Ireland's SOPA proposal that you can't actually vote on

Just found out today that the motherland has gone the way of American senators, bowing down to pressure from the EU and international corporations in regard to intellectual property rights and all that jazz. Infuriating.

You can sign the petition online here http://stopsopaireland.com/

I've also written a long email to the ministers and am currently firing copies to everyone associated with Limerick (yes, I got a bit carried away with the letter...sigh). Do the same for your own county and let's get this thing under control!

This image sums up one of the associated issues of this entire fiasco:

Bye bye, democracy, it was nice knowing you, even if you were broken.

Kellogs - away with the birds

Multi-million-dollar, international corporation, Kellogs (of cereal fame) have decided to take to the courts over their bird, Toucan Sam:.
Kellogs claim, in their copyright suit, that a non-profit company based in California is ripping off their logo. That non-profit is the Maya Archaeology Initiative, whose sole purpose is to defend Mayan culture. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but the two birds do not look the same. Both abstracted in their own way, they differ immensely in style, one cartoon, one stylistically Mayan, with a Mayan pyramid in the background for emphasis. Featuring different colours, proportions, and context, the mind boggles as to how and why Kellogs think they will win. Copyright infringement is taken very seriously by big multinationals and rightly so. Confusing customers can lead to lost profits, but in this case, Kellogs is out of their mind. The two logos' only similarity is their basis on the Toucan. Does that mean that Kellogs owns the image rights to the Toucan.... will they start suing other companies...?

Call me biased

No, wait, Guinness is also a mega multinational, no chance of them not using the Toucan. So instead Kellogs goes after the little guy, the one that is not out to make millions but preserve the cultural legacy of the Mayan people. In any case, the two logos don't even operate in the same industries, so how would a customer get confused? Why would the non-profits use of the logo detract from Kellogs' area of operations?

The simple answer is Kellogs has made a major PR blunder while the Maya Archaeology Initiative will hopefully have gained some much needed free press.


 Read more here and here. Also, http://mayaarchaeology.org/

An archaeology of images

I used to work in patents and got to see a whole range of crazy and exciting inventions. Out of curiosity I recently checked out google's "What do you love?" (www.wdyl.com) and searched for archaeology. For some reason I was surprised when I saw patents for archaeology pop up - so I clicked, not really knowing what to expect.

One of the first patents I saw was "Systems and Methods for Image Archaeology". The idea is that images are utilised and altered all the time so how do we find the source material - what is the archaeology of the edited or remixed images? It's not ground-based archaeology, but an archaeology that reflects our digital-orientated culture. In essence, it is a visual archaeology of the internet, which is both fascinating and questionable. I love the idea, yet I am curious about how it will be used, especially since it will (if the patent passes) become exclusive intellectual property for up to 20 years.

Side note: The person who wrote up the patent decided to include some images as a means of explanation (because patents love detailed lawyer jargon, images can help clarify things quickly). They focused on the political, including Bin Laden and George W. Bush with his mouth covered up - whoever drafted the patent probably has a sense of humour.