Links 31/10/2023: TikTok Scrutiny and More Censorship
Contents
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Leftovers
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Xe's Blog ☛ tclip just got clippier - YouTube Short
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Kev Quirk ☛ Other People's Enthusiasm
- I hear about a new
[thing]
- could be software, could be a tool, could be something completely different. - I research
[thing]
to within an inch of its life. - I get excited by other people gushing over
[thing]
and I go right ahead and implement it / buy it / whatever.
I tell myself that it's not FOMO, but rather curiosity and a desire to explore new things.
-- Jack Baty
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Matthew Perry's Friends Were Concerned About the Late TV Icon's Health Weeks Before His Tragic Death
Perry, best known for his role as Chandler Bing on the hit sitcom Friends, was found in a jacuzzi by his assistant, who had just returned from running an errand.
Perry's friends and former costars have been releasing heartfelt messages about the actor, expressing their grief over the tragic loss. Valerie Bertinelli, Perry's former Sydney costar, wrote on her Instagram Story, "Rest in peace, sweet man."
Morgan Fairchild, who played Chandler's mom, Nora Bing, on Friends, shared her condolences on X, formerly known as Twitter, writing, "I'm heartbroken about the untimely death of my 'son,' Matthew Perry. The loss of such a brilliant young actor is a shock." Fairchild also sent her love and condolences to Perry's friends and family, especially his father, John Bennett Perry, whom she had worked with in the past.
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Science
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Science Alert ☛ In a Huge First, Mouse Embryos Have Been Grown in Space
We have so many questions.
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Science Alert ☛ Milky Way's Black Hole Is Spinning at Near Maximum, Scientists Say
Close to the limit.
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Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
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Latvia ☛ LTV's De Facto looks at former central bank head's alleged fake vaccination case
Former Bank of Latvia President Ilmārs Rimšēvičs has just stood trial in his third criminal case – this time he is accused of buying a Covid-19 vaccination certificate and using the fake document during three trips. Rimšēvičs does not admit his guilt and says he has been vaccinated, Latvian Television's De Facto reported on October 29.
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New York Times ☛ How a Lucrative Surgery Took Off Online and Disfigured Patients
More surgeons are opting for a complicated hernia repair that they learned from videos on social control media showing shoddy techniques.
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Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
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CubicleNate ☛ Prospect Mail | Best Abusive Monopolist Microsoft Outlook Experience on openSUSE
I think it’s terrible when “best” is ever used in a title, but I have to say that this is absolutely true, at least, calling it the best experience for me.
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Security
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Privacy/Surveillance
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Michael Geist ☛ The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 182: Inside the Hearings on Privacy and Hey Hi (AI) Reform – My Industry Committee Appearance on Bill C-27
After months of delays, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry and Technology has finally begun to conduct hearings on Bill C-27, which wraps Canadian privacy reform and Hey Hi (AI) regulation into a single legislative package. Last week, I appeared before the committee, making the case that the process is need of fixing and the bill in need of reform.
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New York Times ☛ Meta Will Charge up to €12.99 for Ad-Free Versions of Facebook (Farcebook) and Instagram in Europe
Starting in November, subscriptions will cost between 9.99 euros and 12.99 euros per month, the company said.
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Defence/Aggression
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AntiWar ☛ From Hamas-Israel War to Regional Escalation with Iran
The Hamas-Israel War is inflaming tensions within and around Israel. It could escalate across the region.
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France24 ☛ Israel must distinguish between Hamas and civilians in Gaza, US says
Israel must protect innocent Gaza residents by distinguishing between Hamas militants and civilians in the Palestinian territory, the White House warned on Sunday. The Israeli army said earlier in the day that it will be increasing troop numbers inside the Gaza Strip and reiterated calls for civilians to move to the south of the besieged enclave. The news came as internet and mobile services are gradually being reestablished after being cut off on Friday during intense Israeli bombardment.
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New York Times ☛ Middle East War Could Cause Oil Price Shock, World Bank Warns
A new report outlined how a major escalation of the conflict between Israel and Hamas could fuel a new bout of inflation.
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YLE ☛ Rovio pulls violent pro-Israel ad shown to kids playing Angry Birds
The message, appearing to come from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has shown up in a number of mobile games popular among young children.
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YLE ☛ Li Andersson criticises Finland's UN abstention
Finland was one of 45 countries to abstain from voting on Friday when the United Nations General Assembly called for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza.
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Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine
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New York Times ☛ Dozens Arrested in Dagestan After Mob Storms Plane Arriving From Israel
As the Kremlin seeks to reduce ethnic tensions, a mob in the southern Russian republic of Dagestan stormed runways looking for a flight carrying Jewish passengers.
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France24 ☛ Mob storms Russian airport looking for Israelis as US condemns 'anti-Semitic protests'
A mob looking for Israelis and Jews overran an airport in Russia's Caucasus republic of Dagestan on Sunday, after rumours spread that a flight was arriving from Israel.
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LRT ☛ Lithuanian FM compares Russia to Nazi Germany after anti-Jewish unrest in Dagestan
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis has compared Russia to Nazi Germany following unrest in Dagestan where an angry mob stormed an airport expecting a plane from Israel.
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RFERL ☛ Russian Jewish Group Calls For Punishment Of Mob That Stormed Daghestan Airport
The head of Russia's Federation of Jewish Communities has called on the authorities to punish those who stormed the airport in the city of Makhachkala in the predominantly Muslim region of Daghestan, hurling anti-Jewish epithets as they surrounded a flight from Tel Aviv late on October 29.
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Federal News Network ☛ Putin calls meeting after mob storms Dagestan airport looking for Israelis on jet from Tel Aviv
Russian President Vladimir Putin has called a meeting of top security and law enforcement officials after a mob stormed the airport in Dagestan shortly after a plane from Tel Aviv landed there. The crowd — some carrying banners with antisemitic slogans — swarmed the tarmac, looking for Israeli passengers. Dagestan’s Ministry of Health said over 20 people were injured, two critically. Local authorities said 60 people were detained. The Kremlin blamed the unrest on “outside interference.” Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the president and security officials will discuss “attempts by the West to use the events in the Middle East to divide (Russian) society.”
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LRT ☛ Former UK intelligence officer: West will not help Ukraine take back Crimea – interview
Misled by over-optimism, the West believed that a counter-offensive by the Ukrainian forces would lead to immediate liberation of Russian-occupied territories. But with Russian troops sticking to their positions and showing ability to learn from past mistakes, Kyiv is likely to have to give up its goal of liberating the Donbass and Crimea, says Frank Ledwidge, a lecturer in military history at the University of Portsmouth in the UK.
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RFERL ☛ Ukraine Says Russian Missile Attack On Odesa Shipyard Injures Two
Ukraine's southern Odesa region came under attack early on October 30, with Russian missiles striking a ship repair yard, regional Governor Oleh Kiper said.
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RFERL ☛ Ukraine Says It Downed All 12 Drones Launched By Russia Overnight
Russian troops launched another air strike overnight against Ukraine using 12 Shahed attack drones, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said on October 30, all of which "were destroyed by antiaircraft defenses."
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New York Times ☛ Both Sides Pay a Bloody Price for Coveted Ukrainian City
The fight for the battered city of Avdiivka has emerged this fall as the fiercest battle of the war. Waves of Russian assaults have not broken through so far.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Top Chinese and Russian officials warn foreign forces stoking turmoil globally
Top Chinese and Russian officials warned Monday that foreign forces were seeking to sow turmoil in Asia and beyond as they opened an international defence conference in Beijing.
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RFA ☛ China, Russia target US at security forum
Russian defense minister said ‘the circle of our friends and like-minded people’ is expanding.
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RFERL ☛ Russian Police Detain Man In Mari El For Poster In Belarusian
Police in the capital of Russia's Mari El Republic, Yoshkar-Ola, have detained a local resident Kirill Voitovich, who came to an event to honor victims of Soviet-era repression on October 30 with a poster in Belarusian commemorating the victims of Bolshevik persecution.
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RFERL ☛ Victims Of Stalin's Great Terror Commemorated In Russia; Imprisoned Kremlin Critics Hold Hunger Strike
Imprisoned Russian politicians -- including Kremlin critics Aleksei Navalny and Vladimir Kara-Murza -- along with other activists are holding a one-day hunger strike on October 30 to honor political prisoners as residents of towns and cities in several Russian regions marked the Day of Remembrance for Victims of Political Repression.
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Environment
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Off Guardian ☛ Why are the globalists calling “Climate Change” a “Public Health Crisis”?
The global elite plan to introduce a near-permanent “global state of emergency” by re-branding climate change as a “public health crisis” that is “worse than covid”. This is not news.
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Atlantic Council ☛ A warming world could unleash dangerous new pathogens. Metagenomics early warning tools are vital for pandemic prevention. [Ed: Trying to links climate change to pandemics now?]
There is a need for policies that enable mainstream adoption and equitable scale-up of new genomic sequencing technologies capable of rapid and comprehensive surveillance of emerging biological threats.
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Energy/Transportation
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Latvia ☛ Turkish consortium rails against Rail Baltica exclusion
A Turkish consortium which was excluded from a major Rail Baltica procurement process says it is taking the matter to court – and furthermore says some of the winning bidders continue to do business in Russia.
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Security Week ☛ Florida SIM Swapper Sentenced to Prison for Cryptocurrency Theft
A 20-year-old Floridian was sentenced to prison for his role in a hacking scheme that led to the theft of $1 million in cryptocurrency.
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Finance
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HT Digital Streams Ltd ☛ TikTok Asks Managers to Give More Staff Lower Review Grades
TikTok is asking managers across the world to give more employees lower ratings in performance reviews, a move that staff fear could reduce bonuses and lead to layoffs, people familiar with the matter said.
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Reason ☛ Brickbat: Tiny Homes, Big Problems
In March, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the state would spend $30 million to build 1,200 prefabricated tiny houses across the state, including 350 in Sacramento, in an effort to ease the state's housing shortage. He promised the houses would be ready this fall.
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YLE ☛ Consumer confidence takes another dip
Respondents to the monthly Consumer Confidence Survey expressed concerns about Finland's economic outlook and the deteriorating unemployment situation.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China’s share of global manufacturing jobs to rise by 2050, study finds, even as US, EU seek less reliance on its products
China’s share of global manufacturing jobs will increase by 2050, according to a study out Monday, even as the United States and European Union aim to be less reliant on its products.
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AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
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Digital Music News ☛ TikTok Funder Sequoia Faces Fresh Congressional Scrutiny Over Chinese Investments
US investment firm and Fentanylware (TikTok) funder Sequoia is facing Congressional scrutiny over its investments in China. Silicon Valley-based investment firm Sequoia Capital is facing government scrutiny over its Chinese investments, including ByteDance-owned TikTok.
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NYPost ☛ LA councilman’s aide resigns after making ‘reprehensible’ Holocaust, weight jokes about Amy Schumer
Josh Androsky, a top adviser to Councilman Hugo Soto-Martinez, made the vile comments on X during an exchange with the political podcast TrueAnon, the LA Times reported.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Exclusive: 75% of direct-election candidates in Hong Kong District Council race sit on committees that decide who runs
Over 75 per cent of the candidates running in the directly-elected geographical constituencies in Hong Kong’s newly-restricted District Council race are also members of the committees responsible for nominating who runs. The nomination period for the “patriots-only” District Council election – scheduled for December 10 – closed on Monday.
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Latvia ☛ New partnership law to be considered by Latvian parliament
In order to comply with the judgment of the Constitutional Court (ST), which emphasizes the state's duty to protect all families including those formed by same-sex partners, the Ministry of Justice has on October 30 submitted a package of draft laws to the Saeima Legal Committee, with which it is planned to introduce a new law institute – partnership.
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New York Times ☛ Trump’s Verbal Slips Could Weaken His Attacks on Biden’s Age
Donald Trump, 77, has relentlessly attacked President Biden, 80, as too old for office. But the former president himself has had a series of gaffes that go beyond his usual freewheeling style.
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Jake Tapper Accuses Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Hypocrisy and Weaponizing Anti-Semitism
In his closing remarks on CNN's State of the Union Sunday, October 29, Tapper called out Greene for her selective outrage on the issue of anti-Semitism.
He pointed out that while some Democrats have condemned Tlaib's rhetoric on Israel, Greene is throwing stones from a glass house by remaining silent on Trump's November 2022 dinner with Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes and other concerning actions. "Donald Trump posted a screed accusing liberal Jews of ‘voting to destroy America and Israel’ last Rosh Hashanah to nary a peep from any House Republican leaders," Tapper told CNN viewers.
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Censorship/Free Speech
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The Straits Times ☛ Moldova blocks access to Russia's main news agencies
Moldova blocked access to the websites of major Russian news media including the Interfax and TASS news agencies on Monday, accusing them of taking part in an information war against the country.
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University of Michigan ☛ Academic Freedom Lecture to feature free-expression advocate
Free-expression advocate Jonathan Friedman will give the keynote address at the Faculty Senate's Davis, Markert, Nickerson Lecture on Academic and Intellectual Freedom.
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RFERL ☛ Independent Belarusian Publishing House Shut Down Amid Crackdown
Authorities in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, have shut down the Knihazbor independent publishing house, the organization's director Henadz Vinyarski said on Facebook (Farcebook) on October 29, amid an ongoing crackdown on media freedoms.
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New York Times ☛ Columbia and Princeton University Deans on How to Talk to One Another
Campuses must protect free speech, but equally advocate for mutually respectful dialogue.
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Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press
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BIA Net ☛ Sputnik strikers 'unable to use constitutional rights on 100th anniversary of Republic'
Journalists celebrating the 100th year of the Republic in front of Süzer Plaza where Sputnik Turkey office is located, alongside their colleagues on the 74th day of the Sputnik strike, declared, "We will stand up for both our Republic and our rights."
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Civil Rights/Policing
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BIA Net ☛ Turkey ranks 99th on Women, Peace, and Security Index
An in-depth analysis reveals that Turkey's performance in the fields of education and social security was especially lackluster, resulting in the country landing at the bottom of the heap among its regional peers.
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BIA Net ☛ Turkey’s new ‘high-security’ prisons raise ‘social isolation’ concerns
Prolonged social isolation may cause mental and physical health issues, warns the Ankara Medical Chamber.
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LRT ☛ Lithuania’s ‘unicorn’ Vinted fighting fines and lawsuit in three countries
Vinted, Europe’s largest online second-hand clothes trading platform and Lithuania’s first “unicorn”, is still litigating in Poland and Italy over millions of euros in fines. Meanwhile, a dispute with the Consumers’ Association over tax refunds for platform members is still pending in a French court.
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RFA ☛ Fiji withdraws from UN Xinjiang statement
The Pacific island country was among 51 nations that backed a U.N. committee’s statement on Xinjiang.
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New York Times ☛ Wanda Poltawska, 101, Who Forged a Friendship With a Future Pope, Dies
She survived gruesome medical experimentation at the Ravensbrück concentration camp to become a psychiatrist — counseled by the priest who would become John Paul II.
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Monopolies
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OpenRightsGroup ☛ Letter to Rishi Sunak: Hey Hi (AI) Summit is dominated by Big Tech and a ‘missed opportunity’
In an open letter to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, the groups warn that the “communities and workers most affected by Hey Hi (AI) have been marginalised by the Summit” while a select few corporations seek to shape the rules.
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Patents
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Unified Patents ☛ $8,000 for VideoLabs digital content patents prior art
Unified added 4 new PATROLL contests, with a $2,000 cash prize for each, seeking prior art on the list below. The patents are owned by VideoLabs, Inc. The patents generally relate to digital media content and some have been asserted against Netflix, Amazon, Roku, HP, Inc., and ASUStek. The contests will end on December 31, 2023. Please visit PATROLL for more information or click on each link below.
We also have third-party prior art providers giving our researchers a head start in the hunt! Click on each of the contests to find more from IPscreener and Google Patent Analytics.
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JUVE ☛ Siemens named as IP In-house Team of the Year at JUVE Awards [Ed: This is SPAM, marketing spam, from a site that takes bribes to lie and deceive]
JUVE has awarded German conglomerate Siemens the acccolade of In-house Team of the Year at its annual ceremony, which takes place every year in Frankfurt.
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Unified Patents ☛ Fortress entity, Entropic Communications, broadband patent monopoly reexam granted
On October 26, 2023, six weeks after Unified filed an ex parte reexamination, the Central Reexamination Unit (CRU) granted Unified’s request, finding a substantial new question of patentability on the challenged claims of U.S. Patent 7,594,249, owned and asserted by Entropic Communications, an NPE and Fortress IP subsidiary. The '249 patent monopoly generally relates to communication between devices in a local area network utilizing coaxial wiring. The patent monopoly is currently being asserted against DirecTV / AT&T, Cox, Comcast, and Dish Network.
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Unified Patents ☛ $4,000 for Comarco Wireless power supply patents prior art
Unified added 2 new PATROLL contests, with a $2,000 cash prize for each, seeking prior art on the list below. The patents are owned by Comarco Wireless Technologies, Inc., an NPE and subsidiary of Comarco, Inc.
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Kluwer Patent Blog ☛ Language change allowed at The Hague division Unified Patent Court [Ed: Unified Patent Court is illegal. That it even exists at all means that it's not a legal system but a fraud, a compromised system of institutional corruption.]
The president of the UPC local division The Hague has allowed to change the language of the proceedings from Dutch to English in an infringement action of Plant-e Knowledge and Plant-e against Arkyne Technologies, because ‘the language initially chosen [was] significantly detrimental to the Applicant’.
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Trademarks
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TTAB Blog ☛ TTABlog Test: Is DRYLANDS BREWING COMPANY for Beer and Restaurant Services Confusable with DRYLANDS for Wine?
The USPTO refused to register that mark DRYLANDS BREWING COMPANY & Design for "beer" and for "restaurant services, including sit-down service of food and take-out restaurant services; taproom services featuring beer brewed on premises” [BREWING COMPANY disclaimed], finding confusion likely with the registered mark DRYLANDS for wine. On appeal, applicants argued that DRYLANDS BREWING COMPANY is a unitary term engendering a "distinct commercial impression that is independent of the constituent elements.” Furthermore, DRYLANDS BREWING "brings to mind beer," whereas "Registrant’s Mark presents no commercial impression, certainly not one of a liquid." How do you think this came out? In re Arreola Francisco Andres and Daniel Torres, Serial No. 97174704 (October 26, 2023) [not precedential] (Opinion by Judge Jennifer L. Elgin).
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Copyrights
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Digital Music News ☛ What Copyright Infringement? Surveillance Giant Google Commits $2 Billion in Funding to Anthropic
Anthropic continues on its journey of gaining billions in backing, despite UMG, Concord, and ABKCO slapping a major copyright monopoly infringement lawsuit onto the Hey Hi (AI) Startup. For Google, the lawsuit is insignificant background noise, and the latest investment is a testament of its eagerness to compete with Abusive Monopolist Microsoft and Amazon in the lucrative clown-computing market...
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Gemini* and Gopher
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Personal/Opinions
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Week 40/41/42/43: Photos
I've been working from home much more often recently. The change is mostly due to laziness, but after a while I simply need to get outside my house. This week I was sent a list of recommended local coffeehouses and restaurants to work from, and I accepted the list eagerly. One of the recommendations provided a wonderful and much-needed change of scenery.
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Technology and Free Software
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Read quoted-printable emails with qprint
You may already have encountered emails in raw text that contained weird characters sequences like `=E3` or `=09`, especially if you work with patch files embedded as text in emails.
There is nothing wrong with the text itself, or the sender email client. In fact, this shows the email client is doing the right thing by applying the RFC 1521. Non-ASCII character should be escaped in some way in emails.
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* Gemini (Primer) links can be opened using Gemini software. It's like the World Wide Web but a lot lighter.