LAPD wants to use "IP" just like Coca-Cola : openpolitics.com

LAPD wants to use "IP" just like Coca-Cola

Susan Stamberg interviews the LA City Attorney who is trying to use "intellectual property law" to influence the way upcoming CBS and NBC television shows portray the police and fire departments.

Although he denies wanting editorial control (influence), Rocky Delgadillo hopes his strategy will set an example of how cities can protect their image while collecting royalties for their taxpayers.

4 minute interview (.ram file format)

Additional LAPD IP Coverage

BBC: LAPD fights TV shows
Reuters in FindLaw: L.A. Asserts Copyright Interest in TV Cop Shows
Zap2it.com: LAPD Wants License Fees from Cop Shows

IP as "Intellectual Protectionism" #

This case is interesting because it demonstrates a distinction between creative rights and "intellectual property".

creative rights, which are a limited, government-granted monopoly designed to create an incentive for people to create (i.e. American copyright)
"Intellectual Property" which give entities the right to control public discourse (i.e. strong trademark laws)

Sir, you have insulted my honour! I demand satisfaction. #

Some lawyers start to sound like royal knights who protect the "honour" of their corporate sovereigns.

Homer Simpson's dueling glove entitled him to all sorts of privleges (at least for the first half of the episode).

Homer: Oh that's it. You insulted my honour! I demand satisfaction. I challenge you to a duel!
Moe: A duel? Isn't that a little extreme? Here, here, have a free beer.
Homer: Really? But you've never given anyone a free beer.
Moe: Yeah, ain't never been slapped with no duelling glove either.

Quotes from Season 11 Episode 1105: E-I-E-I-D'oh!
eieidoh8.mp3 (123kb)

Intellectual Property Laws are not always bad. Trademarks can prevent consumers from being confused by misleading labels. The problem arises when those demanding "royalties" expect to be treated like "royalty". #

2002/08/04 # Permalink

Youtube: Ted Nelson demonstrates Xanadu Space

I don't like his interface but I do very much like the concept. What I find puzzling is that this paradigm could be implemented using current web standards so why did he make this new program with an interface that's entirely foreign to us.

I don't think Xanadu will catch on but everything he demonstrated will eventually make it into browsers and websites, but at a much slower pace than Mr. Nelson is comfortable with.

Ted Nelson on Tim Berners-Lee

First of all, I think the WWW was a brilliant simplification. As I understand it, and maybe I have this wrong, but Tim Berners-Lee came and we had lunch, in, oh I guess it was 1989, 90, something like that, in Sausalito, and I really liked the guy, and he'd done this very simple thing, and it sounded too trivial to me {laughs} but he certainly was a nice fellow and I expected to keep in touch with him, although I am a very bad correspondent, and the next thing I knew suddenly the thing had caught on.

.. What would I recommend to a young visionary today? {laughter} Very straightforward, learn to deal with short term goals and not delegate.

How the Professor Who Fooled Wikipedia Got Caught by Reddit

And although most communities treat their members with gentle regard, Reddit prides itself on winnowing the wheat from the chaff. It relies on the collective judgment of its members, who click on arrows next to contributions, elevating insightful or interesting content, and demoting less worthy contributions. Even Mills says he was impressed by the way in which redditors "marshaled their collective bits of expert knowledge to arrive at a conclusion that was largely correct." It's tough to con Reddit.

What's the Worst That Can Come of the Bachmanns' Swiss Citizenship?

In 1792, French citizenship was bestowed upon George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison. Thomas Paine served in the French National Convention.

5 Don'ts of Startups

Don’t scale too early. This is the No. 1 cause of startup failure. Startup Compass has found that 70% of startups crash because they scale prematurely.
Don’t work part time. Sleepy? Get used to it. People who work full time on their startups raise an average of 24 times more funding than those who work part time.
Don’t go it alone. Maybe you are the smartest guy in the room. But solo founders raise less than half the money that two to three co-founders raise.
Don’t ignore customers. Yes, they’re annoying. (What do they know?) But startups that track customer metrics have 400% more user growth.
Don’t forget about the technology. Startups without a tech-oriented co-founder are twice as likely to scale prematurely and have three to five times less user growth.