August « 2005 « Australian Technology and IP Business

August 12, 2005

Google Earth map apps

Google Earth has achieved amazing word of mouth in such a short time- from school kids to local radio to developers adding applications to it!

Blawg Review has added a great twist by inviting blog visitors to mark themselves on a Blawg Review Guest Map which is based on Google Map.

Blawg Review is the home for a weekly round up of law related blogs, usually US based but always interesting. However they seem to have an obsession about baseball! I wonder if they could do a world version based on cricket, starting with the Ashes!

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Posted 12th August 2005 by David Jacobson in Web/Tech

August 11, 2005

Nanotechnology

JOLT, the UCLA Journal of Law and Technology has published Current Intellectual Property Issues in Nanotechnology (via BizzBangBuzz).

Whilst the article discusses the USA’s 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act, it also identifies the principal IP issues affecting nanotechnology.

A key quote:

"Some day, when nanotechnology assemblers can manufacture nearly any object on-site using inexpensive materials, intellectual property may become the only valuable property right. The
blueprints for constructing such objects will also likely be of considerable value. Although to date intellectual property rights in nanotechnology has focused on patents and trade secrets, in the future
intellectual property in software and designs are likely to become far more valuable. Additional copyright issues may arise around the creation of exact molecular replicants of works of art or artifacts. What are the implications of exact atomic copies of the Mona Lisa in every home? How would people recognize original art? Eventually, copyright law may supplant patent law in regards to nanotechnology products."

Nanotechnology in Australia

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Posted 11th August 2005 by David Jacobson in Legal

Internet Law

Kim Weatherall from the University of Melbourne has published her Internet Law Subject Page for the course that she lectures.

It includes a range of teaching and assessment materials (restricted access) as well as resources for:

Things have changed since I went to Uni!

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Posted 11th August 2005 by David Jacobson in Legal

August 7, 2005

Is whistleblowing a breach of confidentiality?: Cisco’s router

When Michael Lynn, a former research analyst with Internet Security Systems ,
quit his job at ISS before disclosing a flaw in Cisco’s router operating system (used worldwide) at Black Hat Briefings, a conference for computer security professionals, he put himself in the middle of a complex legal case.

An Insider’s View of Ciscogate by Lynn’s lawyer (via Rob Hyndman) gives an impressionistic and very personal account of what happens when a major company like Cisco gets upset and issues civil legal proceedings with possible criminal consequences.

What did Cisco claim?

"First, ISS was claiming copyright in the presentation that Mike had given on Wednesday morning. Second, Cisco was claiming copyright in the decompiled machine code that Mike obtained from the Cisco binaries and had included in his slides. And finally, Cisco was claiming trade secret in the information Mike had obtained by decompiling and studying Cisco source code. The complaint (.pdf) also alleged that Mike had breached his nondisclosure agreement with ISS."

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Posted 7th August 2005 by David Jacobson in Legal, Web/Tech

August 6, 2005

Email attachment size limits

Recently a client wanted to send me a 12mb package. Whilst I have a 30mb inbox (which I still need to clean out and increase regularly), his outbox wasn’t big enough to let it go.

As it wasn’t urgent he ended up sending me a CD.

Alternatives? You could use Gmail ( free with 2gb plus accounts, but this requires each party to have an account) or YouSendIt (which is a free temporary 3rd party storage site of files up to 1gb where you upload and the receiver downloads) (tip from Jim Calloway).

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Posted 6th August 2005 by David Jacobson in Web/Tech