Create, Consult, Control
News & commentary on intellectual property issues.
Jun292010 | Steve O'Donnell
Bilski didn’t change much except my dinner plans
I (and every patent lawyer) have been anxiously awaiting the Supreme Court’s decision in Bilski, which should have given us a handle on when business method and software patents were patentable. The decision came down yesterday, and the Court punted.
Most patent attorneys had expected J. Stevens to write the opinion and guessed that it would tamp down on the patentability of business method and software patents. J. Stevens didn’t write the majority, and the opinion didn’t really change anything, or leave us with a clear indication of when business methods or software were patentable or not.
For the last few months I had some thoughts on what this post should be, I expected some softer rule than what the Fed Cir had stated, but we didn’t get a rule, only a dodge.
I anticipated a flurry of analysis and writing today and planned on picking up dinner while coming home from getting my kids at daycare to free a few more minutes for drafting. Since the Court didn’t give me much to work with, I decided that rather than trying to expound on a narrow ruling that gives little or no guidance, I instead will just write about what I made for dinner last night since the Court was kind enough to free me from my expected burden. So, here it is, Green Curry Macaroni and Cheese:
This recipe was based on Alton Brown’s Baked Mac & Cheese and inspired by Roger Mooking’s Curried Mac & Cheese.
Baked Green Curry Macaroni and Cheese
ingredients
1/2 pound elbow macaroni
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons green curry paste
3 cups milk
4 teaspoons coconut extract
1/2 cup yellow onion, finely diced
1 large egg
12 ounces provolone
1 teaspoon kosher salt
black pepper
fresh Cilantro
directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a large pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta to al dente.
3. While the pasta is cooking, in a separate pot, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and keep it moving for about five minutes. Make sure it's free of lumps. Stir in the milk, onion, and curry paste. Simmer for ten minutes.
4. Temper in the egg. Stir in cheese and heat till melted. Season with salt and pepper. Fold the macaroni into the mix and pour into a 2-quart casserole dish.
5. Top with cilantro for service.
Notes: the curry paste container says to use 4T per can of coconut milk. . . which would translate to about 6T for this recipe. I find that to be waaayyy to hot, so I went with a third of that (and it's still pretty spicy, and I'm a guy that drenches pizza with hot sauce). I considered using coconut milk instead of milk+extract but I was concerned that the recipe needed the protein in the milk. . . plus, coconut milk is pretty fatty and there's already a bunch of fat from the cheese. I went with provolone because it’s a mild cheese and wouldn’t compete with the curry paste. The mix is very wet before it goes into the oven, but firms up nicely during the bake. When it was still hot from the oven, the curry spiciness was stronger than I anticipated, but as the dish sat, the spiciness mellowed yet was still very flavorful.
And no, this recipe isn’t patented.
Jun252010 | Steve O'Donnell
When the "little guy's" copyright is infringed
This morning @TimothyPONeill on Twitter pointed out at article that referenced a website that highlights a few cases of small artists getting their work infringed by bigger fish. Uff-da, how’s that for full disclosure? Why yes, I am originally from Minnesota, why do you ask?
Take a second and look at some of the examples listed at the well named You Thought We Wouldn’t Notice. Note that these are reports originating from the artist themselves, and not necessarily someone that knows anything about copyright law. Some of the examples are just as likely coincidences as they are infringements, a few probably wouldn’t survive a motion to dismiss, but others, well some of them are simply blatant copying.
What is an independent artist to do when some thing like this happens? Well, honestly, for most, there isn’t much to do. If the copyright isn’t registered, damages are probably limited to actual damages and an court order telling the infringer to stop. For most cases, it probably doesn’t make economic sense to sue on an unregistered copyright.
There are still a couple ways to address the issue. Sometimes the infringement was a mistake (believe it or not, that happens) and other times the company also got ripped off by someone claiming to be the artist. In that case, a letter explaining the issue will probably result in some relief, or at least a check. If that doesn’t work, one might be able to pressure the company through some online forum, blogging, Twitter, etc and drawing attention to their infringing activity. Other than that, options are slim.
On the other hand, registering a copyright is fairly straight-forward and rather reasonably priced. Doing that gives an artist a lot more power when it comes to dealing with an infringer because instead of just actual damages (which can be an immense pain to prove) and an injunction, registration allows one to opt for statutory damages. Lets say some company takes a photo, puts it on a t-shirt and sells 100 shirts at $20 each. For actual damages the artist may have to demonstrate what percentage of the $2000 in sales was due to the infringed work. If we’re looking at statutory damages, the calculation is between $750 and $30,000 (possibly up to $150,000) PER infringement. So those 100 shirts are likely going to cost the infringer a lot more if the case goes to court.
I know which position I’d want to be in if I was suing an infringer.
1
Recent Posts
- Does a twitter follow have a value? What does this mean for RT contests?
- XXX Domains. Should you care?
- Steve Jobs, 1955-2011
- Who doesn’t like free porn?
- My ex-employee is using my customer list and materials!
- Can I get sued for this?
- A painless trademark dispute
- DC vs Batmobile custom car seller
- The Days of Turkey Roll
- Steveodonnell.com, now with fewer penises
Comments