Jennifer Urban and Jason Schultz Develop Defensive Patent License

Network World, Open Source Subnet Blog, May 7, 2010 by Julie Bort
http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/60939

Without patents of their own, FOSS developers have limited their defense against patent bullies, those seeking to stop innovation by filing patent infringement suits…. But when a company has its own patents, “there are interesting ways to defend against patent litigation, especially defensive patents and cross licensing,” says Urban.

So if the DPL technically isn’t a pool, what is it? “A distributed network of patent owners” who grant a standardized license to those in the network “that commit their patents to 100% defensive purposes,” Schultz adds.

Jesse Choper Predicts Judge Crabb’s Ruling against Prayer Day Will Be Overturned

San Francisco Chronicle, May 6, 2010 by Bob Egelko
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/05/06/MNOM1D9VPG.DTL

Crabb ruled correctly, “if you take seriously the proposition that any government action that is taken solely to aid religion is unconstitutional,” said Jesse Choper, a UC Berkeley law professor and self-described moderate. But he predicted an appeals court would overturn the decision based on national tradition.

Christopher Edley Laments Cuts to Public Education

Black Voice News, May 6, 2010 by Chris Levister
http://blackvoicenews.com/news/44381-uc-african-black-coalition-honors-gains-tackles-setbacks.html

“If I could repeal one ballot measure,” he says, “it would be Proposition 13,” the 1978 property- tax initiative that slashed revenues for the state’s public schools. Even if Prop. 209 were overturned, he explains, “we would still have enormous diversity challenges because the K-12 system is so broken.”

Steven Weissman Analyzes Proposition 16 and Finds Fault

-E&E News, May 5, 2010 by Debra Kahn
http://www.eenews.net/eenewspm/2010/05/05/6/

“Proposition 16, itself, is an example of a dominant special interest group opposing public power,” Weissman writes. “It is sponsored and heavily underwritten by a utility that is aggressive in opposing the creation of new munis and CCAs [community choice aggregators], as well as opposing the expansion of existing munis. Voters may want to consider whether it is more likely that future public power initiatives will face dominant proponents or dominant opponents.”

-KPFA-FM, The Pacifica Evening News, May 7, 2010 by Rachel Zurer
http://www.kpfa.org/archive/id/60877

“The question is who’s really going to provide renewable power? If passing Prop. 16 makes it that much less likely that local governments can step in and do it, than we may be dependent on the utilities’ own sense of good will to provide more renewable power than the law requires. And that’s a tough bet.”

-Bloomberg Businessweek, May 12, 2010 by Jason Dearen
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9FL9HF80.htm

“Just over 100 years ago, our government granted local officials the right to form public utilities as a check on potential price gouging by power monopolies,” said Steven Weissman, co-author of Berkeley’s analysis and associate director of the university’s Center for Law, Energy and the Environment, which conducted the study. “Prop. 16 throws that check out the window.”

Jason Schultz Theorizes about Possible Antitrust Investigation of Apple

CNET News, May 5, 2010 by Erica Ogg
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31021_3-20004138-260.html

“It is the attempt to use power in one market—smartphone/tablet applications—to control other software markets, much like Microsoft used its power in the operating system and office software markets to try to control the browser market,” according to Schultz. “Just as OEMs would have been foolish to refuse to do business with Microsoft, most smartphone/tablet application makers would be foolish to refuse to do business with Apple if they hope to survive. Thus, this could be a basis for FTC/DOJ inquiry.”

Stephen Rosenbaum Approves UC Decision to Drop Charges against Students

The New York Times, Bay Area Blog, May 5, 2010 by Rachel Gross
http://bayarea.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/05/u-c-berkeley-drops-charges-against-some-students/

“I would rather” that the resolution “happened sooner, and we need to continue to be vigilant,” said Steve Rosenbaum, Ms. Miller’s lawyer and a lecturer at Boalt Hall School of Law at Berkeley who has been advising many of the student activists. “But it is definitely good news.”

Stanley Lubman Thinks People’s Congresses Are Gaining Influence in China

The Wall Street Journal, China Real Time Report, May 5, 2010 by Stanley Lubman
http://bit.ly/d91io0

What should interested foreign readers make of these analyses? At the moment, only an awareness that beneath the labels that foreigners often affix to Chinese governmental institutions, such as the LPCs, the roles of the LPCs in making policy and increasing transparency are expanding because of the growing complexity of Chinese society and the economy. That shift shouldn’t be overlooked.

Aarti Kohli Says “Secure Communities” Immigration Program a Failure

KALW-FM Crosscurrents, May 5, 2010 by Jude Joffe-Block
http://bit.ly/bBmBdZ

“We feel like these programs are having an impact on policing. And immigrant communities as a result are becoming increasingly distrustful of police, and that is not a good phenomenon in terms of creating a safer community for everyone. If an immigrant is not willing to be a witness because they are afraid to interact with police, that doesn’t create a safer community.”

Holly Doremus Criticizes Minerals Management Service

-The Washington Post, May 5, 2010 by Juliet Eilperin
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/04/AR2010050404118.html?hpid=topnews

“They never did an analysis that took into account what turns out to be the very real possibility of a serious spill,” said Holly Doremus, a law professor at the University of California at Berkeley who has reviewed the documents.

-American Public Media, Marketplace, May 11, 2010 by Brett Neely
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/05/11/pm-offshore-oil-regulations/

The big question is whether splitting MMS apart will be enough. “I’m skeptical that will solve the problem….You need to get people from a different orientation to start with, or you need some serious leadership from the top.”