I think what he’s saying is that Valcent has created a system the extract vegetable oil from algae. Vegetable oil can be processed into biodiesel. It doesn’t get much more energy independent than a closed system that can continue to produce infinite amounts of oil! WHY AREN’T WE EXPLOITING THE ALGAE!!

The future is now. Of course, big oil will do its best to shut this down. And I imagine farmers will be pissed that their corn will be replaced with algae. Eventually, our broken economy will demand an energy efficient, cheap solution. We can stop importing oil and freaking grow our own!

Thanks to reader Mikey D for the find.

[Via Valcent]

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Thanks to reader Devlin Browning, I now know who I’m voting for in the 2008 Presidential election. Who can argue with smelling with your tongue? Brilliant! I fear that this, along with Destro and Baroness’s “Get Money” music video will both be better than the live action flick.

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Audrey showed this to me last night. No one has ever filmed something like this before. It’s so compelling that National Geographic is actually doing a Mother’s Day special decontructing and analyzing this amazing battle for the “Caught on Safari” series.

The message is clear. Don’t fuck with the buffalo! From now on when ever I get the chance, I’m eating only buffalo burgers and buffalo wings to gain their amazing powers of awesome!

[Via National Geographic]

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The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) is asking residuals from new media profits. Writers and directors wanted the same and the producers agreed. So why are the producers refusing to listen to SAG demands? Apparently, the SAG wants more more more.

In a statement, the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers (AMPTP) said, “In the end, this round of SAG negotiations ended without an agreement because SAG simply refused to recognize the fundamental business and labor principles that have already been accepted by directors, writers and producers. Under these circumstances, with SAG’s continued adherence to unreasonable demands in both new and traditional media, continuing negotiations at this time does not make sense.”

Instead, the AMPTP is set to start negotiations with the American Federation of TV and Radio Artists (AFTRA) who are more likely to accept a deal similar to the one given to the writers and directors.

It looks like the SAG is ready to strike.

More people probably know SAG members without realizing it while they would probably struggle to name writers of their favorite movies or shows. In that respect, I think there will be more public interest if the SAG does strike. But will the public support the cause? Times are tough all around. Will the public support actors asking for internet residuals when gas and food prices are steadily rising? Are movie goers tired of these strikes or will they rally around the SAG?

Thanks to Nelly for keeping an eye on those pesky actors.

[Via E! Online]

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Audrey and I have successfully made it through year one of marriage! To celebrate, we’re escaping for the weekend. I’ll be away from my computer all weekend so this is my Friday update. Hope you all have a great Friday.

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Reader Kevin Bahrt sent along these fun Transformers clips. The first two come from the Autobot and Decepticon endings to the video game based on that Michael BOOM movie.

What I don’t get is why when Prime pushes the cube onto Megs, Megs goes all kabloomy but when Megs pushes it into himself, he becomes all “THIS IS CYBERTRON” and shit. I guess all you need to do to configure the stupid All Spark is touch it. Seems a bit too easy. Still, more entertaining than the movie ending.

Here’s a remixed clip from the second generation of the cartoon.

Oh Rodimus. Always in Prime’s shadow. I never liked Gold Bug’s redesign. And yet, more entertaining than the movie! And shorter.

Thanks again to Kevin.

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You may recall that earlier this month a certain Mark Simon declared that if something isn’t done soon, the federal government will declare all your arts are belong to them. He claimed that new legislation would automatically give orphan status to all unregistered works. Essentially, you would not own art or music or writing or anything that you create unless you paid mad cash to officially register it. Sounded like doom and gloom to me. I was ready to release the hounds and call for an all out assault on our representatives. However, at the time of Simon’s article, no legislation had been introduced.

It turns out that Mark Simon is partially right. The U.S. Copyright Office is indeed concerned about Orphan Works. Two bills were introduced in the House (H.R. 5889: To provide a limitation on judicial remedies in copyright infringement cases involving orphan works) and Senate (S. 2913: A bill to provide a limitation on judicial remedies in copyright infringement cases involving orphan works) on April 24, 2008 to address the Orphan Works question.

The text of the Senate version isn’t on GovTrack yet, but the House version is up. I’m going to attempt some short hand here so you don’t have to subject yourself to cryptic legalese.

Subsection (b) paragraph (1) subparagraph (A) sets limitations on remedies that an artist can claim if their work is infringed if the following criteria are met by the infringer (the dirty rat stealing you work):

• The infringer or someone acting on their behalf has conducted a reasonable documented search for the copyright owner and was unable to locate said owner;
• filed a Notice of Use with the Register of Copyrights before using the work;
• attributed the owner of the infringed work if the owner is known based on information obtained during the qualifying search;
• included a mark or symbol along with the use of the infringing work;

There’s some extra strength legal mumbo jumbo about the infringer consenting to the jurisdiction of the U.S. district court and something else that I don’t quite understand, but it has something to do with submitting the proper documentation.

If the conditions in Subsection (b) paragraph (1) subparagraph (A) are met, the courts may decide to asses monetary relief or injunctive relief to the original owner based on Subsection (c). Monetary relief forces the infringer to pay reasonable compensation to the original owner. Injunctive relief prevents or retrains the infringer from using the work. There are more details in that Subsection, but either way, the infringer must pay.

Okay, back to the conditions of eligibility. Subsection (b) paragraph (1) subparagraph (A) does not apply if the infringer fails to negotiate reasonable compensation with the original owner or if the infringer fails to pay reasonable compensation in a timely fashion.

Subsection (b) paragraph (2) outlines what a Reasonable Search would entail.

Wow, even the Cliff’s Notes are a bit difficult. Let’s see if we can break this down further.

If some rat bastard finds a work and wishes to use it, said rat bastard must first conduct a documented search for the original copyright owner. If said owner cannot be found, the rat bastard may use the work according after filing a Notice of Use with the Register of Copyrights. If the owner is found and the rat bastard is still intent on using the work, the rat bastard must attribute the work to the original owner and pay reasonable compensation for use.

Now, I’m no lawyer, so I could be missing something. But I don’t see anything in there that says anything about original works being orphans unless formally registered. Seems to me this puts the burden of proof of orphan status no on the artists claiming copyright bu on the rat bastards who want to use the work. That doesn’t mean the bill won’t change by the time it goes up for vote if it ever gets out of committee.

If I have this right, this bill would give us artists more leverage to prevent unauthorized use of our work. If the rat bastards use our work without bothering to figure out who created it in the first place, we now have a formalized process we can invoke to shut them down and get paid. Sounds like a good deal to me.

[Via GovTrack]

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Over the weekend, many well meaning readers sent me Mark Simon’s article warning artists everywhere that if a new piece of orphaned works legislation is passed, we will lose the rights to our own work. He calls on all of us to write our Congressmen to stop this bill. So, being a responsible citizen for once, I decided to look for said bill. If I’m going to write my Congressman about a bill, I damn sure better have the bill number so he knows what I’m talking about. No legislation regarding orphan works has been introduced into the 2008 congressional session.

Huh?

So I decided to do some more digging to see if Simon’s claims hold merit.

Before we go any further, let’s define some terms so we know what we’re talking about here.

Works become orphaned when the original creator or copyright owner cannot be located. Orphan works can be used by anyone.

Currently, copyright protection is automatic for any work authored in fixed tangible medium (paper, tape, computer, etc.). Basically as soon as I draw something on a piece of paper or computer, that work is protected. Registration with the copyright office is optional.

Mark Simon alleges that new legislation will now make registration mandatory. But in a statement before the Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property, Register of Copyrights Marybeth Peters stated that:

In our study of the orphan works problem, the Office reviewed various suggestions from the copyright community. These included creating a new exception in Title 17, creating a government-managed compulsory license, and instituting a ceiling on available damages. We rejected all of these proposals in part for the same reasons: we did not wish to unduly prejudice the legitimate rights of a copyright owner by depriving him of the ability to assert infringement or hinder his ability to collect an award that reflects the true value of his work. We also rejected proposals that would have limited the benefit of orphan works legislation to certain categories of works or uses. Both commercial and noncommercial users made compelling cases; moreover, these parties often collaborate on projects and both need the benefit of the law. Likewise, we concluded that there were significant problems with respect to all categories of works: published, unpublished, foreign and U.S. works.

The Subcommittee did propose legislation in 2006 that would force users to document their searches for original copyright owners to prove a work’s orphan status:

On March 8, 2006, this Subcommittee held an oversight hearing on our Report, followed by a similar hearing in the Senate on April 6, 2006. On May 22, 2006, “The Orphan Works Act of 2006” was introduced in the House by former Chairman Lamar Smith. The bill included revisions to the Copyright Office’s original proposal and incorporated a number of changes that were designed to protect photographers and other visual artists in particular. These changes included a requirement that users document their searches, a definition of “reasonable compensation” (taken from the Office’s Report), and the availability of attorney’s fees under circumstances where a user fails to negotiate in good faith with an owner who has previously registered his work. That bill was later imbedded in H.R. 6052, “The Copyright Modernization Act of 2006.” The 109th Congress ended before the bill could be addressed.

The 2006 bill never made it out of committee. And no bill regarding orphaned works has since been introduced.

So now I’m confused. Not only does the Subcommittee not support mandatory registration, they also want to formalize the process by which people determine the orphan status of a work. Copyright is still automatic. And there’s no bill on the floor, in committee, or even in subcommittee. What the hell is Simon talking about?

There are others out on the interwebs who question Mark Simon’s incendiary article. Meredith Patterson outlines six misconceptions about orphan works. Kynn Bartlett investigates Mark Simon’s background and tries to figure out what Simon is talking about. And here’s Marybeth Peters’s full written statement in front of the Subcommittee as well as a link to the U.S. Copyright Office’s previous finding on Orphan Works. And thank you to the readers who brought all this mess to my attention.

Have no fear internets. As far as I can tell, our copyrights are safe!

For now…

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In light of the recent Superman ruling and now this Stormtrooper mess, reader D-W sends news that the United States Patent and Trademark Office is hosting a National Trademark Expo today through Saturday in Alexandria, VA.

Trademark isn’t the most exciting thing in the world to discuss so anything that can help explain trademark law in plain English is certainly welcome. From the site:

The Expo will feature exciting, interactive exhibits that illustrate the many kinds of trademarks—sound, configuration, color, motion and scent; the history and evolution of trademarks; and appearances by famous trademarked characters including the Pillsbury Doughboy, M & M Candy, Smokey Bear and Sprout. Companies exhibiting at the Expo include Microsoft®, Burberry®, NASCAR®, UPS® and Owens Corning®, and many others.

Trademarks are also important to small businesses, and they will be represented at the Expo by Starmaker Products®–a California-based cosmetic company founded by Anson Williams, who played “Potsie” on the popular 1970s TV series Happy Days. Williams will explain the importance of registered federal trademarks to his company, and will sign autographs.

Ayeeeee! Potsie! Cause when I think trademark, oh yeah, I think Happy Days!

Thanks for the tip D-W!

[Via United States Patent and Trademark Office]

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Skynet has been watching your movies and your chronicles and has learned from its mistakes. It’s closed up shop and moved to Japan where it plans to take over 3.5 million jobs by 2025. Japanese thinktank Machine Industry Foundation says that robots could stave off worker shortages as the population shrinks. Thinktank indeed. More like Skynet front!

A report by the foundation finds that Japan could save 2.1 trillion yen ($21 billion USD) of elderly insurance payments using robots to monitor their health. Robots can do menial work which could free people to spend time on other things like getting soft and complacent making it easier for Skynet to take over! I see through your plot Machine Industry Foundation!

Hopefully, Furuta-san will have built an army of Gundam by then to defend Japan against Skynet.

[Via Reuters]

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