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Microsoft Seeks Patent On Shaming Fat Gamers
,----[ Quote ]
| "A newly disclosed Microsoft patent application
| â Avatar Individualized by Physical
| Characteristic â takes aim at fat people,
| proposing to generate fat avatars in gaming
| environments for individuals whose health
| records indicate they're overweight, limiting
| their game play, and even banning them. From
| the patent application: 'An undesirable body
| weight could be reflected in an overweight or
| underweight appearance for the avatar. Only
| requisite health levels are allowed to compete
| in a certain competition level. A dedicated
| gamer could exercise for a period of time until
| his health indicator gadget shows a
| sufficiently high health/health credit in order
| to allow reentering the avatar environment.'
| Linking one's gaming avatar to one's physique,
| explains Microsoft, will produce healthy and
| virtuous behaviors in individuals. Microsoft
| also proposes shaping gaming experiences by
| using 'psychological and demographic
| information such as education level, geographic
| location, age, sex, intelligence quotient,
| socioeconomic class, occupation,
| marital/relationship status, religious belief,
| political affiliation, etc.'"
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http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2009/12/18/redhat_rhel6_itanium_dead/
Recent:
The patent system: End it, don't mend it
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| As a matter of theory, intellectual
| property is a double-edged sword. On the
| one hand, giving a reward increases the
| incentive to innovate. On the other,
| allowing the monopolization of existing
| ideas taxes the creation of new ones,
| thereby decreasing the incentive to
| innovate. The bottom line: Contrary to
| widespread belief, economic theory does
| not provide support for the continuous
| extension of IP. The only answer to the
| question of whether IP serves the desired
| purpose must be empirical. Does it work in
| practice?
|
| A great deal of applied economic research
| has tried to answer this question. The
| short answer is that intellectual property
| does not increase innovation and creation.
| Extending IP rights may modestly boost the
| incentive for innovation, but this
| positive effect is wiped away by the
| negative effect of creating monopolies.
| There is simply no evidence that
| strengthening patent regimes increases
| innovation or economic productivity. In
| fact, some evidence shows that increased
| protection even decreases innovation. The
| main finding is that making it easier to
| get patents increases ... patenting!
`----
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/1208/p09s06-coop.html
Google Patents Displaying Patents
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| "Google has actually managed to patent
| displaying patents. The USPTO issued US
| Patent No. D603,866 to six Google inventors
| for their 'graphical user interface for
| display screen of a communications
| terminal.' Among the six inventors is the
| guy who introduced Google Patents.
| Ironically, Google Patents can't seem to
| find the new Google patent for Google
| Patents."
`----
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/09/11/22/2019219/Google-Patents-Displaying-Patents
Amazon Scores Gift-Delivery Patent
,----[ Quote ]
| In May, the USPTO rejected Amazon.com's
| patent claims (PDF) for its Method and
| System for Placing a Purchase Order Via a
| Communications Network (a 1-Click spin-
| off). At the time, a USPTO Examiner cited
| Bilski, explaining that elements of CEO
| Jeff Bezos' gift-delivery invention 'may be
| performed largely within the human mind,'
| coming to essentially the same conclusion a
| NY Post reporter arrived at in 2002. But
| Amazon's attorneys have worked their legal
| wordsmithing magic (PDF), convincing the
| USPTO that 'obtaining delivery information
| for a gift from one or more information
| sources other than the gift giver and
| recipient' is indeed novel and patentable.
| A Notice of Allowance for the patent was
| mailed to Amazon on November 17th, just in
| time for Holiday Season injunction-giving!"
`----
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/09/11/23/149216/Amazon-Scores-Gift-Delivery-Patent
Patent That: Reporter Invents Way to Reach PTO Director
,----[ Quote ]
| Journalists who cover Washington know the
| drill: top bureaucrats can be very hard to
| get through to, especially when you need to
| reach them the most.
|
| So when ABA Journal senior writer Terry
| Carter got nowhere in his recent effort to
| reach Patent and Trademark Office director
| David Kappos through spokesman Peter Pappas
| for a story he was writing, he decided on a
| characteristically novel approach: on
| Tuesday he drafted and posted a humorous
| patent application for a "method to get an
| interview with USPTO Director David Kappos."
| Edward Adams, editor and publisher of the
| ABA Journal, wrote in this story at the
| Journal Web site, "We figured the problem
| was that Carter was not speaking the
| agency's language."
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http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2009/11/patent-that-reporter-finds-novel-way-to-reach-pto-head.html
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