Luma Labs is a small company that sells a camera sling with a sliding clip. When a competitor of theirs filed for a patent on the idea, they weren’t concerned. After all, Luma knew of prior art for their mechanism stretching all the way back to 1885. So they were surprised when the USPTO recklessly granted the patent to their competitor. And they were aghast when their lawyers explained that getting the patent overturned in the course of a lawsuit would bankrupt their company. So they’re giving up. In short, the idea of a sliding camera sling isnt an amazing new invention. Its just a really good idea thats been around for a while and which has been iteratively developed. Neither we nor our lawyers believed that the USPTO would grant a patent for the claims related to this concept. It was a surprise, then, when our competitor was granted a patent covering the concept on November 1st, 2011. To say that were disappointed that the USPTO couldnt find the prior art around the idea is an understatement. Our disappointment doesnt matter much in the scheme of things, however. Our competitor now has a legal tool and were pretty sure that they desire to use it. This is, as they say, a problem. We and our counsel are more than confident that we can defend ourselves, and will do so vigorously if necessary. On the other hand, were a very small company that sells our products in limited volumes and mounting such a defense would consume the majority of our resources. After all, it took three years to rescind a patent about a method of using a swing. In other words, we have a Hobsons choice on our hands. We could very well lose everything even if we won. Therefore, were acting unilaterally and conceding the market by immediately discontinuing the Loop and LoopIt. Full stop. We apologize for the sudden nature of this decision and our implementation of it, but we feel like our options on this matter are limited. They’ve got another camera strap idea that they’re hoping to bring to market. But of course, they’ll only be able to sell it until the USPTO recklessly grants another ridiculous patent against it. An open letter to our customers, past and future ( via O’Reilly Radar )

Read more:
How USPTO’s recklessness destroys business, innovation, and competition

Because the government doesn’t want you to run me over on my walk to the bar, the National Transportation Safety Board is encouraging all states to adopt stricter bans on the use of cell phones while driving . And while they’re at it they should do something about the guy I saw drive by the other day with his foot on the dash CUTTING HIS F***ING TOENAILS. I say arrest that man! So far 30 of the 50 states have some kind of ban in place, but the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is worried that a patchwork of rules for each state is too confusing, so they have introduced their own recommendations. They say states should ban all handheld portable electronics, except those involved directly with operating the car such as GPS units. Cellphones used with hands-free devices would still be allowed, as would calls made to report emergencies. Pfft, what call ISN’T an emergency for the person making it? OMG Derek listen — the guy in the car next to me is masturbating. That or peeling potatoes. Either way I’m gonna try to take a picture as soon as I get off the phone with you. Wanna watch me play some Skyrim when I get home? WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU SOLD MY PLAYSTATION TO BUY A MAIL ORDER BRIDE?! Well can we share her? Because if you use that money that technically makes her half mine. Feds want all states to ban cellphone use while driving [dvice] Thanks to Chris and rallaz, who don’t text and drive because they know if I catch them I’ll get in front and then slam on the brakes.

See original here:
Gubment Wants All States To Adopt Phone Driving Ban

As the fight over the warrantless placing of GPS trackers on suspects’ cars continues, Americans continue to discover hidden GPS trackers. Wired’s looked at these before , and today they’ve got the story of “Greg,” a young man in San Jose, California, who found not one, but two warrantless trackers on his SUV. The 25-year-old resident of San Jose, California, says he found the first one about three weeks ago on his Volvo SUV while visiting his mother in Modesto, about 80 miles northeast of San Jose. After contacting Wired and allowing a photographer to snap pictures of the device, it was swapped out and replaced with a second tracking device. A witness also reported seeing a strange man looking beneath the vehicle of the young mans girlfriend while her car was parked at work, suggesting that a tracking device may have been retrieved from her car… Greg says he discovered the first tracker on his vehicle after noticing what looked like a cell phone antenna inside a hole on his back bumper where a cable is stored for towing a trailer. The device, the size of a mobile phone, was not attached to a battery pack, suggesting the battery was embedded in its casing… On Tuesday, Nov. 1, Wired photographer Jon Snyder went to San Jose to photograph the device. The next day, two males and one female appeared suddenly at the business where Gregs girlfriend works, driving a Crown Victoria with tinted windows. A witness reported to Greg that one of the men jumped out of the car, bent under the front of the girlfriends car for a few seconds, then jumped back into the Crown Victoria and drove off. Wired was unable to confirm the story. There was no writing on the tracker to identify its maker, but a label on the battery indicated that its sold by a small firm in Farmingdale, New York, called Revanche. A notice on a government web site last June indicates that it was seeking 500 of the batteries and 250 battery chargers for the Drug Enforcement Administration. A separate notice on the same site in 2008 refers to a contract for what appears to be a similar Revanche battery. The notice indicates the batteries work with GPS devices made by Nextel and Sendum. Busted! Two New Fed GPS Trackers Found on SUV

Read more:
New Fed warrantless GPS trackers discovered in the wild

UEFI is a new hardware standard nominally aimed at stopping malicious software, but it could also make it illegal to replace Windows or MacOS with GNU/Linux on your computer . The Linux Foundation has written a technical memo for hardware vendors explaining how they can ship PCs that still protect users from malware, without putting them in legal jeopardy for running free operating systems: The recommendations can be summarized as follows: All platforms that enable UEFI secure boot should ship in setup mode where the owner has control over which platform key (PK) is installed. It should also be possible for the owner to return a system to setup mode in the future if needed. The initial bootstrap of an operating system should detect a platform in the setup mode, install its own key-exchange key (KEK), and install a platform key to enable secure boot. A firmware-based mechanism should be established to allow a platform owner to add new key-exchange keys to a system running in secure mode so that dual-boot systems can be set up. A firmware-based mechanism for easy booting of removable media. At some future time, an operating-system- and vendor-neutral certificate authority should be established to issue KEKs for third-party hardware and software vendors. Making UEFI Secure Boot Work With Open Platforms ( via /. )

Original post:
Linux Foundation memo: how to make a computer that doesn’t lock out GNU/Linux

A video-game addicted lawyer, so hooked he couldn’t even manage to call clients back, was recently suspended from lawyering for three years while he struggles to not be such a f***ing failure at life. Mathew Eshelman, 43, retreated into the world of video games to fight job stress and problems at home, a state disciplinary panel concluded. “When attempting to conduct his own law practice, he sought refuge from his problems by playing video and computer games with an even greater intensity. He described himself as `addicted’ to the games,” lawyer Howell K. Rosenberg wrote in the 89-page report. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court Disciplinary Board’s report detailed 17 cases that Eshelman mishandled. They mostly involved bankruptcy, divorce and debt collection cases. He missed deadlines, lost track of client funds and once knowingly lied in a divorce filing , all while ignoring calls from increasingly angry clients. WOW. That is like, the LAST guy I would ever want handling my case. And that’s saying a lot because one time I tried defending myself. Baliff : GW — do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God? GW : Seriously, HELP ME GOD. Prosecution : Yeaaaaaaah, let’s go ahead and throw the book at this guy. GW : *ducks* Pa. lawyer suspended, blames video-game addiction [philly] and Game-Addicted Lawyer of the Day [geeks.thedailwh.at] Thanks to Sally (from the valley?!), who’s convinced her last lawyer was addicted to Twilight and tried to blame her case on vampires. Oh that’s bad.

Continued here:
Video Game Addicted Lawyer Suspended Three Years For Mishandling/Botching Cases

Samsung is being sued by Apple for patent infringements related to the iPad, claiming Samsung’s Galaxy is near-identical (in form) ripoff . Samsung’s defense? You shouldn’t have even been granted a patent for the design in the first place because Stanley Kubrick came up with that shit in 1968 for ‘ 2001: A Space Odyssey ‘ . Hey, you never know (except this time. This time I know Samsung shouldn’t have gone with the first legal team in the phonebook). “In a clip from that film lasting about one minute, two astronauts are eating and at the same time using personal tablet computers,” the lawyer wrote, adding a Web link for watching the film on YouTube. As with the design claimed by Apple’s patent, “the tablet disclosed in the clip has an overall rectangular shape with a dominant display screen, narrow borders, a predominately flat front surface, a flat back surface (which is evident because the tablets are lying flat on the table’s surface), and a thin form factor.” An Apple spokeswoman didn’t directly address the Samsung contentions, but reiterated its arguments behind the litigation. “It’s no coincidence that Samsung’s latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad,” she said in prepared remarks. “From the shape of the hardware to the user interface and even the packaging, this kind of blatant copying is wrong, and we need to protect our intellectual property when companies steal our ideas.” Well? Are there any patent lawyers in the audience? Also, let’s say I hypothetically recently got arrested for public intoxication. What are my chances of getting off with a ‘giant rolling boulder from Raiders of the Lost Ark ‘ defense? “Solid.” F*** yeah, that’s what I thought too! *calls to fire lawyer* Samsung Cites Sci-Fi Classic in Attacking Apple Patent [wallstreetjournal] Thanks to chichi, who can blow into a court room and Erin Brockovich the shit out of everything in sight. *swoon* If love’s illegal then lock me up and throw away the key!

See the article here:
Samsung Uses ‘They Existed In 2001: A Space Odyssey’ Defense In iPad Patent Infringement Case, Will Not Be Super Effective

Andrew Ainsworth is a Londoner who designed the original Storm Trooper helmets for George Lucas’s Star Wars . Ainsworth has been casting new armour from his original moulds for the past eight years, selling them to fans at up to 1,800 a throw. Lucas sued Ainsworth in a US court, which held that he had violated Lucas’s copyright; but because Ainsworth has no US assets, Lucas had to bring suit in the UK to collect. However, UK law affords only limited copyright to costumes, and the UK Supreme Court held that costumes are not sculptures, and only get a 15 year term of copyright in the UK, meaning that Storm Trooper armour is now in the public domain in Britain. The court also found that Ainsworth had violated US copyright. Mr Ainsworth sells his Stormtrooper costumes for up to 1,800 A prop designer who made the original Stormtrooper helmets for Star Wars has won his battle with director George Lucas over his right to sell replicas. Andrew Ainsworth, 62, of south London, successfully argued the costumes were functional not artistic works, and so not subject to full copyright laws. George Lucas loses Stormtrooper battle at Supreme Court ( Thanks, @erichhugo ! )

Read this article:
UK Storm Trooper armourer can go on selling his gear; Brit copyright on Star Wars costumes has lapsed

You know that saying, “more than a mouthful’s a waste “? Yeah, me neither. And apparently neither does Australia. The country has decided to ban smaller looking breasts from adult content because of pedo-y concerns. The ban (RC) on small breasted women in adult publications has been made by the Australian Classification Board allegedly on the grounds that such images could be construed as child pornography, even where those publications comply with American law and keep certification that performers are over 18. Female ejaculation has been banned on the incredible grounds that “the depictions are a form of urination which is banned under the label of ‘golden showers’ in the Classification Guidelines” and/or “Female ejaculation is an ‘abhorrent’ depiction.” Notably here male ejaculation is completely legal under the same guidelines, attracting an X rating in Australia. First of all, breasts of all sizes are awesome. And secondly, what’s up with this female ejaculation thing? Talk about a double standard. You outta be ashamed of yourself, Australia! And to think Britain used to use you as a giant penal colony. What happened? Millions Of Extra Sites To Be Censorsed As Australian Gov. Bans Small Breasts, Female Ejaculation [inquisitr] Thanks to Korey and Tofu Butcher, who’ll take all the breasts they can get, regardless of size or number of nipples.

More:
Discrimination!: Australia Bans Small Breasts

This is a conceptual solar powered BMW . It may look like a fish , but it’s not, it’s a car , silly! Well, not a real car, cause it’s only a concept . Like me. I ONLY EXIST YOUR INTERNET! Created by 24-yo German designer Anne Forschner, the Lovos stands fo Lifestyle of Voluntary Simplicity. Each of those scales–which are replaceable and turn constantly to align with the sun–is covered with solar cells. Now I’m no aerodynamicist, but that shit looks like it’ll slow you down. AND I CAN’T DRIVE 55, know what I’m saying? It’s against my law! The Geekologie law of awesome. Which, honestly, makes gravity look like a little bitch. Hit the jump for a bunch more shots of the craziness.

Read the original here:
Frightening: Conceptual Solar Powered BMW

A teen has filed a class-action lawsuit against Amazon for remotely deleting a copy of George Orwell’s ‘1984′ off his Kindle without his knowledge or the right to do so. Justin D. Gawronski, 17, “now needs to recreate all of his studies,” alleges the complaint filed Thursday in Seattle by the law firm KamberEdelson, LLC. Gawronski took copious notes using the Kindle that were linked to particular passages in the book, the court document says, and while those notes are still accessible, they are useless without the passages they reference. Amazon has apologized for remotely deleting copies of 1984 and another Orwell novel, Animal Farm, in mid-July without informing customers. Jay Edelson, the lead attorney in the lawsuit, said in a statement that the plaintiffs “appreciate Amazon.com’s new-found contrition, but words are not enough. Amazon.com had no more right to hack into people’s Kindles than its customers have the right to hack into Amazon’s bank account to recover a mistaken overpayment.” Now I’m not saying Amazon should have done that, but I am saying that Justin is pretty lazy for not just going back through the book and finding the passages again. Not that it matters anyways because I’m pretty sure this is just a sorry excuse for not having your homework ready on time. But seriously, one time my dog really did eat my homework. And by homework I mean weed. Amazon sued for wrecking teen’s Kindle work [msn] Thanks to Laura and Joemo, who would have just sent their teacher a corrupted file like a normal person.

Read the rest here:
Teen Suing Amazon For Deleting Book From Kindle, Or, Why I Don’t Have My Homework