Category: News

[JURIST] The Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website] on Wednesday affirmed the acquittal [judgment, PDF] of former Macedonian interior minister Ljube Boskoski [case materials], while upholding the sentence imposed against Macedonian police officer Johan Tarculovski for alleged war crimes. In 2008, Boskoski was found not guilty [JURIST report] of neglecting his responsibility as a superior to punish subordinates who committed crimes during and after a 2001 police raid against ethnic Albanians in the the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). Tarculovski, a former police officer in FYROM, was convicted of war crimes for having ordered, planned, and instigated crimes committed against ethnic Albanians during the raid. The Appeals Chamber held that the Trial Chamber was correct in its findings of fact and law against Tarculovski, proving beyond a reasonable doubt that his police force knew or should have known that the victims were taking not active part in the hostilities and that the prominent objective of the raid was to indiscriminately attack ethnic Albanians and their property. Tarculovski will remain in the Tribunal’s Detention Unit pending finalization of arrangements for his transfer to the country where he will serve the rest of his 12-year sentence.

Boskoski and Tarculovski are the only Macedonians to be indicted by the ICTY. The two men jointly went on trial [JURIST report] in 2007 after being charged [amended indictment, PDF; case backgrounder, PDF] with murdering seven ethnic Albanian civilians in the village of Ljuboten [HRW backgrounder] during a 2001 conflict between local ethnic Albanian guerrillas and Macedonian government security forces. Tarculovski was accused of directing the attack on the village and Boskovski was accused of having command and control over the armed forces at the time of the alleged massacre. The two men surrendered [JURIST report] to the ICTY in 2005 after being charged with war crimes. Boskovski has also been in prison for charges relating to the murder of seven immigrants while he was the interior minister in 2002.

The University of Minnesota (U-MN) has built a center solely devoted to furthering research in the medical device industry. The Medical Devices Center combines brainstorming, development, and testing to turn basic research into medical devices. One goal is to create patentable devices from research that originated at U-MN, says Arthur Erdman, Richard C. Jordan professor of mechanical engineering and director of the center. The facility’s 11 rooms contain the equipment necessary to keep the process under one roof. After brainstorming how to develop a device, a prototype is built, ensuring that everyone involved in its development is on the same page. “Usually the inventor has one idea, but the engineer may be thinking something different,” Erdman points out. A three-dimensional prototype then can be tested at the center. Although testing usually leads to more failure than success, the process conducted at the center takes just a few days. “Everyone stays engaged and excited because [they] are not just waiting,” Erdman says.

Almost all of the material, including catheters, needles and even commercial medical devices, is donated from medical device companies. Undergraduates, graduates, and fellows at the center have access to these materials at their convenience, according to lab supervisor Lucas Harder. Students often dismantle devices worth several thousand dollars just to learn about them. This contributes to the center’s other emphasis, which is to teach students about the medical devices in a practical way. Once the group has acquired knowledge about devices, they observe surgeries and identify new needs for medical devices. “In order to be successful, everything has to be designed with the end user in mind,” says Karl Vollmers, PhD, senior innovation fellow at the center. So far the program, which is in its second year, has produced 20 medical device patents.

Source:  mndaily.com

On E2, an environmental coalition asks the White House to step up its support for clean energy and climate legislation. Here is an excerpt:

“Mr. President, we ask you to urgently convene all stakeholders and lead the effort to craft a comprehensive clean energy and climate policy that will be enacted this year and will move America toward energy independence built on clean American power.” The coalition includes the World Wildlife Fund, the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Pew Environment Group and others.

On Grist, Scott Luthcke, a NASA climate scientist, explains how he has spent the last 6 years weighing Greenland. And she has been losing a lot of weight – an average of 183 gigatons, per year, for the last six years – due to ice melt.

Dave Roberts of Grist makes the case for supporting the American Power Act.

“So is it worth doing? Is the bill worth fighting for with the kind of passion that was brought to health care or even the presidential election? I believe the answer to that question is an absolute, unqualified, overwhelming yes. However flawed and inadequate, Kerry's bill would represent a sea change in American life. It would lend desperately needed momentum to the global fight against climate change. Failure would be a tragedy and passage a huge, vital victory.”

Grist also tackles the pressing issue of how the American Power Act will affect farmers.

“Last year, the Environmental Protection Agency predicted that such a program could provide annual net benefits to farmers as high as $18 billion — an amount that could fundamentally change the way America farms.”

On Green we learn that the United Nations has chosen a new head of the climate secretariat: Christina Figueres of Costa Rica.

Climate Progress highlights new NASA data showing that 2010 has had the hottest January to April temperatures on record. A new NOAA report with similar findings is highlighted here on E2.

Ezra Klein explains the implications of the proposal currently being discussed in the Senate which would limit EPA’s ability to regulate carbon.

“Murkowski's bill would disagree with the EPA's finding that carbon is a danger and needs to be regulated.”

A rich source of royalty rate data has gotten richer. ktMINE — an online, interactive IP database that allows you to quickly find true market comparables and deal term benchmarks from its stockpile of license agreements — recently passed the 7,000 mark in documents.

Before an agreement is added to the database, ktMINE analysts review each using a 30+ checkpoint process. During the review process, analysts perform additional research to account for and identify any discrepancies or gaps within agreements. This consistent procedure ensures that all key licensing terms are accurately captured and categorized. The database can be searched quickly and easily to find the right benchmarks for your technology, and results include not only access to the non-redacted documents, but also agreement summaries that list key licensing terms and agreement details, along with charts and tables that quickly reveal big picture context and trends for an entire set of agreements. Complete access to the database is available in cost-effective 2-day and 5-day passes. For details, CLICK HERE.

The University of Michigan (UM) is shifting into high gear the transformation of its North Campus Research Complex (NCRC) into the central hub of the university’s research and commercialization activities. The goal is to double UM’s $1 billion in annual research spending in 10 years and increase the number of start-ups and for-profit jobs created by commercializing university-developed technologies. Speaking to a group of VCs and entrepreneurs at the Michigan Growth Capital Symposium in Ypsilanti, Ora Hirsch Pescovitz, MD, CEO of the University of Michigan Health System, said the university will need about $200 million over the next three years to recruit faculty researchers, finance multidisciplinary research projects, and reopen shuttered lab space at the NCRC, which is the former home of Pfizer’s R&D center. The university acquired the property last summer for about $108 million. The site occupies 174 acres, including 29 acres of vacant land and about two million square feet of office and lab space.

Near-term plans include moving UM’s Office of Technology Transfer, Business Engagement Center, and recently formed Michigan Venture Center to the NCRC from leased space. Ken Nisbet, executive director of UM’s TTO, says the university plans to transform the NCRC into the central hub for the university’s private sector, tech transfer, spinoff, and venture activities. He hopes to complete the transition of the venture center into the NCRC within a year. Preliminary plans are to secure about 10,000 square feet within the former Pfizer facility to include a larger-scale business accelerator. The proposed accelerator would expand the school’s relationship with the venture community by housing entrepreneurs, VCs, angel investors, mentors-in-residence, and others involved with the creation of start-ups based on technologies developed at the university, Nisbet says.

Source: Crain’s Detroit Business

A woman in Albany, NY was gardening in her front yard and uncovered a white plastic bag filled with rocks. Then she found more, over a dozen in all, which turned out to have been placed there by Verizon workers who had removed an old utility pole last month and had run out of sand.

A Verizon spokesman told the Times Union paper that the crew should have emptied the stones from the bags first, and probably shouldn’t have used them at all unless the ground was very wet. Another Verizon rep came out to the property and emptied the bags himself, then said he’d send out a crew to properly fill the hole and repair the damaged lawn.

“No stone unturned in the case of buried bags” [Times Union]

The recent district court ruling in the Myriad Genetics case, holding that because genes are found in nature the company’s key patents covering “isolated DNA” are invalid, is just the latest major test of what is and is not patentable — and that definition appears to be shifting but not settling. Though many experts predict the Myriad ruling will not survive the next round of appeal, when combined with several other recent cases on patentability, some in the technology transfer arena see the patent system continuing a steady trend toward weaker and narrower protection. Given a growing number of cases like Myriad, Bilski, KSR and others, they advise TTOs not to over-react, but to adjust their strategies accordingly as the dust continues to settle, particularly in the quality and breadth of patent claims.

“I generally don’t take a single district court ruling as an impending landslide,” says Jim Baker, PhD, director of technology and economic development at Michigan Technological University, Houghton. “And there appears to be ample room in the Myriad decision for contrary opinions from higher courts. So it won’t have any substantive impact — except to Myriad, of course — until the appeals are over.” If the lower court ruling stands, he adds, gene-based treatments and diagnostic tests will still likely be patentable, as long as they fit within the confines of method patents as ultimately

defined by the Bilski case. “While the genes may or may not be patentable all by themselves, methods involving genes that satisfy post-Bilski criteria will remain patentable.”

Still, the trend toward stricter interpretation of patentability is undeniable, Baker says. “This decision, if upheld, combined with what seems to be expected out of Bilski and what came out of KSR v. Teleflex, does present an arguable erosion of the extent of subject matter available for patenting.” That said, though, he emphasizes that the current

shift should be viewed in the context of swings that have characterized patent law for decades. “Arguments and cases around the balance between a patent system that promotes innovation and one that inhibits innovation have been under way for a long time and will continue. It is too early to tell whether what appears to be the current trend is a good thing or a bad thing, and sound arguments can be made for both cases. There will be winners and losers regardless of where things wind up specifically, and the pendulum will likely swing again at some point,” Baker comments.

Lindsay Adams, IP attorney with New York City’s Day Pitney LLP, sees the pendulum swinging as well, but has a less sanguine view of the long-term impact. “There’s a paradigm shift taking place,” he says. “It’s going to be tougher getting patents going

forward. If you’re a TTO, it’s time to start thinking more about the quality of the patents you’re applying for than the quantity.” In addition to Myriad, Bilski, and KSR, he points to the federal circuit’s recent ruling in Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc. v. Eli Lilly, part of which addresses the distinction between basic research results and patentable subject matter. “It’s a game-changer, a shot across the bow,” he says. “There’s a quote in the slip opinion that TTOs should know about: ‘Patents are not awarded for academic theories, no matter how groundbreaking or necessary to later patentable inventions of others.’” Citing another case, Brenner v. Manson, the majority opinion noted that “[a] patent is not a hunting license. It is not a reward for the search, but compensation for a successful

conclusion.” That’s problematic for TTOs, Adams says, because it goes to the heart of a common campus scenario. “PIs want to patent their basic research,” he explains. “Now, though, you’ve got to have it fleshed out in much more detail or you won’t get a patent. That’s a scary one, and I doubt the Supreme Court will touch it, because it’s in line with its current thinking.” An in-depth article analyzing the Myriad case and its impact on TTO patent activity appears in the May issue of Technology Transfer Tactics. To start a subscription, including access to three years of archived articles, CLICK HERE.

Facebook seems to know they’ve stepped over a line—first came the internal privacy powows and second-guesses. Now Facebook’s public policy honcho says that the site will be introducing “simplistic” privacy choices. Oh good! Now what’s that mean, exactly? More »

O mais premiado Land Rover de todos os tempos acumulou, nesta semana, mais um troféu para sua coleção. A revista britânica Diesel Car Magazine elegeu o Discovery 4 como o Carro do Ano de 2010. Na final, que ficou em família, o modelo venceu os irmãos Freeander 2 e Range Rover Sport na categoria 4×4 do Ano.

Para Ian Robertson, editor da Diesel Car Magazine, “não vamos nos desculpar pelo fato de todos os finalistas desta categoria ser da Land Rover, já que os britânicos se reafirmaram com sua linha 2010 como a melhor já produzida pela marca“.”A linha Discovery sempre possuiu habilidades fora de estrada inquestionáveis, mas o atual Discovery 4 carrega também um desempenho no asfalto equivalente, com dirigibilidade boa, acabamento refinado e capacidade para transportar confortavelmente sete adultos, qualidades que poucos veículos reúnem”, completa Robertson.

O Discovery 4 prima pela ampla versatilidade e traz consigo a opção de um novíssimo motor 3.0 biturbo diesel TDV6. O propulsor é 9% mais econômico e 29% menos poluente em relação à versão 2.7.

No Brasil, a linha Discovery 4 está a venda com preço que parte de R$ 179.900

Fonte: Land Rover

Palm’s new AT&T Palm Pre Plus has not even been on the market for more than a week, and its already seeing large discounts via the usual online channels.

Amazon.com is now selling the AT&T flavored version of the Pre Plus for $49.99 after the usual 2 year service agreements and discounts. This represents a $100 discount from AT&T’s current sticker price and $49.98 more than the going rate on its domestic CDMA brethren.

The University of Washington’s Office of Technology Transfer has a new name: The University of Washington Center for Commercialization (UWC4C). “A name can imply a lot about a mission,” says Linden Rhoads, vice provost of UW Tech Transfer. “We hope the transition to the UW Center for Commercialization conveys a proactive, full-service group of commercialization experts committed to long-term relationships with UW researchers.” The UWC4C will strive “to help researchers engage with industry early — perhaps long before any intellectual property has been developed,” adds Fiona Wills, director of technology licensing, who leads the Center’s group of 15 technology managers. “We want to help researchers understand industry needs in their field of research.”

Over the course of 2009, UW Tech Transfer launched a number of new programs, creating a broad set of services to support the migration of technology from research labs to commercial endeavors. An entrepreneur-in-residence (EIR) program brought its first class of business executives to campus to provide faculty and researchers with expertise in assessing opportunities and applications for innovations. The Office also partnered with the Technology Alliance to launch an innovation showcase, which promoted technologies ready for commercialization to the angel and venture investment communities. A gap funding program already has helped two UW start-ups to win Small Business Innovation Research grants and other researchers to win commercialization grants. In addition, Rhoads created an IP management group, led by a former patent attorney, and hired patent agents so the office could work with researchers proactively to map out the IP landscape around their research.

LaunchPad Services, the department that had been led by Janis Machala, a long-time “mentor capitalist” in the region, also is changing its name to the UWC4C’s New Venture Group. The UWC4C is recruiting directors for the New Ventures Group who have expertise in starting biotech and IT/clean tech companies.

Source: University of Washington

By John F. Terzano

Last month, Frank Sterling was exonerated by DNA evidence after being incarcerated 18 years for a crime he did not commit. Sterling was wrongfully convicted of murdering an elderly woman in Rochester, New York in 1988. His conviction was based entirely on a false confession. In the meantime the actual killer remained free, and six years later he murdered four-year-old Kali Poulton. This tragedy leaves no question that addressing the flaws in our criminal justice system that lead to wrongful convictions is a public safety imperative.

Sterling confessed to the murder after a twelve-hour interrogation that followed his 36-hour truck driving shift. Almost immediately, he recanted his confession. Police focused on Sterling from the outset because of his brother’s troubled relationship with the victim years earlier. In doing so, they disregarded evidence that implicated another man, Mark Christie. Sterling had no prior criminal record; however, once the case was brought to trial the confession sealed a conviction. DNA testing later revealed that Christie was the true perpetrator.

While many find it hard to fathom, false confessions are a well-documented reality. Approximately 25 percent of the first 200 individuals exonerated by DNA evidence falsely confessed to crimes they did not commit. A confession can be the most powerful evidence at trial, and can overwhelm evidence pointing to the defendant’s innocence. Electronically recording interrogations provides access to a reviewable record that helps judges and jurors clearly evaluate a suspect’s statements and gives them the information they need to intelligently assess voluntariness and reliability.

Many police and prosecutors who work in jurisdictions that record interrogations have recognized that recording helps to both develop the strongest evidence and convict the guilty while protecting against false or coerced confessions which can lead investigators away from the true perpetrator. The Justice Project details the best practices for recording interrogations, and provides a comprehensive rationale for changes in procedure in the policy review Electronic Recording of Custodial Interrogations.

Hundreds of police departments around the country electronically record interrogations. Additionally, a growing list of states, including Alaska, Minnesota, New Jersey, North Carolina, New Mexico, Maine, Wisconsin and Illinois, have mandated electronic recording in order to strengthen the quality of evidence available for criminal prosecutions. Other states must join this growing list to help prevent wrongful convictions like Frank Sterling’s. Modernizing police work with readily available recording technology is the best way to ensure that a false confession will not shut down a police investigation while the true perpetrator remains at large.

Researchers at the University of Florida (UF) think they might have a solution to the seemingly intractable problem of monitoring prescription adherence: a “tattletale pill” that can alert physicians when it’s been swallowed. The system attaches a microchip and digestible antenna to a standard-size capsule. When the pill is swallowed, it communicates with a small electronic device carried by the patient. In turn, that device signals a cell phone or laptop, informing doctors or family members. The researchers say such a system could make clinical trials more efficient by alleviating the need to have researchers watch every participant take every pill. If trial subjects are noncompliant, “you can’t correlate the outcome of the study with the efficacy of the drug itself. So that requires additional time, excess patients, and tens of millions of dollars,” says Rizwan Bashirullah, PhD, UF assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, who helped develop the device. “If you can use this technology and improve compliance by a little bit, even a few percentage points, it could have an impact which eventually gets translated to the consumer and insurers.” The device also could be used in clinical practice to provide an accurate read on whether prescriptions are being filled and used — for example, by elderly patients or individuals with mental health conditions.

The researchers developed a way to print nontoxic, conductive silver lines on the outside of a capsule to serve as an antenna for the microchip embedded inside. Once swallowed, the microchip, via the antenna, sends its message that the pill has been taken. After breaking down, it leaves only a small byproduct of silver — less than what is present in tap water, according to Bashirullah. The pill has tested successfully on artificial models and cadavers, and UF has created a spinoff that hopes to take the device to market. Bashirullah expects the technology to be priced similar to that of radio frequency identification technology (RFID) tags, which can be purchased for as little as 25 cents. Bashirullah expects the system to go to market in about two years.

Source:  American Medical News

2010 marks Pininfarina’s 80th anniversary, and to celebrate, the design firm plans on building a special Alfa Romeo concept car for the 2010 Geneva motor show.

Given Pininfarina wants this concept to celebrate its past, present, and future, an Alfa Spider seems to be a natural choice.

Pininfarina has a long-standing relationship with Alfa Romeo, and was responsible for designing the firm’s legendary 1966 “Duetto” Spider.

Development of the two-seat spider was supervised by Lowie Vermeersch, also responsible for the Rolls-Royce Hyperion. Vermeersch, 35, started with the company in 1997 as an intern, rising to Design Director just ten years later.

Revealing the further design cues and body style of the Pininfarina’s Alfa Romeo spider, the designer views the new concept as the modern interpretation of the most famous car it produced for Alfa Romeo, the 1966 Duetto spider. It carries the original Duetto layout that includes front longitudinal engine and rear drive and is most likely to share its platform with the stunning 8C Spider. The design has been kept simple with thin front and rear lamps.

Photo source: carscoop.blogspot.com

Although Alfa Romeo has a new executive team now, Vermeersch is aware of Alfa’s history and the Duetto’s legacy.

A new Alfa Romeo Duetto would be a fantastic example to celebrate both company’s anniversaries.

Photo source: insideline.com

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Popular restaurant chain Panera Bread has long been interested in experimenting with smart new business models. It was one of the first restaurants out there to push free WiFi in all its locations — at a time when many thought fee-based WiFi was the future — noting how much it helped bring in more business for the food. A bunch of folks are now submitting the news that Panera is testing out a pay what you want model in one of its new restaurants. There are “recommended” prices — but you can pay more or less than those numbers. This seems to be a take on the trend that became popular last year of restaurants offering certain days or nights where you could get free meals, which some restaurants found actually resulted in much more revenue (along with more loyal customers).

While I’m intrigued with how this will work out, I’m not convinced it’s going to be a success (though I’d be pleasantly surprised to find out I’m wrong). The whole thing is actually set up separate from Panera, via a non-profit foundation, which Panera is supporting. The restaurant won’t use the Panera name, but St. Louis Bread Co. Cares, which apparently was the company’s original name. I would guess that many people will feel guilty enough to pay the list price, though some will obviously pay less. I doubt very many (if any) people will really pay much extra, which puts the operation in a tricky position. Since we’re talking about food and salaries, there are real scarcities to deal with in terms of expenses, so a “pay what you want” model seems like it would have difficulty scaling.

Still, as business models go, it’s one worth watching.

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We’ve permanently lowered the prices on a few Xbox Arcade games.

Each one has a free demo, why not give ‘em a try?

 

Braid is now 800 points (was 1200)

Cloning Clyde is now 400 points (was 800)

3 on 3 NHL Arcade is now 400 points (was 800)

Palm, Inc. today announced that the Palm Pre Plus and Palm Pixi Plus phones will be available in the UK on O2 from 28 May. They will be available from free, depending on tariff, in all O2 stores and online at www.o2.co.uk.

For developers, being able to make a bit of cash from your app after the user has downloaded it is wondrous — especially if the initial app download was free. Nothing like being able to, you know, pay rent, or eat.

While the iPhone has supported the idea of In-App purchase for a bit over a year now, Android has yet to adopt it.

A few third-parties have manually integrated their own payment system into their apps — but everyone reinventing the wheel for their own use is a bad idea. Not only is it a ton of leg work, but it puts the responsibility of handling the customer’s sensitive financial data in the laps of developers.

Enter Paypal.

Today, Paypal is announcing Mobile Payments Library for Android — which is exactly what it sounds like: a library for Android developers to use to integrate Paypal payments into their app. Customers get to make transactions without ever leaving the app, while developers get to accept payments without having to handle credit card info. And of course, Paypal gets their customary cut. Everyone wins.

Is it the best possible solution? Not really; it’s another third-party brought into the mix, requiring customers to have yet another account. With that said, it’s about as good as it gets until Google gets around to bringing proper In-App purchase support to the platform

You can find more information about the new library at Paypal’s freakishly-short-URL’d X.com

1. The American Power Act will help us research and develop innovative renewable energy sources here in America.

• The bill will unleash billions of dollars of private-sector investment in clean energy jobs and projects here in America. Jeff Immelt, Chairman and CEO of General Electric puts it best: “National policy – including an effective price on carbon and a strong, nationwide clean energy standard – is needed to drive increased investment, which in turn creates new technologies and jobs.”

2. The American Power Act was crafted with the intention of rising above partisan politics. This bill is not about choosing sides or playing favorites, is it about finding real solutions to our climate and energy problems and laying the foundation for an international climate treaty.

• Darren Samuelsohn, a top climate and energy reporter, reiterates why a US vote is necessary to get international talks flowing in his aptly titled article “World waiting for U.S. Congress to Pass Climate Bill”

3. The American Power Act will help America become the world leader in clean energy investment and technology, a title currently held by China.

• According to Information Technology and Innovation Foundation “Asia’s rising “clean technology tigers” – China, Japan, and South Korea – have already passed the United States in the production of virtually all clean energy technologies, and over the next five years, the governments of these nations will out-invest the United States three-to-one in these sectors."

4. The American Power Act is good for American manufacturers. The balanced energy strategy that includes development of alternative energy such as wind and solar as well as investment in new domestic energy sources will create jobs in clean technology manufacturing.

• The bill includes a $5 billion expansion of the clean energy manufacturing tax credit.

5. The America Power Act will create jobs, at least twice as many as an energy-only bill.

• According to Senator Bingaman’s office, an energy-only bill without a cap on carbon would only create 425,000 new jobs. The Department of Economics and Political Economy Research Institute estimated that a climate and clean energy bill will create at least three times that many.

6. The American Power Act will cut carbon pollution 17% by 2020 and 80% by 2050.

• These targets, on par with those in the House bill, will set us on the path toward reversing the damaging environmental effects of climate change.

7. The American Power Act will cut our dependence on foreign oil and help us break the cycle of sending a billion dollars a day to countries that hate us.

• Included in the bill are significant tax incentives for conversion of trucks to natural gas vehicles.
• There is $7 billion annually earmarked for improving transportation efficiencies and mass transit systems.

8. The American Power Act is good for business. It will create predictability in the market, spurring clean energy investment and job creation.

• The APA sets a hard price collar of $12 to $25 for carbon. The tight $13 range is a vast improvement over the $18 range suggested in the House bill. A smaller range limits wild price fluctuations and leads to higher investor confidence levels.

9. The American Power Act will protect Americans, especially low-income Americans, by ensuring that energy costs stay under control and that revenues collected from utilities under a carbon cap will be rebated to consumers.

• In fact, over 82% of the allowance value will be rebated to consumers or used for public services.

10. The American Power Act will help domestic agriculture and forestry by providing farmers, ranchers and forest owners with opportunities for new revenue streams in the off-set market.

• USDA will have authority over the domestic offset program which will ensure wide-spread participation and that benefits are shared across the industry.