| Ask the Lawyer: Trademark disputes and stopping spammers
Lawyers Simon Briskman, Sarah Wright and Lise-Anne Dunn from London-based firm Olswang answer your questions on trademark infringement in search meta tags and how to deal with a spammer who's stealing the name of a small business. If you have questions related to IT or business for the laywers, email editorial@silicon.com. Q: 'BIW' is a registered trademark of BIW Technologies Ltd, certificate number 001769926, registered in all countries of European Community. One of our UK competitors is using 'BIW' as a keyword to prompt the appearance of its 'sponsored link' (i.e. an advert) on Google Adwords. When we objected, the competitor claimed it is not breaching the trademark as it is not using BIW in its advert and cites an American court case involving an insurance company Geico (though I cannot see how a US case is necessarily relevant to the UK/EC situation).
Councilman MikeK Recalls Knievel Action Figure
Top: Young MikeK playing with Evel Knievel action figure; bottom: MikeK receives inspiration from his childhood friends before leaving for a Coeur d'Alene City Council meeting. I had a classic Evel Knievel motorcycle riding action figure when I was a kid. The stunts my brothers and I would stage for that motorcycle toy were legendary (riding out a second story window, chasing the dog around the house without getting chewed to ribbons, you name it). RIP Evel. I wonder what happened to Steve Austin, the Six Million Dollar Man who played the role of Evel's arch-nemesis in the boyhood action figure wars?/Councilman MikeK. Question: What was your favorite action figure/doll when you were little? .
Dr. Phil chimes in on Britney - Huzzah!
He sounds like he is still spinning about when he talked to BritBrit last time. And for fuck's sake Phil, with your cash you could get more realistic chompers. It looks like you have wooden teeth and chase Moby Dick (Brit, the great white whale). That's right, I just called Dr. Pheel MaGroin George Washington. Bill & Ted's forever. Why the fuck not, channel flipping got me American Gladiators and Knight Rider previews, net surfing got me an A-Team movie and New Kids on the Block concert news. It's fucking 1985 all over again. .
Spy Satellite Spots Lost Mayan Cities
A team of archaeologists announced on Monday that they unearthed a 5,500-year-old ceremonial plaza in Casma, 229 miles north of Lima, Peru. Carbon dating shows that the plaza, found under another piece of architecture at the ruins of Sechin Bajo, above, is one of the oldest structures ever found in the Americas. .
Boll takes some luster off world table tennis champs
GUANGZHOU, China, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Like living legend Jan-Ove Waldner, Timo Boll is always a crowd puller in table tennis-crazy China. The 26-year-old Boll has opted out of the world team table tennis championships which opens on Saturday, to rest an injured knee before cracking a shot at this summer's Beijing Olympics. "China regards Germany as its top rival in the men's team competition, but without Boll, Germany is not the same team," said Chinese Table Tennis Association's media chief Zhao Weizhen. "My patella tendon is inflamed and my knee needs a rest," Boll said in a statement released by the International Table Tennis Federation. "It is senseless to play there not fully fit and with permanent aches," the triple European champion said of the tournament in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou.
Fayette to destroy 1,084 cases of recalled beef
Fayette County schools will dispose of fiesta mac and cheese and meat loaf products as part of the nationwide beef recall. Michelle Coker, director of the district's child nutrition program, said the products from California-based Culinary Standards were placed on administrative hold Jan. 30. The district is storing 84 cases of recalled beef products at the schools, and 1,000 more cases are being held at a Lexington warehouse. The food was served at schools in mid-January before the hold, but no illnesses have been reported, Coker said. The U.S. Department of Agriculture issued a recall Sunday of 143 million pounds of beef from a Southern California slaughterhouse, Westland/Hallmark, that is under investigation for animal abuse. Federal officials estimate that 37 million pounds of the recalled beef went to school programs.
Adrian Grenier Finally Settles His Shaving Strike
Breaking news — Adrian Grenier finally shaved his icky beard! He was looking much cuter making his way around LA with his backpack yesterday. Sure, he's still got five o'clock shadow, but we're just happy to be able to actually see his smile again. Now, is it too much to ask for him to take a pair of scissors to that mop on his head? Because that would probably bring him back up to Manjoyment status. To see more of Adrian just read more .
The bride wore kumquat orange
Regina Polsky and Jerry Witts met seven years ago at a jewelry shop in St. Petersburg. Jerry is fond of antique watches and would bring them in to be fixed. Regina worked at the shop and, as Jerry says, as soon as she smiled at him, he knew this was it. They started dating and then moved in together. Both are in their 50s and had been married before. But, somehow, after decades of the highs and lows of relationships, neither were burned out on the idea of finding a permanent love. "I knew deep down in my heart that I would meet someone special," Regina said, and when met with skeptical looks that she never went through the "I'm done with relationships phase," she said it again. "You can't give up on that. You just can't." Regina and Jerry have that tanned, healthy look of people who have worked hard their entire lives and now can relax a bit and enjoy life.
No Cow Left Behind
USDA inspectors were at the Westland plant twice a day and saw nothing amiss, which is to say that these abuses simply constitute business as usual in America's abattoirs. But is this kind of institutionalized cruelty acceptable in our culture? Our pal Bonnie Powell over at the Ethicurean doesn't think so: As the massive outcry in response to the Humane Society's expose of a California beef-processing plant shows, Americans are extremely sensitive to the mistreatment of animals — even those we intend to eat. It would be nice if we showed we cared even half as much about the human-rights abuses that are epidemic in our cheap-food system. At least the animals have got the Humane Society working on their behalf to shame the USDA into action; if only the workers who are getting chewed up and spit out by the factory farms had an equally effective, well-funded watchdog looking out for them.
Science Solar Cell Makes Hydrogen Via Synthetic Photosynthesis
A new research study has created a synthetic photosynthetic complex which has a net efficiency of 0.3 percent Photosynthesis is the fundamental energy capture process which forms the foundation of all life on Earth. On a most basic level, it involves using sunlight to split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen and then using the hydrogen captured to fuel sugar production. With hydrogen becoming more popular as a possible alternative fuel source, many researchers have yearned to duplicate this most basic of natural processes to allow for cheap, efficient hydrogen production. They had little success -- until now. In the past, natural and synthetic dye molecules which tried to split hydrogen and water were consumed during the reactions and did not provide a sustained reaction. Worse yet, the chemical reactions were often from a net perspective endothermic; in other words they required energy instead of producing it. Part of this is because of the ease with which oxygen and hydrogen recombine, and the fact that most of these investigated catalysts also catalyze the recombination, destroying your products.
Stepson's missive hits a sour note
King) and contemporary titans (Justin Timberlake, Three 6 Mafia), as well as nonperformers who have influenced Memphis and Southern music (deejay George Klein, Ardent Studios, former Gov. Lamar Alexander). It was presented Friday to Tigrett's stepmother, Pat Kerr Tigrett, and his half-brother, Kerr Tigrett. "Hearing about it," says Isaac Tigrett, "got me very confused, then very angry." Neither the organizers nor his family had contacted him or sought his permission, he says. The Brass Note was the final straw in what's been an increasingly strained relationship between him and Pat Kerr Tigrett, organizer of the annual Blues Ball and Jingle Bell Ball and an internationally known fashion designer. (Isaac attended her 25th anniversary fashion show in 2005 and said at the time: "My father would have been proud; I cried through the whole thing.
They're not real followers of Christ
People have more love for the act of sex than they do for the result. Children have become disposable if they no longer fit into our desires. Our society is self-centered and not child-centered. Christ would be appalled.Finally, war is not an act of a follower of Christ. How can a person claim to follow Christ and not love his enemies? How can a person claim to follow Christ and not turn the other cheek? How can a person claim to follow Christ and not realize that this life is forfeitable while the next is not?Christ laid down rules of behavior. They are not the Hebrew rules. They are the rules as outlined by the commandments. They have as a center, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." It does not say other Christians or humans or heterosexuals or whatever class you place yourself in.
Growing Up to Prozac: Drug makes new neurons mature faster
Peter Pan won't be pleased to hear the latest theory about how Prozac works. A new study shows that the antidepressant stimulates growth of neurons in the hippocampus and speeds the young brain cells toward maturity. The maturation process could be the mechanism by which the drug relieves depression. Fluoxetine, the drug commonly known as Prozac, has been used to treat depression since the 1980s. Prozac and other SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) block the ability of the neurons to take up serotonin, thereby raising levels of the active neurotransmitter in the brain. When people with depression begin taking such drugs, serotonin levels in the brain increase rapidly, but it often takes 2 to 4 weeks before they begin to feel better. The new study, published Feb. 6 in the Journal of Neuroscience, suggests that the lag is due to the time it takes for serotonin to stimulate new neurons to grow, mature, and integrate into brain circuits.
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