Almost halfway through!
Time really flies, and I'm really starting to feel it.
I'm getting especially nervous looking back at the past 3 months and trying to figure out what I have actually done. Been to court a couple of times to ask for a postponement, file a consent agreement, sat on an interim, asked for a date, and still I don't know what the date was for.
I had a stark reminder of the intricacies of file management yesterday when Power-Lawyer called me in a bit of a panic, wondering what the F. had happened in one of her files which was set for a trial in early March. Which I guess is pretty much next week.
She had just printed out the file plumitif, which is the court record of things that happened in the file, and on it was written "inscription rejected - [our client's name]", except we never filed an inscription that day, and it was the opposing party's inscription, and now the court clerk says we don't actually have the dates for the trial, and what the fuck, and it says inscription filed 2 weeks later, which was our inscription, but I can't find the documents in my physical file which means there's nothing to prove we filed anything.
All in all it was a very uncomfortable ten minutes, while I tried not to panic as well, and tried to figure out what was going on, I see on our office server that there are backs saved in the client's folder, but nothing for the actual motions those backs belong to, and the backs are dated the same day the plumitif says we filed them, but then where the heck are these documents, someone must've typed them up and printed it from somewhere, and I don't know where our receptionist/assistant keeps the old court logs, so I can't even check what I filed at court that day.
And please please please let this not be my fault.
The problem was resolved a few minutes later, or at least part of it, as Power Lawyer actually found said documents in the folder, which was good for me cuz it means it's not my fault, and both our hearts got a bit of a workout.
On the other hand, I'm not quite sure what she's going to do with the trial date...
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Week 12
Practically spent the whole week helping another lawyer with her upcoming trial. Which is a nice change from Power-Lawyer, who prepares for days and nights at a rhythm I can't quite keep up with. Although I guess we can still end up preparing the night before this trial.
Anyway. I'm about to reach the halfway mark of my internship, and a trial is a nice way to mark the event.
I was given the task of coming up with cross-examination questions, and as usual, the instructions are pretty much "Give me 20 questions, everything is in the file." Except that said instructions were given by Nice Lawyer, who is not quite so blunt, which means it took me a minute or two to understand that she was basically asking me to read the file and make questions.
Coming up with cross-ex questions is much harder than I thought. The main problem is that in Family law, a lot of situations is your word against theirs. People seldom communicate in writing, so there's nothing to show that the person you're examining is lying.
In my mind, the best questions are the ones where the person looks bad no matter what answer is given.
When does the baby go to bed?
You don't know? You're the father/mother, how could you not know? Don't you put her to bed?
She sleeps early? Then what were you doing on that day at that activity, so late in the evening with the baby?
She sleeps late? Do you always put a 2-year-old to bed so late?
Anyway. I'm about to reach the halfway mark of my internship, and a trial is a nice way to mark the event.
I was given the task of coming up with cross-examination questions, and as usual, the instructions are pretty much "Give me 20 questions, everything is in the file." Except that said instructions were given by Nice Lawyer, who is not quite so blunt, which means it took me a minute or two to understand that she was basically asking me to read the file and make questions.
Coming up with cross-ex questions is much harder than I thought. The main problem is that in Family law, a lot of situations is your word against theirs. People seldom communicate in writing, so there's nothing to show that the person you're examining is lying.
In my mind, the best questions are the ones where the person looks bad no matter what answer is given.
When does the baby go to bed?
You don't know? You're the father/mother, how could you not know? Don't you put her to bed?
She sleeps early? Then what were you doing on that day at that activity, so late in the evening with the baby?
She sleeps late? Do you always put a 2-year-old to bed so late?
* * *
We had the client in yesterday to prep her for trial. Prepping for trial is very similar to prepping for high school oral presentations. Everyone has their script, and you say it out loud pretending you're in front of the judge.
The hardest part was to make the client understand that in a chief examination, lawyers aren't allowed to ask leading questions. You have to make them understand that when you ask "Describe your relationship with your ex" you actually mean "tell us why that person shouldn't have custody".
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Week 11: training
Our lawyer-in-chief just acquired a fancy file-and-time-management software for the firm, and we're getting 3 days of training to learn how to use it.
And being the stagiaire, and having unfortunately gotten the reputation of being somewhat techy, it pretty much means that I'm getting 3 days of training so I can spend the next month teaching everyone else in the office how to use it.
Power-lawyer has, naturally, decided that her client files were more important than this.
In other news, we also got a VPN installed, and everyone can breathe a sigh of relief for having caught up a little bit with technology.
In other other news, one of the lawyers has a court date tomorrow, and I'll be making puppy eyes and ask her to bring me, plz plz, with a cherry on top!
And being the stagiaire, and having unfortunately gotten the reputation of being somewhat techy, it pretty much means that I'm getting 3 days of training so I can spend the next month teaching everyone else in the office how to use it.
Power-lawyer has, naturally, decided that her client files were more important than this.
In other news, we also got a VPN installed, and everyone can breathe a sigh of relief for having caught up a little bit with technology.
In other other news, one of the lawyers has a court date tomorrow, and I'll be making puppy eyes and ask her to bring me, plz plz, with a cherry on top!
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Week 10
Week 10 finally ended after 12 consecutive days of work.
Monday started with a hearing for a Leave of Appeal. The basic concept is, some decisions can be appealed "de plein droit", without needing to get anybody's permission, while other decisions can be appealed if you get an appeal judge's permission. A hearing for Leave of appeal is when you present your case to a court of appeals judge and hope to get permission to appeal.
The Court of Appeals is in a pretty impressive building a block away from the Montreal Courthouse. Everything looks pretty impressive, down to the judge who sits down, gestures vaguely towards your proceedings, gives you an annoyed look, and asks you what you want from him.
Good thing I was only watching, cuz I'd have been muy muy thrown off and would've run off to hide in a hole.
A hearing takes pretty much forever, and we were there all morning. The judge then took a break to read everything, came back at 2PM and ruled. No Appeal.
Power-lawyer was not happy, but in this business the show must go on and you have to move on.
She had another court date on Wednesday, so we moved on to that. There really isn't much to say, except that prepping for court means I'll be at work until 12:40 the night before the hearing, helping out on case law, exhibits, and so on.
Wednesday, spent the whole day in court, 9 to 4:30. The Courthouse being what it is, by the time we were referred to a judge, waited for the judge to read everything, waited during breaks, lunches, and so on, you get about 3 hrs of face time with the judge. From 9 to 4.
That was basically my week. Thursday and Friday were pretty quiet, given that all the big things were over.
Monday started with a hearing for a Leave of Appeal. The basic concept is, some decisions can be appealed "de plein droit", without needing to get anybody's permission, while other decisions can be appealed if you get an appeal judge's permission. A hearing for Leave of appeal is when you present your case to a court of appeals judge and hope to get permission to appeal.
The Court of Appeals is in a pretty impressive building a block away from the Montreal Courthouse. Everything looks pretty impressive, down to the judge who sits down, gestures vaguely towards your proceedings, gives you an annoyed look, and asks you what you want from him.
Good thing I was only watching, cuz I'd have been muy muy thrown off and would've run off to hide in a hole.
A hearing takes pretty much forever, and we were there all morning. The judge then took a break to read everything, came back at 2PM and ruled. No Appeal.
Power-lawyer was not happy, but in this business the show must go on and you have to move on.
She had another court date on Wednesday, so we moved on to that. There really isn't much to say, except that prepping for court means I'll be at work until 12:40 the night before the hearing, helping out on case law, exhibits, and so on.
Wednesday, spent the whole day in court, 9 to 4:30. The Courthouse being what it is, by the time we were referred to a judge, waited for the judge to read everything, waited during breaks, lunches, and so on, you get about 3 hrs of face time with the judge. From 9 to 4.
That was basically my week. Thursday and Friday were pretty quiet, given that all the big things were over.
Sunday, February 03, 2013
Week 9: Everything a blur
Things are picking up!
Week 9 just finished today, 8:30 PM. The week was bu-zay.
I'm still not too sure what went on at the beginning of the week.
I was working in a file with Power-Lawyer, where we had to send out subpoenas.
I guess that's what I must've been doing at the beginning of the week, drafting subpoenas for banks and accountants, asking them to provide us the documents. Actually, technically, since they're subpoenas, so you're really telling them to send someone to court with the documents, but most people will just fax you the stuff you want, please leave me alone, I don't have time for court.
That resulted in a kerfuffle with our Senior Lawyer.
And this is why: the main printer in our office is a printer-scanner-copier-fax machine, and it only does one task at once. So our SL was NOT particularly happy to have the main unit tied up as it was receiving about 200 pages of documents, which in the end turned out to be more like 500 pages.
We were getting the docs piecemeal, so every 10 minutes or so, our SL would drop a pile on my desk.
And as the faxes came in, I was slowly being overwhelmed by piles of documents. Oh. My God. I'm going to have to go through all this.
Things don't always go smoothly, though, when you work with Power-Lawyer. To wit: some manager at a bank we subpoenaed called to let us know the docs were ready, but there were too many pages to be faxed, (200 pages only, the other guy did it, c'mon, you can do it too!), so could we please send a courier to pick them up. I arranged the pickup with our receptionnist-slash-office-manager (AKA the master-of-everything-that-needs-to-be-done), then let Power-Lawyer know the docs were coming in.
I didn't exactly expect her reaction.
"Wait, how come WE have to pick it up? Nononono THEY have to send it to US! The burden is on THEM. Call them back and tell them to pay for the courier themselves, or if they don't, then they can send someone to court."
Aw...kward....
Week 9 just finished today, 8:30 PM. The week was bu-zay.
I'm still not too sure what went on at the beginning of the week.
I was working in a file with Power-Lawyer, where we had to send out subpoenas.
I guess that's what I must've been doing at the beginning of the week, drafting subpoenas for banks and accountants, asking them to provide us the documents. Actually, technically, since they're subpoenas, so you're really telling them to send someone to court with the documents, but most people will just fax you the stuff you want, please leave me alone, I don't have time for court.
That resulted in a kerfuffle with our Senior Lawyer.
And this is why: the main printer in our office is a printer-scanner-copier-fax machine, and it only does one task at once. So our SL was NOT particularly happy to have the main unit tied up as it was receiving about 200 pages of documents, which in the end turned out to be more like 500 pages.
We were getting the docs piecemeal, so every 10 minutes or so, our SL would drop a pile on my desk.
And as the faxes came in, I was slowly being overwhelmed by piles of documents. Oh. My God. I'm going to have to go through all this.
Things don't always go smoothly, though, when you work with Power-Lawyer. To wit: some manager at a bank we subpoenaed called to let us know the docs were ready, but there were too many pages to be faxed, (200 pages only, the other guy did it, c'mon, you can do it too!), so could we please send a courier to pick them up. I arranged the pickup with our receptionnist-slash-office-manager (AKA the master-of-everything-that-needs-to-be-done), then let Power-Lawyer know the docs were coming in.
I didn't exactly expect her reaction.
"Wait, how come WE have to pick it up? Nononono THEY have to send it to US! The burden is on THEM. Call them back and tell them to pay for the courier themselves, or if they don't, then they can send someone to court."
Aw...kward....
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Week 8
Bits and pieces from week 8 of the legal internship.
There is a supermax security prison about 45 mins north of Montreal. From what I've heard, it's the highest-security facility in all of Canada.
***
How to get things done:
Leave of appeal must be submitted in 2 copies at the court, and every party must be served a copy. Which means you'll need: 1 original, 1 court copy, 1 copy for your own files, 1 copy for opposing party, 1 copy for the children's lawyer if the kids have a lawyer.
***
Printing out 150 pages in 5 copies and putting them together into a court-ready package will take you about 3 hours.
***
Don't start drafting a letter at 6 PM thinking you'll get it done by 6:30. You won't.
There is a supermax security prison about 45 mins north of Montreal. From what I've heard, it's the highest-security facility in all of Canada.
***
How to get things done:
- > "I need copies from the court file, can you call and ask how soon we can have them?"
- ... later ...
- < "Um... they just told me the lady who does the copies has a 2-week backlog, and a rush will get you the copies in 'a couple of days'."
- > "Well, I'm filing my appeal Monday, so fax them a letter saying you'd like the copies and someone will come tomorrow to pick them up."
Leave of appeal must be submitted in 2 copies at the court, and every party must be served a copy. Which means you'll need: 1 original, 1 court copy, 1 copy for your own files, 1 copy for opposing party, 1 copy for the children's lawyer if the kids have a lawyer.
***
Printing out 150 pages in 5 copies and putting them together into a court-ready package will take you about 3 hours.
***
Don't start drafting a letter at 6 PM thinking you'll get it done by 6:30. You won't.
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Week 7: The busiest one yet
Quick recap: for the past month and a half, I have been doing my mandatory legal internship at a small family law firm. Having started in early December, most of my time there to date fell right in the holiday season, so things were rather quiet.
Now, it seems business has picked up, and boy, there's a lot to do.
MONDAY was quite uneventful; I don't remember exactly what I did, probably helping our resident power-lawyer prepare some exhibits. (The young, no-nonsense, geddit-done-I-don't-have-time-to-waste type).
TUESDAY tldr: paperwork, run to court, had lunch at 4.
Tuesday started with a run to the local print shop, to have the exhibits bound. We usually staple them, but this was close to a hundred pages of financial documents. All tagged, in yellow tags please, and printed in triplicate with backs. The bailiff will be picking it up as soon as I'm done, so please hurry, it has to be served today to the other party. And while I'm at it, why not get photocopies of this 50-page document, in triplicate please.
Went, bound, came back, was ushered into our conference room for our scheduled training session for one of the legal databases we use. It was a waste of time.
Next thing I know, I'm being given 4 new motions to serve by fax (to the other party), so triplicate, true copy, fax cover sheet and backs. As I'm sending out the first fax, bailiff shows up, and I'm like "Crap, he's supposed to pick up two packs of exhibits, and I've only got one ready!" (the other one was still in the triplicate-true-copy-cover-back-fax pipeline).
So I'm rushing to make photocopies, true-copy-stamp them, put together with the 50-page document, only to realize I've got the wrong motion, go back, copy the right thing, put together, hand to bailiff, who asks me if I've got 2 backs, and I'm like "WTF nobody told me you needed two backs for the bailiff!". Back to the copy room to photocopy the back, realize the printer is receiving a fax so is tied up, lose my mind, print copy from computer, send bailiff on his way, WHEW.
Of course in all this commotion the copy room is a mess and I've still got 3 docs to fax. This was eventually resolved, and I give all the documents, properly put together and stapled to Power-Lawyer, thinking I can finally take a breather.
"Are you going to court now? I need these filed TODAY. You better call a cab to get to the courthouse." It was around 2 PM. I hadn't had lunch yet. It takes less than 30 mins to get to court by public transit. I resignedly grab the court work and head out.
All this to say that I had lunch at 3:45 PM that day.
WEDNESDAY Asked to stay later to help with preparing exhibits. Left work at 10:45 PM, which was not great cuz I was supposed to accompany another lawyer to Valleyfield the next morning.
THURSDAY Woke up at 5, took the metro at 6, the 485 bus at 6:30, arrived at Fairview at 7:09, picked up by the lawyer and she drove us to Valleyfield. We were back at the office by noon, and I was pretty much out of it the whole day. Everything was fine and dandy until about 6PM, when, just as I was starting to enjoy my impending freedom, my maitre de stage slapped me with an emergency research assignment for tomorrow, because Power-Lawyer was told by a judge that her client was going to be ordered shared custody, and she had until tomorrow to change the judge's mind.
I was luckily allowed to do the research from home, sent out search results at 9, asked if they needed anything else, reply only came an hour later, but by then I was already asleep.
FRIDAY Had to go to court at 9 AM because Power-Lawyer was still caught up in St-Jerome, get a txt asking if I'll be back in time for the consultation I was supposed to sit in at 10...
I did make it, if you're wondering.
Now, it seems business has picked up, and boy, there's a lot to do.
MONDAY was quite uneventful; I don't remember exactly what I did, probably helping our resident power-lawyer prepare some exhibits. (The young, no-nonsense, geddit-done-I-don't-have-time-to-waste type).
TUESDAY tldr: paperwork, run to court, had lunch at 4.
Tuesday started with a run to the local print shop, to have the exhibits bound. We usually staple them, but this was close to a hundred pages of financial documents. All tagged, in yellow tags please, and printed in triplicate with backs. The bailiff will be picking it up as soon as I'm done, so please hurry, it has to be served today to the other party. And while I'm at it, why not get photocopies of this 50-page document, in triplicate please.
Went, bound, came back, was ushered into our conference room for our scheduled training session for one of the legal databases we use. It was a waste of time.
Next thing I know, I'm being given 4 new motions to serve by fax (to the other party), so triplicate, true copy, fax cover sheet and backs. As I'm sending out the first fax, bailiff shows up, and I'm like "Crap, he's supposed to pick up two packs of exhibits, and I've only got one ready!" (the other one was still in the triplicate-true-copy-cover-back-fax pipeline).
So I'm rushing to make photocopies, true-copy-stamp them, put together with the 50-page document, only to realize I've got the wrong motion, go back, copy the right thing, put together, hand to bailiff, who asks me if I've got 2 backs, and I'm like "WTF nobody told me you needed two backs for the bailiff!". Back to the copy room to photocopy the back, realize the printer is receiving a fax so is tied up, lose my mind, print copy from computer, send bailiff on his way, WHEW.
Of course in all this commotion the copy room is a mess and I've still got 3 docs to fax. This was eventually resolved, and I give all the documents, properly put together and stapled to Power-Lawyer, thinking I can finally take a breather.
"Are you going to court now? I need these filed TODAY. You better call a cab to get to the courthouse." It was around 2 PM. I hadn't had lunch yet. It takes less than 30 mins to get to court by public transit. I resignedly grab the court work and head out.
All this to say that I had lunch at 3:45 PM that day.
WEDNESDAY Asked to stay later to help with preparing exhibits. Left work at 10:45 PM, which was not great cuz I was supposed to accompany another lawyer to Valleyfield the next morning.
THURSDAY Woke up at 5, took the metro at 6, the 485 bus at 6:30, arrived at Fairview at 7:09, picked up by the lawyer and she drove us to Valleyfield. We were back at the office by noon, and I was pretty much out of it the whole day. Everything was fine and dandy until about 6PM, when, just as I was starting to enjoy my impending freedom, my maitre de stage slapped me with an emergency research assignment for tomorrow, because Power-Lawyer was told by a judge that her client was going to be ordered shared custody, and she had until tomorrow to change the judge's mind.
I was luckily allowed to do the research from home, sent out search results at 9, asked if they needed anything else, reply only came an hour later, but by then I was already asleep.
FRIDAY Had to go to court at 9 AM because Power-Lawyer was still caught up in St-Jerome, get a txt asking if I'll be back in time for the consultation I was supposed to sit in at 10...
I did make it, if you're wondering.
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Why European Computers Predicted Sandy First
Ars Technica has a nice article on weather prediction services, and explains why the European weather models predicted Sandy days before the American ones.
Essentially, the Europeans:
- have a bigger, better supercomputer...
- that specializes in medium-range predictions, and
- takes continuous data for half a day for their simulations;
As opposed to Americans who:
- have a less powerful computer
- that does short, medium, and long range predictions, and
- only take "snapshots" of initial conditions and have to run with that.
Ars Technica: Why European forecasters saw Sandy’s path first
Seven days before Sandy made landfall in New Jersey, the atmospheric crystal ball was partly cloudy. The US National Weather Service forecast model showed a chance that Sandy might come ashore, but indicated that it was more likely the storm would spin off into the Atlantic. The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) model, however, definitely pointed the storm ashore. It would be about three days before the US model totally converged on the Europeans' forecast.
Essentially, the Europeans:
- have a bigger, better supercomputer...
- that specializes in medium-range predictions, and
- takes continuous data for half a day for their simulations;
As opposed to Americans who:
- have a less powerful computer
- that does short, medium, and long range predictions, and
- only take "snapshots" of initial conditions and have to run with that.
Ars Technica: Why European forecasters saw Sandy’s path first
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Monday, November 19, 2012
6-yr-old writes to Hasbro for lack of girls in Guess Who game
Male-normative thinking usually gets pointed out these days, but it's not very often that you have such a slam-dunk argument like in the following story:
A 6-yr-old wrote to Hasbro to complain that there are only 5 female characters in their Guess Who? game, vs. 19 guys.
Feminism has never been so adorable.
Of course, big companies being big companies, they offered the following flat explanation:
Well, that's not patronizing at all, is it? I mean, seriously? Do you even hear yourselves? The whole point of the game is to point out the differences in order to discover the character, dammit!
The girl's mom was obviously not impressed, and I think she really hits the nail on the head when she asks:
Via Jezebel.
A 6-yr-old wrote to Hasbro to complain that there are only 5 female characters in their Guess Who? game, vs. 19 guys.
Dear Hasbro,
My name is R______. I am six years old. I think it's not fair to only have 5 girls in Guess Who and 19 boys. It is not only boys who are important, girls are important too. If grown ups get into thinking that girls are not important they won't give little girls much care.
Also if girls want to be a girl in Guess Who they'll always lose against a boy, and it will be harder for them to win. I am cross about that and if you don't fix it soon, my mum could throw Guess Who out.
My mum typed this message but I told her what to say.
Feminism has never been so adorable.
Of course, big companies being big companies, they offered the following flat explanation:
Guess Who? is a guessing game based on a numerical equation. If you take a look at the characters in the game, you will notice that there are five of any given characteristics. The idea of the game is, that by process of elimination, you narrow down who it isn't, thus determining who it is. The game is not weighted in favour of any particular character, male or female. Another aspect of the game is to draw attention away from using gender or ethnicity as the focal point, and to concentrate on those things that we all have in common, rather than focus on our differences.
Well, that's not patronizing at all, is it? I mean, seriously? Do you even hear yourselves? The whole point of the game is to point out the differences in order to discover the character, dammit!
The girl's mom was obviously not impressed, and I think she really hits the nail on the head when she asks:
Why is female gender regarded as a "characteristic", while male gender is not?
Via Jezebel.
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Anonymous defends bullied twitterer
Your half heartwarming, half enraging news of the day: How Anonymous helped prevent a teen's suicide
It doesn't take a whole lot to scare those teenage trolls away, and the ones involved here have received a thorough ass-whoopin'.
A suicidal 15-year-old girl, a pair of trolls, Anti-Bullying Day, and Anonymous: They all came together overnight in a perfect storm of swift, social media justice.
It doesn't take a whole lot to scare those teenage trolls away, and the ones involved here have received a thorough ass-whoopin'.
Wednesday, November 07, 2012
MEGA: the plot thickens!
A week or so after announcing his new domain, Kim Dotcom has seen me.ga suspended and hacked.
Of course, Kim Dotcom sees conspiracy in this, and it's hard not to think there was some kind of outside pressure, given the harsh words of the Gabonese Minister aimed at a cyberlocker service. Moreover, '.ga' is administered by Gabon Telecom, which is owned by Vivendi, one of the largest entertainment & telecom companies. They own Universal Music, and if you've been following the story, you know they don't exactly see eye to eye with Dotcom...
On top of this, me.ga was redirecting for a while to ome.ga, a self-claimed anarchist group who wants to sell the me.ga domain to Dotcom's detractors...
from: TorrentFreak
First, and just hours ago, came news that the Communications Minister of Gabon, the African country where .ga domains are based, would be suspending the Me.ga domain.
“I have instructed my departments to immediately suspend the site www.me.ga,” announced Communication Minister Blaise Louembe.
“Gabon cannot serve as a platform or screen for committing acts aimed at violating copyrights, nor be used by unscrupulous people,” the minister said.
Of course, Kim Dotcom sees conspiracy in this, and it's hard not to think there was some kind of outside pressure, given the harsh words of the Gabonese Minister aimed at a cyberlocker service. Moreover, '.ga' is administered by Gabon Telecom, which is owned by Vivendi, one of the largest entertainment & telecom companies. They own Universal Music, and if you've been following the story, you know they don't exactly see eye to eye with Dotcom...
On top of this, me.ga was redirecting for a while to ome.ga, a self-claimed anarchist group who wants to sell the me.ga domain to Dotcom's detractors...
from: TorrentFreak
Monday, November 05, 2012
Sunday, November 04, 2012
Apple loses iPhone trademark in Mexico
Since we're on the subject of trademarks, news just came out that Apple lost a court case in Mexico over its iPhone trademark.
The story is that in 2003, a Mexican company registered the "iFone" trademark, then got sued by Apple, who filed for "iPhone" in 2007. The court then ruled in favor of iFone.
It's nice to see a court standing up against Apple, and one hopes there could've been a similar result in the Chinese iPad case had the court been willing to rule on the issue.
In other Apple news, bOINGbOING has a post about Apples take 2 at publishing their non-apology in the Samsung case: Slippery web designers at Apple hide court ordered apology perpetually below the fold. Hopefully the judge will see through this again.
it's really rather fun to watch Apple have the trademark stick wrestled from their grips and get beaten over the head with it, such as when Mexico invalidates their use of the "iPhone" mark in commerce within their country.
The story is that in 2003, a Mexican company registered the "iFone" trademark, then got sued by Apple, who filed for "iPhone" in 2007. The court then ruled in favor of iFone.
It's nice to see a court standing up against Apple, and one hopes there could've been a similar result in the Chinese iPad case had the court been willing to rule on the issue.
In other Apple news, bOINGbOING has a post about Apples take 2 at publishing their non-apology in the Samsung case: Slippery web designers at Apple hide court ordered apology perpetually below the fold. Hopefully the judge will see through this again.
Friday, November 02, 2012
OMIGAWD they wanna trademark the "@" sign
via Techdirt: German Company Wants To Protect Its Use Of The '@' Sign: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
Trademark has such a bad reputation these days that the above news is bound to elicit some knee-jerk reactions along the lines of "OMIGAWD they're gonna take control of that word/letter/sign/color" and "what could go wrong?".
First off, the answer to "what could go wrong" is "everything", and it applies pretty much everywhere, not just trademarks. There's always bound to be some entitled jerk who is going to take the whole arm when you give them a hand. IP just happens to be talked about a bit more these days.
Second, it is important to understand that trademark gives you exclusivity in specific domains, and in connection to products. It's not like they're given blanket ownership of the "@" symbol for every use everywhere forever. If they use the "@" symbol to mark their products, and their customers recognise their products, then why shouldn't they get some protection?
It is important to note, though, that trademark, when applied correctly, is not supposed to protect the company from its competitors, but to protect customers from confusion.
Der Spiegel is reporting that someone wants a German "wordmark" on the "@" sign (original in German). The company involved has the rather unusual name "@ T.E.L.L.", where the initials apparently stand for "Tradinghouse for Exclusive Luxury Labels".
Trademark has such a bad reputation these days that the above news is bound to elicit some knee-jerk reactions along the lines of "OMIGAWD they're gonna take control of that word/letter/sign/color" and "what could go wrong?".
First off, the answer to "what could go wrong" is "everything", and it applies pretty much everywhere, not just trademarks. There's always bound to be some entitled jerk who is going to take the whole arm when you give them a hand. IP just happens to be talked about a bit more these days.
Second, it is important to understand that trademark gives you exclusivity in specific domains, and in connection to products. It's not like they're given blanket ownership of the "@" symbol for every use everywhere forever. If they use the "@" symbol to mark their products, and their customers recognise their products, then why shouldn't they get some protection?
It is important to note, though, that trademark, when applied correctly, is not supposed to protect the company from its competitors, but to protect customers from confusion.
Monday, October 22, 2012
Italy: six years in jail for failing to predict earthquake
BBC News reports that the 7 members of the National Commission for the Forecast and Prevention of Major Risks who were on trial for manslaughter for failing to predict a major earthquake in 2009 have now been sentenced to 6 years in prison.
They will probably appeal.
Earthquakes are notoriously hard to predict, and you'd think that in 2012, people would have enough common sense to NOT engage in the kind of witchhunt shown above.
If the verdict stands, anyone working in seismology should just pack their bags and leave. Hasta la vista, no more predictions for you, fools!
Or they can decide to not issue any warnings anymore. Their jobs will be to study earthquakes, not predict them. You're on your own from now on.
Or they can start giving a warning every time a small tremor happens, and let the people do their own analysis.
Either way, it doesn't sound good for the people.
They will probably appeal.
Earthquakes are notoriously hard to predict, and you'd think that in 2012, people would have enough common sense to NOT engage in the kind of witchhunt shown above.
If the verdict stands, anyone working in seismology should just pack their bags and leave. Hasta la vista, no more predictions for you, fools!
Or they can decide to not issue any warnings anymore. Their jobs will be to study earthquakes, not predict them. You're on your own from now on.
Or they can start giving a warning every time a small tremor happens, and let the people do their own analysis.
Either way, it doesn't sound good for the people.
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Public Citizen needs $$ to hire someone to sit outside Charles Carreon's house
Just thought I'd put it out there:
Public Citizen is defending the blogger suing for declaratory judgement that his blog satirizing Charles Carreon (of suing-the-oatmeal fame) is legal. Unfortunately, Carreon is hiding out and trying not to be served court papers.
So there you have it. Public Citizen is now looking for public donations to help them hire some guy to site outside that other guy's house.
Public Citizen's Donations page
Public Citizen is defending the blogger suing for declaratory judgement that his blog satirizing Charles Carreon (of suing-the-oatmeal fame) is legal. Unfortunately, Carreon is hiding out and trying not to be served court papers.
Unfortunately, Carreon seems to be working the system effectively. Because even with all of these obvious attempts to avoid having to actually deal with the lawsuit against him, the judge is asking the blogger and his lawyers to "try harder:"The process server could easily wait outside the fence for defendant to enter or leave the residence and could then leave the papers in the defendant's presence. Alternatively, the process server may choose to wait near a location defendant is thought to frequent, such as an office or grocery store. If the defendant still refuses to accept the papers, it will be considered sufficient if the “server is in close proximity to the defendant, clearly communicates intent to serve court documents, and makes reasonable efforts to leave the papers with the defendant.”- Techdirt: Charles Carreon Still Dishing Out Threats & Intimidation... While Hiding From Court Summons
So there you have it. Public Citizen is now looking for public donations to help them hire some guy to site outside that other guy's house.
Public Citizen's Donations page
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