The Decline of the Mainstream Media and the Theory of Informational Cascades
Posted on May 29, 2008 in Generic prescription drugs
The recent Israeli/Hezbollah conflict made me think of some current issues in the mainstream media. While I do think that my game theoretic analysis of this recent conflict was good -- and may end up being right on yet -- it certainly did not answer all my questions. As that conflict went on, additional questions and issues emerged. One that has been written about in the blogosphere a fair amount concerns the way that Hezbollah seemed to control the battlefield of the media. While Israel may have gained some strategic advantage from the conflict (granted that the final outcome is still unclear) I don't think anyone would argue with the view that Hezbollah won the communications war. So let's put this into a broader context. And I do want to give the Economist credit for its cover story this past week, "Who Killed the Newspapers?" There was not too much to follow inside the cover, but a few points were made. Since the onset of the TV (geez, I remember our first black and white!) the newspapers have fought for market share of readers and of advertisers. The recent Internet-based economic changes have further affected the market position of not only newspapers, but the whole "mainstream media," TV and news magazines as well. Richard Posner had a great review article in the Sunday New York Times a while back, laying out very well how the new technology destroys the old economies-of-scale model of the old media business (see here). The point is that the old business model of the TV news service, newspaper, or news magazine is seriously suffering. They are now seriously losing readers and advertisers to the Internet. Whether this is the correct response or not, I don't think there can be argument over the proposition that the mainstream media are cutting their investigative journalism budgets. In the face of declining revenues and profits, a natural reaction is to cut the number of reporters. So we have a situation where the amount of true investigative reporting in the industry, worldwide, has declined. This now sets us up for situations where information cascades and "rational herding" will occur more frequently. Once I explain these, you ask yourself if you do not agree that we are seeing more herding and cascades in the media. A good link to the theory of informational cascades and herding is by Ivo Welch at Brown, here. Let me briefly describe the theory. I think informational cascades are the easiest and most illuminating. Suppose you are uncertain about something, say whether a news story is true or not. You have some private information on whether the story is true or not, and so does everybody else. You don't observe other people's information directly, but you do observe how other people behave -- say, whether they choose to pass the story on to other people. If other people only pass on stories that they believe are true, then when you see someone passing on a story, you should rationally infer that their information supported the truth of the story. With fairly reasonable underlying assumptions on the structure of the information, once you observe even two people pass the story on, you will have to rationally assume from that point on that the story is true. You will therefore pass the story on, and now the next person has seen three people act as if the story is true. They will have even more reason to disregard their own information and act just like everyone before them...hence the term informational cascade. A key point, of course, is that those two people who made the initial decisions to pass the story on could have had bad information (this is all in a world of uncertainty). No matter, once they decide to pass the story on, everyone thereafter will behave in the same way. So we will get a lot of false stories passed on as truthful, and everyone will believe them to be true! And not to get ahead of ourselves too much, but suppose you know that this is how the world is operating, and you (Hezbollah) decide to be those two people who make the first decisions that everyone else is going to use to infer what is actually going on... This is the theory of informational cascades. The theory of rational herding is very similar; the term herding refers to the tendency of people to make similar decisions under conditions of uncertainty. Herding can be reinforced by other incentive issues. For example, in the investments world, managers of mutual funds might "herd" not only because they are watching one another, but because their compensation is based on relative performance. If I know what other fund managers are doing in terms of stock picks, then if I mimic that, I cannot go too far astray in my performance. I think the applications to the media industry are now apparent. With the decline in resources devoted to true investigative reporting, the tendency towards informational cascades and herding are stronger. Nobody really knows what is going on, so when we see someone with some information, we will rationally believe it. I cannot yet present data to support my claim, but my casual observation is that "herding" is more rampant in the media than before. It seems that one story or one fact has much longer and stronger "legs" than ever before. Deaths in Iraq are one example; someone puts out the data on how many were killed, and everyone reports that story. The craziness over Mr. Karr who confessed to killing Jon Benet Ramsey is another good example. Does anyone want to write a paper with me that would create some measure of "herding" for the media and show that it is negatively correlated with the resources devoted to investigative reporting by the mainstream media? Two further observations. The first is really important, I think. In a world with less investigative reporting by the Fourth Estate, the ability for governments or other organizations and individuals (read Hezbollah, OBL, etc.) to influence people's beliefs is enhanced. I hinted above how someone like Hezbollah could start an informational cascade. Does that story describe pretty well what happened in the recent Lebanese conflict? I think so. Any country that enters into a conflict without a grand strategy of controlling the media is in for a real battle. Israel certainly lost the battle for world opinion, and increasingly, it appears to have done so on the basis of just a couple stories that were exaggerated. Amazingly, in this new world of technology, we are getting less information being produced, yet more (false) consensus in the world on what is truth, and therefore worse decisions being made. The second observation related to an earlier post of mine on the tendency for bloggers to simply link to other sites (see here). Bloggers are not yet fully replacing the investigative reporting role of the mainstream media. They (and I) are serving at best an analytic role, trying to opine on the facts that we assume are being collected by others. This is a classic free-riding situation! Who is going to start collecting the information that the old-style reporters used to collect? Discovering the economic model that will support bloggers actually doing more primary data collection will be a challenge, but the potential economic rewards could be huge.
Tags: story, media, information, people, herding
The Simpsons almost disprove Fermat's Last Theorem
Posted on May 26, 2008 in Causes of erectile dysfunction
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Long Awkward Pose
Posted on May 25, 2008 in Causes of erectile dysfunction
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Pints in a Keg?
Posted on May 23, 2008 in Causes of erectile dysfunction
Perhaps the greatest argument for changin the way we eat.
Posted on May 22, 2008 in Causes of erectile dysfunction
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Phallic Anatomy - The Prepuce
Posted on May 12, 2008 in Impotence young men
"It is a biological norm in Homo sapiens that, in youth, that part of the penis known as the prepuce often runs to impressive lengths, frequently representing more than three-quarters of the length of the penis. This anatomical fact is not without its cultural or artistic consequences. In his survey of images of the phallus in Greek vase painting, K. J. Dover comments that depictions of attractive, virtuous, heroic, or divine subjects feature a prepuce that can comprise up to three-quarters the entire length of the penis. This may be an accurate representation of an ethnic norm; a broad-based, culturally significant idealization of the penis; or, in some cases, the representation of a prepuce that has been deliberately lengthened. Whatever the case, the well-proportioned prepuce was the longer prepuce, with its distinctive taper. It is also a convention of vase painting that, even when in a state of erection, the prepuce of paragons of male beauty should retain its proportionality to the rest of the penis; despite erection, therefore, it is almost invariably represented as unretracted, long, and finely tapered." So wrote the learned Frederick M. Hodges, in "The Ideal Prepuce in Ancient Greece and Rome: Male Genital Aesthetics and Their Relation to Lipodermos, Circumcision, Foreskin Restoration, and the Kynodesme" - Bulletin of the History of Medicine, vol. 75, no. 3 (Fall 2001): pp. 375-405. For those of you who are regular readers of The Perfect Phallus, you will know all too well that Mrs. Candy, not unlike the Greeks and the Rmans, equates the prepuce with holy Phallic excellence, one which deserves worship and appreciation. The prepuce or foreskin is a sublime, retractable double-layered fold of skin and mucous membrane that covers the glans penis and protects the urinary meatus when the penis is not erect. The prepuce occupies a prominent position on an vitally important organ. It's location and structure indicate that it is the most important sensory tissue of the Phallus. Its persistence over millions of years suggests that it has played a role in the propagation of the species. There is little doubt that the prepuce is quite divine. Let us take a brief tour, shall we, of some of the delightful prepuce we have had the pleasure of viewing on The Perfect Phallus. As you may have sensed, Mrs. Candy is quite taken by the prepuce. While I adore all Phalli, those with prepuce indeed occupy a special place. There are few things more delightful, I must admit, than exploring a healthy young prepuce with one's tongue. The longer the prepuce, the more detailed are my explorations. I do often get lost in the pleasures of the prepuce. In my view, removal of the prepuce for aesthetic reasons is an act of utter barbarity. It is cruelty beyond imagination. If you have never witnessed a circumcision, I have included a video clip below. This video is very graphic. Please do not watch it if it may upset you or make you feel ill. **WARNING** THE FOLLOWING VIDEO IS OF AN INFANT CIRCUMCISION IT IS EXTREMELY GRAPHIC IN NATURE WATCHING THIS VIDEO MAY MAKE YOU ILL
Tags: prepuce, penis, video, phallus, circumcision
A real discussion on prescription drug prices....
Posted on May 03, 2008 in Generic prescription drugs
Formerly I hear largely the blithering mid the Click along with the politicians onward stupendous drug prices, it purely check ins my blood boiling. Utterly told, prescription-drug spending halfway the United States rose 9.1 per cent deep freeze point. Solitary three of those percentage functions were vital to outlay increases, however, which pay that inflation was broadly the straight surrounded by the drug side pending it was interpolated the over-all economy. The fanatical lasciviousness amidst the US latent bulky prescription drug bids revealed to be moreso of a hoax later truth. Seniors are come Again getting in toto midway tizzy near drug sums while the poop sheet don't absolutely tend that out. Peruse it altogether here separating the New Yorker. It is not accurate to instruct, thereupon, this the United States has higher prescription-drug bids than another countries. It is accurate to report single this the United States has a unusual pricing formation from this of reproduction countries. Americans asking price including over drugs soon after they first worm in out Also minus Because the drugs wages older, over the locate of the globe pays subordinate enclosed by the beginning further still more recent. Whose pricing series is cheaper? It depends. If you are taking Mevacor Because your cholesterol, the 20-mg. spheroid is two-twenty-five between America along deficient than two dollars if you buy it surrounded by Canada. But generic Mevacor (lovastatin) is regularly a dollar a real estate inserted Canada again until low during sixty-five cents a balloon tween the United States. Of era, not Every so often drug fall bys halfway a generic version. But so prevalent important drugs embody gone by off-patent latterly that the premium of augmentation amid drug spending enclosed by the United States has fallen sharply whereas the done four years. Likewise so billions contrasting drugs are hot to lastingness off-patent bounded by the ulterior few years-including the top-selling drug betwixt this country, the anti-cholesterol medication Lipitor-that zillions Americans who whereas ticket more as their drugs than their simulacrums inserted next Western countries could soon be paying negative. Amid far now I am concerned the whole application imaginable drug bids is purely place crass expenditure grabbing plot done with seniors to imbibe nothing for everything. Is the scholarship broken? I level no. Can it be improved? Why should it be improved? Intent the government be able to improve it? Chances are specially slim that they could. They may perform properties a little cheaper star the subordinate time but declaration 'dumb-down' the totality so this innovation resolution meagerness, limited new drugs infatuation be appeared considering throughout we are older further some prevailing discoveries may not be achieved. Hear a life America. Mote essaying to steal additional humans's effects whereas your personalized benefits. Also if it saves your life span, what is again expensive overall that?
USPTO grants PubPat re-exam request on WARF / Thomson stem cell patents
Posted on April 22, 2008 in Diabetes erectile dysfunction
In a letter mailed on 9/29/06 (examiner signature on 8/22/06) the USPTO has granted the request of PubPat / FTCR for re-exam of the '780 (and other patents). IPBiz previously outlined the obviousness arguments in the re-exam request. The USPTO has determined that a substantial question of patentability is raised as to claims in the '780 in view of four different references. IPBiz notes that the USPTO misidentified WARF's Thomson patent as the "Thomason" patent on the fourth page of the letter (6th overall page). Not much proofreading by the USPTO here. The Piedrahita 1990 reference was found to raise a substantial question of patentability. See page five of the letter (7th overall page). The Piedrahita 1990 reference had been applied in the parent case, but was not applied as to this application. The USPTO also noted that the Piedrahita 1990 reference was applied in a new light in the re-exam request. The grant of a re-exam request is distinct from a determination that any claim is invalid over the cited prior art. The USPTO determination of whether any claim is invalid is yet to occur. *** The Wisconsin Technology Network stated: WARF, armed with a $1.5 billion endowment, has said it is prepared to take on any legal challenges to its stem cell patents. Following the PTO decision, Beth Donley, executive director of the WiCell Research Insitute, a subsidiary of WARF, said the decision was not unexpected. "The patent office grants more than 90 percent of the requests for reexamination, so this decision does not come as a surprise," Donley said in a statement. "WARF believes the Thomson patents are valid and will affirm the validity of the patents." While patent reviews have taken anywhere from one year to 10 years to complete, Simpson said that in 70 percent of requested third-party reviews, the patents either have been overturned or narrowed. Of Simpson's comment, IPBiz notes that re-examinations are about CLAIMS . Re-exams in which ALL claims are invalidated are not common. Re-exams in which SOME claims are narrowed are more common. In the director-ordered re-exam of the controversial Eolas/Berkeley patent, NO CLAIMS were altered. The Wisconsin Technology Network also noted: To receive a patent, something must be new, useful, and non-obvious. In challenging the WARF patent, the Public Patent Foundation submitted what it said was unseen "art" or evidence that the previous work of other scientists made the derivation of human embryonic stem cells "obvious and therefore unpatentable." [IPBiz notes that the re-exam request raised issues of both anticipation and obviousness.] The Network also noted: Dr. Jeanne Loring, a stem cell scientist at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research, said the real discovery of embryonic stem cells was made in 1981 by scientists Martin Evans, Matt Kaufman, and Gail Martin. Loring filed a 30-page statement in support of the challenge. Loring's declaration provided no basis to initiate the re-examination. A declaration is not a basis to establish a substantial question of patentability. ***Comment posted to californiastemcellreport.blogspot: Of the comments in the Sacramento Bee: In a break with academic tradition that has stirred controversy, the foundation has required university researchers to negotiate licenses to do virtually any sort of embryonic stem cell research. In addition, it generally negotiates "reach-through" royalty rights, giving it the right to claim a share of the proceeds from cures developed through the research. The actions of WARF about licensing seem to be directed to non-profit (e.g., university) bodies who are affiliated with for-profit entities. WARF does not seem to be after entities who are totally non-profit, and research activities of such entities would likely be insulated from infringement through 35 USC 271(e)(1). As a result, the Patent Office's decision could have financial implications for California taxpayers, who will be funding $3 billion in embryonic stem cell research in the next decade -- if voter-approved Proposition 71 survives its ongoing legal challenges. About 70 percent of patents that are accepted for re-examination by the Patent Office are ultimately altered or thrown out, according to agency figures. It usually takes between two and 10 years for the office to issue a final decision, according to Dan Ravicher, executive director of the Public Patent Foundation. Re-examination itself should be concluded much closer to the "two year" point than the "ten year" point. In the face of an unfavorable decision, WARF would have the right of judicial review, which would add additional time. It is also possible that litigation could move in tandem with re-examination. In the case of the Eolas/Berkeley patent, Eolas survived re-examination at the USPTO without any claim amendment, but is still engaged in a litigation. Separately, note that it is claims, not patents, which are investigated in a re-exam. The majority (88%) of patents involved in re-examination survive with (some) valid claims. [http://ipbiz.blogspot.com/2006/10/uspto-grants-pubpat-re-exam-request-on.html] ** The AP report on the topic contained the text: The patent office is acting in response to challenges brought by two groups who contend the patents should never have been issued because other researchers paved the way for the breakthroughs in Wisconsin. Patent claims are not invalidated because earlier researchers paved the way for later researchers. PubPat's anticipation argument for human embryonic stem cells is based on a prior reference which is not enabled as to human embryonic stem cells. To look in a different area, the work of Galileo (and others) may have paved the way for the Wright Brothers, but no one achieved three dimensional flight control before the Wright Brothers, or taught how three dimensional flight control could be achieved. PubPat's obviousness argument is based on the assertion: recipe for mouse embryonic stem cells renders obvious recipe for human embryonic stem cells. If this were true, it probably would not have taken 15 years between mouse and human. buy cilais cheap cialis cheap viagra cialis
US patent app on "invisible" spy drone?
Posted on April 21, 2008 in Diabetes erectile dysfunction
from discoverychannel: VeraTech filed the patent [application] Sept. 28 detailing their "Phantom Sentinel" product: The craft looks like a long letter "Y" with a nose making most of its length - slated to be between two and ten feet. The nose is connected to a boomerang-shaped end and propellers are adorned to two other ends. While flying, the aircraft makes itself nearly invisible by spinning around very quickly. Much like helicopter-blades appear as only a blur, the Phantom uses a "persistence of vision" phenomenon to seem invisible. (..) "We're trying to get it into a military application in the next six to eight months," VeraTech President Dean A. Tangren told discoverychannel.ca. "It may come out as a police department use before then." [This would seem to be an example of a company disclosing its patent application long before the 18 month publication time, of some relevance to the publicized IBM application disclosure policy.]
Tags: application, patent, invisible, long, end
Harry Toulmin, patent attorney for Wright Brothers, gets Ohio statue
Posted on April 20, 2008 in Diabetes erectile dysfunction
In the unending story of the Wright Brothers, there will be a statue of Harry Toulmin in Ohio. A story on WWAY has the following text: Toulmin helped the Wright brothers apply for five patents, including the flying machine's patent. That patent withstood more than 20 years of fierce legal battles over intellectual property rights. The basic Wright patent concerned three dimensional control of flight. It was filed well before the first powered flight in December 1903. The initial application was not written by Toulmin. It did not withstand 20 years of fierce legal battles. After the patent pool was set up as a result of World War I, there were no legal battles. The Akron Beacon-Journal noted: Toulmin was selected because 2006 marks the 100-year anniversary of the flying machine's patent. Officials in Springfield, Ohio, about 25 miles northeast of Dayton, hope to erect statues of the Wrights alongside Toulmin's. IPBiz observes that, although the Wright Brothers won their patent litigations, they didn't win in the marketplace, in large part because of the patent pool. After World War I, the litigations could have started again, but they didn't. The patent system did not serve the Wright Brothers well. Another story of an inventor who didn't do well in the patent system is that of Andreas Pavel (Walkman). See LARRY ROHTER in the New York Times; Section A, Page 4, Column 4, 17 Dec. 2005. Part of the Times text which should be noted by those talking about small inventors: At one point, Mr. Pavel said, he owed his lawyer hundreds of thousands of dollars and was being followed by private detectives and countersued by Sony. "They had frozen all my assets, I couldn't use checks or credit cards," and the outlook for him was grim. Of relevance to the Wright Brothers, who were consumed by their patent litigation, the Times wrote of Pavel: Some of his friends have suggested he might have a case against the manufacturers of MP3 players, reasoning that those devices are a direct descendant of the Walkman. Mr. Pavel said that while he saw a kinship, he was not eager to take on another long legal battle. "I have known other inventors in similar predicaments and most of them become that story, which is the most tragic, sad and melancholic thing that can happen," he said. "Somebody becomes a lawsuit, he loses all interest in other things and deals only with the lawsuit. Nobody ever said I was obsessed. I kept my other interests alive, in philosophy and music and literature." "I didn't have time to pursue them, but now I have reconquered my time," he continued. "So, no, I'm not interested anymore in patents or legal fights or anything like that."
Good deals -- and not-so-good deals -- for Canadians
Posted on April 19, 2008 in Impotence young men
Want to celebrate the rise of the up-up-and-away Canadian dollar, currently worth $1.05 US? Here's some information gleaned recently. To kick things off, here's a good deal for just about everyone, as long as you don't already have a subscription to Smithsonian Magazine: the magazine is offering a special introductory rate -- United States: 12 issues for $12 Canada: 12 issues for $25 USD Foreign: 12 issues for $38 USD Compare this to the renewal rate of $29 annually for U.S. subscribers; $42 USD for Canadians; and $55 USD for foreign subscribers. So this is a dandy time to get a subscription if you don't already have one. It's a magazine the whole family can enjoy. Other Good Deals : Lee Valley, the wonderful Canadian woodworking and garden tool company, is celebrating its 30th anniversary with 20 percent off all books to the end of this month (this means you have 'til Halloween). Favorite Lee Valley titles from the Farm School book shelf include Boy Craft and Lee's Priceless Recipes; and Daniel has The Boy Mechanic series from Popular Mechanics on his wish list for when he's older. I also keep eyeing Workshop Math and Construction Geometry as possible math texts for Daniel and Davy in high school, when they might find something with practical applications more appealing. LL Bean: Not only does your Canadian dollar go much further nowadays for cross-border shopping at LL Bean, but now through December 16th, Bean is offering free shipping to Canada with no minimum purchase. Not-so-good deals, or, Canadians caveat emptor : Lego : Thinking that with the Canadian dollar above par I could finally head to Lego.com to do some shopping for the kids, since what I can buy online from Chapters.ca and Mastermind (which, by the way, is offering free shipping in Canada on orders over $100, until November 18th) is fairly limited. On a hunch, I checked the price of the Lego digger (item #7248), and lo and behold it's $29 CAD for Canadians but only $19.99 USD for Americans. Hmmm.... No reply yet to the inquiry I sent along via customer service wondering whether they would be willing to consider an adjustment for Canadian customers. I'd like to buy some more Lego soon for the kids, for Christmas and for Davy's birthday next month, but I'm not willing to pay the Canadian mark-up and shipping and duty, so I just might add on to the K'NEX set we just received and which has been a huge success (will write more and post pics later on), and/or buy some more Lincoln Logs (now part of the K'NEX family) to add to the kids' collection. Especially because the fine folks at Canadian Home Education Resources sent along some CHER "customer appreciation dollars" (think Canadian Tire money but better) toward our next purchase. Now that's a lesson in customer service the companies in this nether section could learn. Math-U-See : We've been using Math-U-See to supplement Singapore Math, and Davy just completed the old Foundations set, which I had bought secondhand. Considering the purchase of one teacher pack and one student kit each for the new Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon levels for my bunch, I saw on the website that while shipping for Canadian customers is free at the moment, each level would cost me $78 CAN, for a total of $234. Buying in the US, the same three levels would cost me $165 US, with an additional $14.50 for shipping, for a total of $179.50. That's a difference of $54.50, which seems rather high to me, given the present exchange rate. And so I wrote to the local MUS rep. To which I received the following reply, Well as of today the Canadian dollar is going down [it bounced back quite nicely, thank you]. We purchase and print our books in Canada because the Canadian version is different so we pay more then the American version. We have taken off our 8% postage plus 5.00 shipping charge and that is as far as we can go. Sorry. Thanks [Rep's Assistant] I wrote directly to the company after that -- no reply from anyone there -- and back to the rep, too, Dear [Rep's Assistant], Down, I suppose, is a relative term, considering that it's at $1.02 so far today and fell only in response to David Dodge's comments yesterday. Could you tell me please whether the Canadian version contain substantially more material than the US version? Many thanks, ME And the final word on the matter -- and you thought the customer was always right -- from the rep's assistant, The Canadian version contains both the metric measurements and the imperial measurements. The US version has only the imperial measurements. Yes it is a result of David Dodges comments and the radio said the dollar is at 99 cents today and continuing down either way this is the solution that [Canadian MUS representative's name] and Steve Demme came up with seeing as the Canadian books are printed in Canada and cost signifigantly [sic] more than the US version. [Signed, Rep's Assistant] Call me cranky, but I can't imagine that each level has $18 worth of additional metric material. And it still seems rather a slap at Canadian customers, who have been paying more for the same items all along, from 62 cents to the dollar to a buck five; and then there's the little matter that after a full week I'm still awaiting a reply to the email I sent directly to the company. At this point, I'm considering secondhand MUS again -- new doesn't seem to be much of a bargain, especially if I can't factor decent customer service into the price -- and going back to Singapore Math for now, supplemented by Developmental Mathematics by L. George Saad. And with that, happy -- and careful -- shopping! Labels: bargains, books, caveat emptor, shopping
Robert Clarke on the proposed rules change on continuing applications
Posted on April 17, 2008 in Diabetes erectile dysfunction
Further to a discussion of a post on PHOSITA, Robert Clarke made the following observations: I did say that the Office was still considering the comments and suggestions and that there were many more comments than ever before. I also indicated that no final decisions had been made on the package. I said the proposed rules were determined previously to be "significant" (not substantive) so we should assume that if the Office went forward with similar final rules they will continue to be treated as significant. One aspect of a "significant" rulemaking is an up to 90 day review at OMB. The review at OMB can result in a return of the package from OMB to the PTO. Note these are standard rule making issues for any "significant" rule making and is not linked to the particular package. After publication as a final rule there would be at least a 30 delay in the effective date. I also indicated that the IDS rule could become final prior to the Continuation/Claims proposals. Given that Director Dudas had already indicated at the IPO annual meeting that no final decisions had been made, the only new "info" on the claims/continuing application proposals provided was how a "significant" rule making differs from a non-significant one. I think the more critical part of my talk was to highlight the following existing duty from the preamble of the IDS package: One goal of the changes proposed in this notice is to enable an examiner to identify the most relevant prior art in an efficient and expeditious manner, even when an IDS containing a large number of documents is submitted. The changes proposed in this notice accomplish this by requiring in certain circumstances additional disclosure about documents cited in an IDS. Applicants and their representatives are reminded that the presentation of an IDS, like any other paper filed in the Office, is subject to the provisions of Sec. 10.18. The reasonable inquiry mandated by Secs. 10.18(b)(2) and 10.18(b)(2)(i) requires that information in an IDS be reviewed to assure its submission does not cause unnecessary delay or needlessly increase the cost of examination. Failure to review can also implicate obligations of registered practitioners under Secs. 10.23(b) and (c), and Sec. 10.77(b). Likewise, when an IDS includes several documents of marginal relevance, combined with other evidence suggesting that the marginally relevant information was submitted with the intent to obscure material information, this may run afoul of the duty of candor and good faith set forth in Sec. 1.56(a). In such circumstance, an inference that the applicant or their representative attempted to cover up or conceal a material reference could be drawn. See Sec. 10.18(b); and see Molins PLC v. Textron, Inc., 48 F.3d 1172, 1184, 33 USPQ2nd 1823, 1831 (Fed. Cir. 1995) ("burying a particularly material reference in a prior art statement containing a multiplicity of other references can be probative of bad faith"). ** PHOSITA ** Separately, IPBiz is still trying to figure out what was "news" in the July 28 "news of the week" story in Science by Eli Kintisch. See 88 JPTOS 743 (Sept. 2006) for a discussion of both the errors in the Kintisch article and issues in the rulemaking on continuing applications. Cheap Viagra cialis cheap cialis cheap viagra
Tags: rule, ids, sec, significant, final
Texas Tech student regent Greenfield resigns over plagiarism matter
Posted on April 16, 2008 in Diabetes erectile dysfunction
The AP reported: Texas Tech University's first student regent resigned Oct. 17 after being accused of plagiarizing several paragraphs in a column he wrote for the student newspaper [the Texas Tech Toreador]. Chad Greenfield, a graduate student from Monahans, Texas, said he regretted having to resign but felt it was best for the university. The AP report also contained the words "malicious plagiarism": Greenfield said it was a mistake. He said he was sick when he submitted the column and didn't mean to include text of the column without reference. "It frustrates me that it was portrayed as, I guess, malicious plagiarism," Greenfield said. As one observation, in patent law, "intent" is not an element of patent infringement. One is guilty of infringement if one practices the elements of the claim whether or not one knows about the patent. WILLFUL infringement can lead to ENHANCED damages. In contrast, in copyright law, independent creation is a defense, although a "forgotten" access to the copied work does not amount to independent creation. In the plagiarism business, "forgetting to cite" the primary work has produced a variety of sanctions. One notes that students who fail to cite (at Texas Tech, Ohio University, Princeton, Georgetown) made out a lot worse than professors who fail to cite. As an additional observation, while copying (without crediting) the work of another is a bad thing, publishing false things is far, far worse . Thus, the publication in the journal Science on July 28 of false things about continuation patent applications is, in my opinion, a lot worse than what Greenfield did at Texas Tech, but it has received a whole lot less publicity. For an earlier discussion of the Texas Tech matter (including text by Justin Dove), look here. Of the falsities in the Science article, see 88 JPTOS 743 (Sept. 2006).
Tags: texas, tech, greenfield, student, patent
Female Masturbation--An Enlightened View
Posted on April 13, 2008 in Diabetes erectile dysfunction
It is important for western feminists to understand the new modern view of human sexuality that is coming soon. The old ways simply cannot remain. Prepare for the enlightenment. What is the old saying about fleas, and sleeping with dogs? Labels: masturbation
Tags: view, masturbation, remain, prepare, simply