radiation part could be done in a lab with other artifical sources of particles similar to those in cosmic radiation. Lastly, the vacuum part is fairly simple.
Sorry if I don't word my messages very diplomatically, or it sounded like I am against spending big money on little experiments, but I am. A few years ago NASA made a big deal about how during a shuttle flight they were going to test the effects of weightlessness on the longevity of incandescent light bulbs.
Re:They needed space to test a vacuum?
on
Space Lichens
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· Score: 0, Flamebait
They needed space test the gullibility of government agencies to fund specious, unnecessary, and expen$ive "experiments". You rightly point out that any of these experiments, probably even the weightless one, could be cheaply done right here on boring old planet Earth. Think of all of the other scientific and educational projects that could have been explored with that money.
Slashdot Mirror
A new development on the state of the NTP v. RIM case is mentioned in this article. Another of NTP's patents has headed south, thanks to the Patent Office, so they may have started looking for some new artillery. The patent law, which many have declaimed against on /., or spoken with great certainty on, is actually in great flux right now. There is a case pending in the U.S. Supreme Court, EBay v. MercExchange, having to do with small companies who don't currently manufacture anything shutting down big companies by using court injunctions. It hasn't been decided yet. Congress was considering the issue, passed the ball to the Supreme Court, but is still contemplating other important changes to the patent system.
There was some discussion about submarine patents. Symbol Tech v. Lemelson Foundation was the case that laid those to rest, though as one /.er pointed out, a change in the rules about patent terms has just about eliminated the possibility that new ones will arise in the future
In the meantime, Microsoft has given and gotten some in the patent litigation wars. The Supreme Court refused to take up their loss against Eolas Technologies for basic browser patents. Eolas was a small firm holding patents developed by the University of California. The case has gone back to district court for further proceedings. This kind of case, like the Visto case, hinges on whether the courts and/or the Patent Office will uphold or invalidate the patents at issue. This co$t$ $ome time and effort to re$olve, a$ everyone know$.
Well, I ain't no physicist, but I'm thinking, in terms of a lichen (not any higher organisms, but then that's not what they were experimenting on) slowly rotating a chamber would mean that any moisture or internal fluids in the organism would have no consistent direction of up or down. What else would be affected, in terms of a simple organism like a lichen, by weightlessness? Probably not its nervous system. Maybe the movement of intracellular bodies, like the DNA during reproduction, but even this is probably more dependent on the forces of the physics of the cellular processs than on the force of gravity. The cosmic radiation part could be done in a lab with other artifical sources of particles similar to those in cosmic radiation. Lastly, the vacuum part is fairly simple. Sorry if I don't word my messages very diplomatically, or it sounded like I am against spending big money on little experiments, but I am. A few years ago NASA made a big deal about how during a shuttle flight they were going to test the effects of weightlessness on the longevity of incandescent light bulbs.
They needed space test the gullibility of government agencies to fund specious, unnecessary, and expen$ive "experiments". You rightly point out that any of these experiments, probably even the weightless one, could be cheaply done right here on boring old planet Earth. Think of all of the other scientific and educational projects that could have been explored with that money.
A fun article from Time tells about those altruistic folks when they got hungry at the UN cafeteria one day.
Tried it and got error message "Live Bookmark feed failed to load." Any idea why this may be so?