Incredible Books from '40-'50's, part 3 of 3

Innocent, professionally written, non-globalist and classic reading from the cozy 1950's SCIENCE IN OUR LIVES Ritchie Calder. An exciting, factual story of the beginning and development of modern science, the relationship between its special fields -astronomy, chemistry, physics, biology -and its impact upon our daily lives. THE HANDY BOOK OF GARDENING Albert Ii. Wilkinson and Victor A. Tiedjens. New edition of the famous book on how to grow flowers and vegetables, fruits and house plants, care for lawns, and do landscaping. Comprehensive, illustrated. FLOWER ARRANGEMENTS Anyone Can Do Anywhere Matilda Rogers. Enjoy a fascinating new hobby which develops your creative talents and beautifies your home. A practical course in flower arranging, with 100 illustrations. LIVES OF DESTINY As Told For The Reader's Digest Donald Culross Peattie. Inspiring life stories of 24 men who overcame enormous obstacles to achieve a place among the world's great figures: Franklin, Voltaire, Marco Polo, Mozart,da Vinci, Darwin, and other patriots, naturalists, explorers, and artists. THE LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN: Stefan Lorant. A unique text and picture biography which unfolds the dramatic life history of a great and beloved American President, with hundreds of illustrations and a lively, illuminating text by a celebrated Lincoln scholar. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN: The First Mr. American Roger Burlingame. A brilliant biography of the most human of leaders, who achieved fame and wealth as an editor, scientist, diplomat and statesman during the founding days of the U. S. GANDHI: His Life and Message for the World Louis Fischer. The life story of one of the greatest inspirational and political leaders of our time gives insight into India's pivotal place in world affairs. HOW THE GREAT RELIGIONS BEGAN Joseph Gaer. An always timely, easy-to-read guide to man's unending quest for the spiritual, vividly told through the lives of the world's religious leaders: Jesus, Mohammed, Moses, Buddha, Lao-Tse and others. THE UNITED NATIONS and How It Works David Cushman Coyle. A stimulating, thoughtful and objective analysis of how the United Nations, related agencies and commissions, came into being; how they operate, and what they are doing to achieve lasting peace and better living conditions all over the world.

How IP will become a major influence in acquisition and merger deals

From the 15 December issue of the National Law Journal, page 3: More than half of corporate and private equity executives believe that intellectual property will become a more important factor in mergers and acquisitions deals during the next five years, according to a new survey from deal-ranking company, the Mergermarket Group. Eighty-five percent of corporate respondents and 72% of private equity respondents to the survey also said a target company's intellectual property assets had importance equal to or greater than other corporate assets when M&A deals were on the table. K&L Gates and Boston-based consulting firm CRA International sponsored the survey. Given the global increase in patents and trademarks, it's not surprising that intellectual property is becoming a more important factor in M&A deals, said George Dickos, a Pittsburgh lawyer and co-ordinator of K&L Gates' intellectual property practices.

How trashy are Apple's iPhone Patents?

Very excrement-like, since they didn't ask me to do the patentability searches :-) But more seriously, the February 9th issue of Barrons has an article on Apple's iPhone patents, with Apple COO Tim Cook quoting as stating that Apple won't stand for having its IP ripped off (with hints that the intended target is Palm, though Apple doesn't mind ripping off inventors). However the same article quotes San Francisco investment analyst Pablo Perez-Fernandez as raising doubts about the strength of Apple's iPhone patent portfolio, much of which focuses on touchscreen technology:

He asserts that the U.S. Patent Office "may have not observed the requirements of innovation on number of occasions", that the legal owner of key multi-touch technologies may be the University of Delaware, and that "the essential discoveries embedded in Apple's products were the result of the work of academics from the university now employed at Apple."

He goes on:

Apple didn't invent transparent, capacitive multitouch sensors that could be overlaid on screens; "that honor went to ATT's famous Bell Laboratories back in the mid-1980s."

His conclusion: while Apple's patents are probably infringed by competitors, the competitors could strike back on invalidity grounds. And I suspect he is right. Despite all of the bull's shirt from the big companies that complain about crappy patents that issue, they are all notorious for routinely submitting crappy patents with inadequate prior art references.