Library & Information Science News – Public Access

One of the key questions around the impact of patents on health and innovation is what is the appropriate level of protection for companies innovating, says Dr. Marie-Paul Kieny, assistant director-general, Health Systems and Innovation, at the World Health Organization. …

Ian Morris, Forbes; Amazon’s Multi-Billion Dollar Patent Expires In 2017:“Amazon’s 1-Click is responsible for making the firm a decent amount of money over the years. Certainly, it’s produced enough revenue for Amazon to defend its exclusivity of it in the courts, at great cost. But the bad news for Amazon is …

This is a great example for citizen science with tradition. According to the Audubon Society’s website, orinthologist Frank Chapman organized the first Christmas bird count in 1900. The activity was an alternative to the “side hunts” which were popular at the time, the goal of which was to shoot as …

Jordan Friedman, U.S. News; 10 Things to Know About MOOCs in Online Education …

Kerry Sheehan, Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF); Fighting for Fair Use and Safer Harbors: 2016 in Review:“In 2016 we witnessed the latest stretch in an ongoing struggle over the shape of copyright law and who it serves – between a law that respects and promotes innovation and free expression, and one that …

Sharyn Alfonsi, 60 Minutes; The Rum War“Who makes the real Havana Club rum? And who owns the rights to sell the liquor under that famous brand name?” …

Daniel Oberhaus, Motherboard; The 11 Stupidest Patents of 2016:[Kip Currier: Happy 2017! 1st post of the new year.]“Last year, the US Patent and Trademark Office saw nearly 630,000 patent applications come through its doors, roughly half of which were granted a patent. Some of these patents were pretty incredible, such as Amazon’s patent for 3D …

Robin Pogrebin, New York Times; How the Grinch Ended Up in Court! :“The Broadway playwright Matthew Lombardo has sued the owner of copyrights for Dr. Seuss’s works, arguing that his new play does not infringe on the classic “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!”The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in United States District Court in …

Kate Abbey-Lambertz, Huffington Post; Amazon’s Flying Warehouse Idea Isn’t Even Its Biggest Challenge:“Delivering packages by drone at all seemed at first like “a loopy idea, far-fetched and the subject of instant mockery on Twitter,” as New York Times technology writer David Streitfeld wrote when Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos first mentioned it in 2013.Now …

Brandon Stahl, Star Tribune; Summit Brewing sues two former employees, alleging sharing of trade secrets:“When Summit Brewing Company hired Jeffrey Spaeth in the summer of 1986, the fledgling St. Paul business was just getting on its feet as one of fewer than 20 craft brewers in the country.Spaeth rose up through …