notice

What is U.S. Patent No. 5,205,473?

The title of U.S. Patent No. 5,205,473 (the '473 patent in patent speak) is "Recyclable corrugated beverage container and holder." If you've ever been to Starbucks, the drawing on the first page of the '473 patent probably looks familiar.

I actually have one of these sitting on my desk right now. It's the corrugated, brown cardboard sleeve wrapped around my venti, no fat, no water chai latte. It insulates my hand from the hot liquid inside and allows me to walk from the barista to my car without a wince or painful grimace.

It's a good idea and whoever came up with it got a patent. I know that because the number, "U.S. Patent No. 5,205,473" is printed in neat, black text right on the sleeve. (There's actually a second patent number as well.) The reason the sleeve on my coffee cup, and most other patented products, have patent numbers printed on them is something patent lawyers call "constructive notice."

Under the law, the public is deemed to have constructive notice that something is patented if that something has a patent number on it. The idea behind the law apparently is that if one sees a patent number, one has the ability to look that patent up, read it, and maybe even understand what it says. For the corrugated sleeve, it was simple enough for me--albeit a little geeky--to take a look at the '473 patent and understand how the sleeve works to make the heat from my latte more bearable.

First 'Rock Band'-related eviction threat issued

If you're going to have an all-night Rock Band session, make sure to invite your neighbors over for some of the fun. Or at least warn them before cranking it up.

According to the Rock Band message boards, two tenants of an apartment complex in Oregon were issued a 10-day notice to stop rocking so hard or move out.

Causational hypotheses on the message boards range from lame non-metal-loving neighbors, poor soundproofing in the ceiling, and good old-fashioned inconsideration.

The image of the notice that appears on the message boards is very blurry, perhaps due to the amount of … Read more

EFF: Copyright owners think twice before pulling YouTube clips

Everybody knows that copyright owners can demand that YouTube and other Web sites remove unauthorized copies of their work under the law. But what happens when the owners of intellectual property err in their claims?

On Wednesday, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a group that advocates for the rights of Internet users, issued six principles that copyright holders should consider before trying to remove a piece of content.

EFF has represented several individuals who have seen their videos removed from Web sites after a copyright owner erroneously claimed that their copyright was violated. EFF recently filed suit against Prince on … Read more

'Facebook Secrets' blog gets DMCA takedown treatment

Facebook Secrets is no more.

The blog, which had been set up specifically to share the leaked source code that Facebook's front page accidentally displayed to a number of users over the weekend, has been taken down by host Blogger's parent company Google.

The company cited violations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, or DMCA, evoking the similar takedown notices that plagued Digg when its users 'dugg' HD DVD crack code earlier this year.

Since the Facebook source code inevitably made its way into plenty of hands while it was public, the action probably won't do much--it'… Read more