The Invent Blog®

Welcome to Blawg Review #146. This is actually my second time hosting Blawg Review…I was party to the infamous Blawg Review #48 (hosted by the group blawg RethinkIP (with Matt and Doug ). Note to self, not everyone appreciates it when you try to “Rethink” Blawg Review.

This time around I’m hosting Blawg Review on National Inventor’s Day (U.S.). Congress has designated February 11th (the anniversary of the birth of the inventor Thomas Alva Edison, who had over 1,000 patents) as “National Inventor’s Day.” Since we’re talking about inventors…don’t forget that you can still nominate someone for National Inventor of the Year.One common “inventor” misconception is that Edison was the most prolific American inventor. He wasn’t. That title goes to Donald Weder of Highland, IL (hometown of blawger Matt Homann) and client (according to issued patents) of the patent law firm that brings us the PHOSITA patent blog. Small world. What exactly does Mr. Weder have patents on? Basically everything you get from your florist that isn’t grown from a seed (for instance, the pleated foil wrapper the pot of flowers is placed in).

Enough patent trivia. On with patent/inventor themed Blawg Review #146!

I’m not so sure that Blade was an inventor, I think it was Whistler…but the actor that played Blade (Wesley Snipes), managed to get a number of mentions in blawgs this week, including The Snipes Trial considering “Voluntary Compliance” and the Sox First blog (not to be confused with Monica Bay’s “Sox Last” blog) which thinks that Wesley Snipes: a little guilty of tax dodging.

What’s up with Ohio and bloggers? Is there a finite number of Ohio law blogs? The Ohio Employer’s Law Blog writes about the “Rebirth of the Megatrial,” The Practice talks about a transvestite and a crackpipe in “Jamie” gets paper, the Ohio Employment Law blog points out that the Ohio Supreme Court holds that retained memory can constitute a trade secret, and finally, the Ohio Practical Business Law Counsel reminds us “Why every client should want an attorney who blawgs.” I think she’s biased.

If only inventors had a current list of the patent blogs. Oh, wait…Brett Trout already did that! Of course, according to Marry Dudziak, the New York Review of Books thinks that the blogosphere and its inhabitants is unhelpfully narrow-minded. So maybe clients don’t want blogging attorneys. Or do they? I’m confused. As if it even matters…apparently there may be a finite number of legal blogs that can exist (according to Simple Justice ). Or maybe not (according to LexBlog).I’ll know we’ve reached capacity for patent blogs when someone starts The Fastener Quality Act Blog. Yes, there really is a The Fastener Quality Act … it “protects against the sale of mismarked, misrepresented, and counterfeit fasteners.” Even funnier is the fact that the US Patent and Trademark Office is in charge it. Next time you use a quality fastener, you know who to thank.

Usually, when inventors/patent practitioners think of the USPTO and fasteners, something else comes to mind. But, I’ll be polite and not bore you with a discussion of proposed patent rule changes and the grief it is causing the patent bar. I’ll leave that discussion to Securing Innovation (”Patent Office Professionals Oppose Bill“), the PLI Patent Blog (“Recap of GSK/Tafas v. USPTO SJ Hearing“) and the Patent Baristas (”Examination Support Document (ESD) Could Add $26,000 to Patent Costs“).

Super Bowl week…think blawgers would be talking about sports? Jaime Spencer ponders the morale boost to criminal defense attorneys given by the NY Giants’ upset of the Patriots. John Phillips talks about Employment Lessons Learned From Bobby Knight. Professor Randazza mocks the Patriots over their trademark application for “19-0.” Gene Quinn saw it too. Marty points out they’ve got three years to file that Statement of Use…maybe they were referring to NEXT year.

There were a number of other IP stories this week, for instance Ron Coleman tells an excellent story of credit cards, advertising ideas, and trademarks. Priceless. Matt Buchanan (another Ohio blogger) apparently has so much time on his hand that he has started a blog for rants (The Op/Ed Page) and a patent journal (he’s accepting submissions if any of you are interested). The Patently-O Blog ranks the presidential candidates based upon their interest level in IP matters in “Don’t forget to vote.” Russ Krajec talks about the best part of being a patent attorney…working with inventors. I completely agree…other than the few times a year where you get to work with crazy inventors (e.g., the one a couple years ago paused the interview long enough to channel a friend from another planet who told him I was telling him the truth). Mike Dillon thinks technology in-house counsel shouldn’t cave in to “patent trolls”…for the good of the industry. Easier said than done. And, just in case any of you want to take a photograph of this post, William Patry discusses the latest on whether a photograph of a copyrightable object is a derivative work.

Lawyers in the news? You betcha! How about a lawyer advertising services by sending junk faxes? Eugene Volokh discusses how the case could impact law bloggers (and suggests a better way of dealing with the problem). Simple Justice has its own take. Not to be outdone, the Drug and Device Law Blog discussed an e-mail (sent by a lawyer) accidentally sent to the wrong person (a reporter with the same last name) in “Department of Corrections.” Makes you want to go back and follow some old advice (2006) Jim Calloway previous gave us on beating Outlook’s AutoCorrect into submission.

Apparently, story telling was popular this week. We saw both “IP ADR Dictionary: “S” is for Story Telling” and Idealawg — storytelling in the practice of law. Story telling. Writer’s strike. Reality TV..in a weird combination of Wapner and Springer, May It Please The Court asked “BrideZilla and GroomKong or Legitimate Lawsuit.” Infamy or Praise talks about his love of the TV show Lost in Lost is Found, whereas a couple blogs (Volokh, Concurring Opinions, Volokh) took turns debating the classic play/movie “Twelve Angry Men.”

A few other posts that caught my eye: Health Blawg discussing Wal-Mart and health care reform, GAL discussing You Know You Work for a Great Firm When…, Slaw on Closed Networks & The Problem with Facebook (and lessons for lawyers).

Finally, apparently Blawg Review’s Ed (aka the Unknown Comic) has decided to show his face in public (again).  There are even photos circulating on the Internet…no, not THOSE photos, but these.

Blawg Review has information about next week’s host, and instructions how to get your blawg posts reviewed in upcoming issues.

Related posts:

1. The easy way to read law blogs…Blawg Review
2. Blawg Review…dood!
3. Blawg Review #48 up at Rethink(IP), Blawgr
4. Cue Willard Scott…someone’s 100!
5. New Blawg on the Blawgk – Law & Entrepreneurship

Tags: trademark

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 10th, 2008 at 9:55 pm and is filed under Business & Tech Tips, USPTO. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.