Einstein Rings.

January 24, 2014 by nvantreeck

So what are Einstein rings? According to Wikipedia and Einstein ring is “the deformation of the light from a source (such as a galaxy or star) into a ring through gravitational lensing of the source’s light by an object with an extremely large mass (such as another galaxy, or a black hole)”

What?

The graphic above will make the definition a little easier to understand. Basically, when everything is aligned correctly, the light that we see from certain object that pass around large gravity wells gets distorted into a ring.

This is kind of like an eclipse, but instead of blocking the light, the light is bent around an object.

Of course, Hubble has found a lot of these objects that were once only speculated by Einstein’s general theory of relativity.

$\theta_E = \sqrt{\frac{4GM}{c^2}\;\frac{d_{LS}}{d_L d_S}},$

Of course my math skills probably aren’t up to the task anymore. Where did I put my physics books….

– Ex astris, scientia –

I am and avid amateur astronomer and intellectual property attorney in Pasadena, California and I am a Rising Star as rated by Super Lawyers Magazine. As a former Chief Petty Officer in the U.S. Navy, I am a proud member of the Armed Service Committee of the Los Angeles County Bar Association working to aid all active duty and veterans in our communities. Connect with me on Google +

Norman

Update on Status of Silicon Valley Office.

January 23, 2014 by nvantreeck

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) released a status update on the agency’s satellite offices in Silicon Valley, Dallas and Denver. The plans to expand the USPTO’s office locations have been slowed due to recent budgets cuts related to the sequestration.

Although delayed, the new satellite located at the San Jose City Hall building at 200 East Santa Clara Street, has been selected as the permanent location for the USPTO’s Silicon Valley satellite office. The USPTO is moving forward with occupying the space by the end of 2014.

According to the the USPTO, the permanent West Coast office will enable the USPTO to help more entrepreneurs protect their intellectual property so they can attract capital, put their business plans into action, and help create more jobs. The San Jose City Hall location provides office space for patent examiners and Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) judges, a robust examiner training facility, and public hearing rooms for PTAB proceedings, including its trial proceedings, which clarify the quality and certainty of a patent right and serve as a low-cost and efficient alternative to litigation in the federal court system.

How Can I Help?

If you, or someone you know, need any help with Intellectual Property issues, from filing a patent, trademark or copyright, or just need advice regarding how best to protect your inventions, ideas or your brand, please contact me for a free 30 minute consultation at nvantreeck@usip.com or call TOLL FREE at 1-855-UR IDEAS (1-855-874-3327) and ask for Norman.

– Ex astris, scientia –

Norman

ISS Mission Extended.

January 23, 2014 by nvantreeck

NASA has received preliminary approval to keep the ISS operating until 2024.

The extension by the White House and Congress comes as a welcome relief to NASA who considers the space station a critical steppingstone to future space exploration.

The extension will cost NASA about $3 billion per year. Given that the agencies budget is currently about $17 billion a year, the extension could force NASA to cut other efforts in the future.

Image credit K. Alverson of MemeBox.com

This, of course, will delay my planned take-over of the ISS and its conversion into a space hotel for guest that would travel back and forth on one of the commercial space ventures. Oh well, the best laid plans need to bow to science.

– Ex astris, scientia –

Norman

Inventor Loses Spider-Man Royalties

January 22, 2014 by nvantreeck

Marvel Enterprises is no longer obligated to make royalty payments to the inventor of a Spider-Man toy called the Web Blaster. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Stephen Kimble’s licensing agreement was unenforceable beyond the expiration date of the underlying patent under the controversial precedent established by the U.S. Supreme Court in Brulotte v. Thys Co.

Around 1990, Kimble invented and obtained a patent for a Spider-Man toy that allowed a child “role play” as Spider-Man by shooting foam string. The patent expired on May 25, 2010.

While the patent application was pending, Kimble approached Marvel about the toy and other ideas. A company executive told him that he would be compensated if Marvel used any of his ideas. Although the company ultimately informed Kimble it was not interested, Marvel began manufacturing a similar Spider-Man role-playing toy.

Kimble filed suit for patent infringement and breach of contract. While the infringement claim was dismissed, Kimble eventually reached a settlement with Marvel under which the company agreed to purchase the patent and both parties agreed to dismiss all pending appeals. Under the terms of the settlement agreement, Marvel agreed to pay Kimble $516,000 and three percent of net product sales of the toy.

In 2006, the parties got into a disagreement regarding the calculation of royalties, and Kimble filed another breach of contract lawsuit. In response, Marvel argued that it was no longer obligated to pay Kimble after the patent expired.

The Ninth Circuit ultimately agreed. It held that “a so-called ‘hybrid’ licensing agreement encompassing inseparable patent and non-patent rights is unenforceable beyond the expiration date of the underlying patent, unless the agreement provides a discounted rate for the non-patent rights or some other clear indication that the royalty at issue was in no way subject to patent leverage.”

As explained in the opinion, Brulotte has been interpreted to require that any contract requiring royalty payments for an invention either after a patent expires or when it fails to issue cannot be enforced unless the contract provides a discount from the alternative, patent-protected rate. While the court noted that it disagreed with the rationale of the rule, it also recognized that “we are bound by Supreme Court authority and the strong interest in maintaining national uniformity on patent law issues.” Accordingly, the panel begrudgingly applied the precedent.

The Ninth Circuit also rejected Kimble’s argument that Brulotte was inapplicable because the agreement discriminated between patents and non-patent rights. “We cannot agree because the agreement plainly involved one royalty rate for both patent and Web Blaster rights, with no discount or other clear indication that the Web Blaster royalties were not subject to patent leverage,” the court concluded.

How Can I Help?

– Ex astris, scientia –

Norman

Silence Falls.

January 22, 2014 by nvantreeck

For those of you that are Dr. Who fans, the title might have some extra meaning, but I am referring to the strange and sudden silence of the Sun.

The Sun has a cyclic period of activity that normally repeats every 11 years or so. We are currently in solar cycle 24 of the modern era.

Not only are we in this cycle, but we are at solar maximum, where the most activity by the Sun usually occurs. Lots of sunspots, flares, coronal mass ejections and the like.

But apart from the odd event, like some recent solar flares, the Sun has been very quiet. The drop off in activity is happening very quickly, and scientists are now watching closely to see if activity will continue to decline. The last time that the Sun was this quiet was in the 17th century, in a period known as the Maunder Minimum.

An analysis of ice-cores, which hold a long-term record of solar activity, suggests the decline in activity is the fastest that has been seen in 10,000 years.

Why would another Maunder Minimum be bad? Well the last time this happened, the world, but especially Europe because of the effects this type of event has on the jet stream, entered into a mini ice age. This could be a bad thing or a good thing depending on how it plays out. Due to man made climate change, this new Maunder Minimum could be a lot more severe which would affect agriculture and other food supply areas. On the other hand, the polar ice caps have been melting at an alarming rate and this event would probably restore them. There isn’t enough data to figure out what is happening or what the results will be, but in a few years we may be bundling up here in Southern California for the harsh winters. Dang, that would mean I’d have to move farther south. So let’s just hope this isn’t a run up to another ice age.

– Ex astris, scientia –

Norman

USPTO Announces Access to Chinese Patent Documentation Via New Global Patent Search Network

January 21, 2014 by nvantreeck

In contrast to yesterday’s story, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office recently announced the launch of the Global Patent Search Network. Accessible via the USPTO website, the new database allows users to search and retrieve Chinese patent documentation.

According to the USPTO, the data available includes both full text Chinese patents and English machine translations. Users can currently search documents including published applications, granted patents and utility models from 2008 to 2011. The USPTO has indiacted the network will periodically be updated with more current data.

A recent blog post touted the benefits of the Global Search patent Network. “This new search tool delivers to the public, as well as our patent examiners, an additional source of foreign patent collections. Furthermore, the immediate availability of English machine translations will effectively address the language barrier and allow for quick analysis of the relevancy of the prior art while reducing the need for costly human translations. Machine translation technology can sometimes generate awkward wording, but it provides an excellent way to determine the gist of the information in a foreign patent.”

The initial launch of the Global Patent Search Network features only Chinese patent documentation. However, the USPTO plans to incorporate additional foreign patent collections in the future. Interestingly, the Global Patent Search Network is the first patent-related initiative to use cloud technology.

How Can I Help?

– Ex astris, scientia –

Norman

Wake Up!

January 21, 2014 by nvantreeck

The ESA’s Rosetta comet probe has woken up to make its rendezvous with comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

Rosetta’s mission will take 10 years to complete.

During its trip Rosetta passed by two asteroids, Lutetia and Steins. The image above shows landslide that happened on Lutetia.

When Rosetta reaches the comet, it will deploy a 220-pound (100 kilogram) lander called Philae.

Once on the comet’s surface the pair of craft will accompany the comet on its journey through the inner solar system, observing at close range how the comet changes as the Sun’s heat transforms the cold surface to a boiling gaseous mass.

Rosetta is about 500 million miles (about 800 million km) from Earth near Jupiter’s orbit. At that distance radio transmissions take 45 minutes to reach Earth and vice versa. What is fascinating is that, due to gravity, the radio signals don’t travel in a straight line back and forth.

Once Rosetta’s on-board alarm clock went off it took seven hours to warm up its star trackers, fire thrusters to slow its spin, turn on its transmitter and send a message back to Earth. And with all the advances in science the drumming monkey clock was the best we could do (just kidding, atomic clocks were used, although the monkey clock would be fabulously hilarious).

There are a lot of firsts for Rosetta, but the images from the comet as it starts out-gassing should be spectacular. I just hope Philae doesn’t land on one of the explosive vents that many comets have. We will know later this year as the comet passes by the Sun.

– Ex astris, scientia –

Norman

Chinese Wind Company Faces Allegations of Trade Secret Theft.

January 20, 2014 by nvantreeck

The theft of U.S. intellectual property has always been a hot button topic. According to the U.S. International Trade Commission, Chinese IP theft cost U.S. companies nearly $50 billion in 2009.

The U.S. government has adopted a stronger stance against IP theft by other countries, including China. In June, the Department of Justice charged Chinese wind turbine maker Sinovel Wind Group Co. and two of its employees with stealing trade secrets from a U.S. company, American Superconductor Corp. (AMSC).

According to the Department of Justice, AMSC developed and sold software and equipment to regulate the flow of electricity from wind turbines to electrical grids, and it considered the software and equipment to be trade secrets and proprietary information. Meanwhile, Sinovel purchased software and equipment from AMSC for the wind turbines that Sinovel manufactured, sold and serviced.

In 2011, Sinovel recruited AMSC employee, Dejan Karabasevic, to leave the company and join Sinovel. The Chinese company also allegedly offered him $1.7 million to secretly copy intellectual property from the AMSC computer system. Using the stolen computer code, Sinovel sold four pirated turbines to customers in the U.S., “cheating AMSC out of more than $800 million,” according to the indictment.

An Austrian court has already convicted Karabasevic, and sentenced him to a year in jail and two years of probation for his part in this international trade secret theft.

Since the United States obtained indictments in late June, Sinovel is fighting back, claiming that the service of the summons were faulty and that the United States improperly (and ineffectively) served Sinovel’s U.S.-based subsidiary, Sinovel Wind Group (USA) Co., Ltd., but not its Chinese parent, Sinovel Wind Group Co., Ltd. Sinovel argues that it is not subject to the United States’ summons power as a Chinese corporation and that service of Sinovel USA (dissolved in early July 2013) is not proper under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4.

On September 6, 2013, the United States filed its response in opposition to the motion to quash, arguing that Sinovel USA is the alter ego of the parent corporation. At the heart of this argument, the United States is claiming that Sinovel’s recent closure of its US subsidiary was made to avoid service of process and a direct result of the United States’ case against Sinovel.

Also, this past week the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) began looking into security market regulation violations by Sinovel.

I will be watching this case and reporting on how the final disposition of this could affect your business interests when working with foreign firms.

How Can I Help?

– Ex astris, scientia –

Norman

All Hail El Supremo!

January 20, 2014 by nvantreeck

Just like the magnificent Lucha Libre warriors in their wrestling endeavors, I have attained the pinnacle of astronomy.

This past weekend I was voted in as the President of the Riverside Astronomical Society (and the crowd goes wild).

So, what does this mean for you? Well…nothing really, I just thought I’d share my achievement with everyone. But now that I am in power, the skies the limit!

I intend to be a firm, yet gentle dictator. Bending the proletariat to my will and …. what’s that? I don’t have any real power? I only get to listen to problems and try and fix them? I want a recount!!!

Actually, I am very excited. I have some plans for increasing participation for various programs and bringing more to the membership. It will be a challenging task, but I look forward to sharing some of it with you and other astronomy lovers around the world.

So like the Luchadores, it may look fake, but it is very real and you have to be at your best. I am honored to be asked to do this task and I hope I can live up to expectations. Now pass me my crown!

– Ex astris, scientia –

Norman

Cracking Down on IP Scammers.

January 17, 2014 by nvantreeck

Trademark and patent holders are frequently targeted by scams, often in the form of official-looking correspondence. Some companies promise to protect your patent in foreign countries, while others claims that you have an unpaid invoice for trademark registration services. I have made many blog posts warning of these “notifications.”

While the services offered may sometimes be legitimate, the mailings are misleading because they use language, formatting and other identifying features that suggest the sender is an official government agency. I frequently field calls from concerned clients who have received unsolicited offers for patent, copyright and trademark services.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and other industry groups frequently issue warnings about these fraudulent solicitations; however, new scams seem to pop up every few months. To put these companies out of business for good, a New York intellectual property law firm is pursuing legal action in federal court.

The suit against Patent & Trademark Agency LLC and its principal owner, Armens Organesjans, alleges that the company seeks to confuse trademark owners into purchasing services under the false color of authority. The claims include unfair competition, false advertising and tortious interference with prospective economic relations.

As highlighted in the complaint, Patent & Trademark Agency LLC’s website includes a statement that they are not lawyers and do not provide legal advice; however, its Terms, Conditions and Use Agreement state the opposite: “By accepting these terms you specifically and irrevocably authorize [Patent & Trademark Agency] to conduct negotiations and act on your behalf with any party needed in order to renew or register your trademark.”

The complaint further alleges that the company falsely states that “the Patent & Trademark Agency is the nation’s premier trademark registration and renewal service.” In reality, the USPTO lists the company among entities that have been the subject of complaints regarding fraudulent solicitations.

Last year, the same New York IP firm sued USA Trademark Enterprises Inc. on similar grounds. As a result of the lawsuit, the company was permanently barred from engaging in intellectual property-related activities in the United States.

The Attorney General of Vermont also sued Patent & Trademark Agency LLC to protect its citizens from these scams.

If you believe that you have been a target of this type of scam, please report it to the AG of your state and to your IP attorney. You can also file a complaint against the scammer on the USPTO web site here.

How Can I Help?

– Ex astris, scientia –

Norman

Astronomy and Law

Astronomy and Law Blog

Monthly Archives: January 2014

Einstein Rings.

Update on Status of Silicon Valley Office.

ISS Mission Extended.

Inventor Loses Spider-Man Royalties

Silence Falls.

USPTO Announces Access to Chinese Patent Documentation Via New Global Patent Search Network

Wake Up!

Chinese Wind Company Faces Allegations of Trade Secret Theft.

All Hail El Supremo!

Cracking Down on IP Scammers.