Leftovers

• New York Times ☛ Is South Korea’s ‘Buddhistcore’ Aesthetic a Fad or a Spiritual Awakening?

  Young South Koreans are buying Buddhist merch. Monks and experts hope the buzz will translate into deeper engagement.

• Science

  • New York Times ☛ Phyllis Gardner, Early Skeptic of Theranos, Dies at 75

    A pharmacologist, she was certain Elizabeth Holmes’s blood-testing idea would fail, and spoke up about it. At first, few listened.

  • Stanford University ☛ Philanthropist and entrepreneur Tad Taube leaves lasting legacy on Stanford

    Stanford philanthropist Tad Taube, 94, died Sept. 13, leaving behind an indelible impact on tennis, Jewish Studies and children’s healthcare at Stanford.

  • Science Alert ☛ Stunning Double Ring System Is The Most Powerful Odd Radio Circle Found So Far

    It's always who you most suspect.

  • Science Alert ☛ Scientists Found an Entirely New Way to Measure Time

    Your time starts now.

  • Science Alert ☛ 5 Common Herbs And Spices With Digestive Benefits, Backed by Science

    Here’s what the evidence shows.

  • Science Alert ☛ The Strange Science Behind Ghostly Lights That Have Haunted Us For Centuries

    It's probably not lost spirits.

  • Science Alert ☛ Drugs Like Ozempic Quieten 'Food Noise,' in Our Brains, Study Finds

    A massive relief for some.

  • Science Alert ☛ Scientists Identified Structural, Brain-Wide Changes During Menstruation

    Period brain is real.

  • Science Alert ☛ The 'Other Diabetes' Has Nothing to Do With Blood Sugar

    Consequences can be severe if it's missed.

• Hardware

  • Hackaday ☛ Cold Sensor, Hot Results: Upgrading A DSLR For Astrophotography

    When taking pictures of the night sky, any noise picked up by the sensor can obscure the desired result. One major cause of noise in CMOS sensors is heat—even small amounts can degrade the final image. To combat this, [Francisco C] of Deep SkyLab retrofitted an old Canon T1i DSLR with an external cooler to reduce thermal noise, which introduces random pixel variations that can hide faint stars.

  • Hackaday ☛ When USB Charger Marketing Claims Are Technically True

    We have seen many scam USB chargers appear over the years, with a number of them being enthusiastically ripped apart and analyzed by fairly tame electrical engineers. Often these are obvious scams with clear fire risks, massively overstated claims and/or electrocution hazards. This is where the “600W” multi-port USB charger from AliExpress that [Denki Otaku] looked at is so fascinating, as despite only outputting 170 Watt before cutting out, it’s technically not lying in its marketing and generally well-engineered.

  • Hackaday ☛ Build A 3D Printed Tide Clock So You Know When The Sea Is Coming To Get You

    The tides! Such a unique thing, because on Earth, we don’t just have oceans full of liquid water—we also have a big ol’ moon called Moon to pull them around. You might like to keep track of the tides; if so, this tide clock from [rabbitcreek] could come in handy.

  • Hackaday ☛ A Treasure Trove Of Random Vintage Tech Resources

    Finding, collecting, and restoring vintage tech is the rewarding pastime of many a Hackaday reader. Working with old-school gear can be tough, though, when documentation or supporting resources are hard to find. If you’re in need of an old manual or a little scrap of software, you might find the Vintage Technology Digital Archive (VTDA) a useful destination.

  • Hackaday ☛ Pulling A High Vacuum With Boiling Mercury

    If you need to create a high vacuum, there are basically two options: turbomolecular pumps and diffusion pumps. Turbomolecular pumps require rotors spinning at many thousands of rotations per minute and must be carefully balanced to avoid a violent self-disassembly, but diffusion pumps aren’t without danger either, particularly if, like [Advanced Tinkering], you use mercury as your working fluid. Between the high vacuum, boiling mercury, and the previous two being contained in fragile glassware, this is a project that takes steady nerves to attempt – and could considerably unsteady those nerves if something were to go wrong.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • CS Monitor ☛ Why Obamacare and health costs take center stage amid shutdown

    The Affordable Care Act is central to the U.S. government shutdown, as Democrats argue to extend tax credits that lower health care premiums for millions.

  • Federal News Network ☛ Federal unions sue White House, demand immediate end to shutdown

    Lawsuits by NTEU and AFGE reference poor communication around agencies’ shutdown contingency plans and the illegality of RIF directives.

  • New Yorker ☛ How New Mexico Became a Sanctuary State for Health Care

    Since Roe v. Wade was overturned, the number of abortion clinics there has doubled. With strong protections for gender-affirming treatment, and now universal child care, the state is betting on a progressive vision.

  • Bridge Michigan ☛ Michigan schools budget: free meals, record funding, safety upgrades

    Michigan’s $24.12 billion budget includes universal no-cost K-12 school meals, boosts at-risk funding and includes funding for safety and mental health. School groups said the process was a mess.

  • CS Monitor ☛ The shutdown looms large in rural America – with Medicaid under debate

    Washington’s wrangling over Medicaid reverberates in rural communities, such as Spruce Pine, North Carolina, where hospitals struggle to cover costs.

  • Ozzy Osbourne considered suicide in 2021 after botched neck surgery

    The Prince of Darkness battled Parkinson's disease and the ongoing effects of a 2003 ATV accident before he died.

• Proprietary

  • Social Control Media

    • The Straits Times ☛ TikTok says it’s engaging with Indonesia after licence suspended

      It comes after the company declined to fully share data on its live-streaming activity during the August protests.

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • The Straits Times ☛ Hong Kong to install surveillance cameras with Hey Hi (AI) facial recognition

      Artificial intelligence is already being used to monitor crowds and read licence plates there.

    • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong to install surveillance cameras with Hey Hi (AI) facial recognition

      Hong Kong plans to install tens of thousands of surveillance cameras that will make use of AI-powered facial recognition, the city’s security chief said on Friday, bringing it closer to China where authorities often monitor public spaces with cutting-edge technology.

• Defence/Aggression

  • JURIST ☛ UN torture prevention experts urge New Zealand to reduce prison population

    The UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) urged New Zealand on Thursday to take stronger action to reduce its rising prison population and better support its independent monitoring mechanism following a trip to the country.

  • New York Times ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man’s Boat Strike Cartel War Doesn’t Make a Lot of Sense So Far

    From what little we do know about the airstrikes in the Caribbean, the operation doesn’t make much sense.

  • New York Times ☛ U.S. Military Attacked Boat Off Venezuela, Killing Four Men, Hegseth Says

    It was the fourth strike in the Convicted Felon administration’s legally disputed campaign targeting suspected drug runners in the Caribbean Sea.

  • ACLU ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man is Abusing His Power to Build a Dangerous, National Policing Force

    The Forrest Dump administration continues to escalate its deployment of military troops and federal law enforcement to cities across the country. We are witnessing the build out of a national paramilitary policing force that could be used to intimidate people and consolidate President The Insurrectionist’s power.

    This week alone, the administration placed 200 Oregon National Guard under federal control and deployed them to Portland, following the president’s false and bizarre claim that the city is “war ravaged” and his threat to authorize “full force, if necessary.” Oregon’s governor, as well as the city of Portland, immediately objected and have since sued. The president also told a large assembly of senior military officials that he intends to deploy troops to Chicago and said that troops should use American cities as “training grounds” for the military.

  • New York Times ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man and Carney to Hold Tariff and Security Talks in D.C.

    Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada will travel to Washington next week to meet with Hell Toupée to try to ease some of the tariffs imposed by the United States.

  • The Straits Times ☛ India set to receive first Afghan Taliban minister

    The U.N. Security Council Committee has temporarily lifted a travel ban on the Afghan Taliban foreign minister, which would allow him to visit India between October 9 and 16, India's foreign ministry said on Friday.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Australia’s landmark defence treaty with PNG set to swing pendulum away from China

    The treaty shows that Port Moresby is willing to reject Beijing’s entreaties for closer security ties.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China urges Convicted Felon to lift security curbs in push for deals

    Beijing is dangling the prospect of a massive investment package as part of a proposal that would upend a decade of policy.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Philippines says important that China does not militarise disputed Scarborough Shoal

    Manila has called China’s plans for a reserve at the shoal a “clear pretext for occupation”.

  • France24 ☛ Human Rights Watch sounds alarm over China's new draft 'ethnic unity' law

    Chinese lawmakers are reviewing a new law that tells parents to teach their children to love the Communist Party and criminalises any activity deemed to be damaging "ethnic unity". Yuka Royer speaks with Human Rights Watch's Asia director, who says the bill is a part of a broader effort under President Pooh-tin Jinping to try to erase individual ethnic and cultural identities, and that if passed, it would entrench repression of minorities and expand Beijing's ideological control beyond its borders.

  • France24 ☛ Madagascar president claims "attempted coup"

    The President of Madagascar took to Facebook (Farcebook) on Friday to make an address to the nation, in an effort to quell nine days of rolling anti-corruption protests. Andry Rajoelina claimed the Gen Z movement, which is demanding his resignation, has been exploited to provoke a coup. He alleged outside influences have paid for the movement to oust him.

  • New York Times ☛ Indonesia School Collapse Leaves Families Gripped by Grief and Fury

    Four days after the collapse, families of the school’s students in East Java were in shock, demanding answers as the search for bodies churned on.

  • France24 ☛ 'This is the moment to invite the world to reconstruct Gaza': EU Mediterranean Commissioner Suica

    Several new portfolios have been created in the current European Commission, to reflect the EU's changing priorities. One of those is a Commissioner for the Mediterranean. This is a crucial region for the EU, as the bloc grapples with difficult issues such as migration, climate and energy. The EU wants to pursue this southern pivot by signing a Pact for the Mediterranean with North African and Middle Eastern countries. Our guest is the EU's Commissioner for the Mediterranean, Dubravka Suica. She is a Croatian centre-right politician and she held the Democracy and Demography portfolio in the first von der Leyen Commission, from 2019 to 2024. She has also been an MEP.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • Meduza ☛ The terror of ‘Tolerance’: Russia’s government funded a propaganda film this summer that sold 192 tickets on its opening weekend. The movie presents Europe as a nightmare of liberal values. — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Russia arrests billionaire Ibrahim Suleymanov on suspicion of contract killings after alleged gunman dies in police custody — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ ‘I won’t send any more’: Putin’s jokes about drone incursions in the E.U. call to mind his denial of Russia’s ‘little green men’ in Crimea — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Russian activist who works with POWs stays in Ukraine as her husband returns in prisoner swap — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ The weapons of tomorrow The ‘drone revolution’ rewrote the battlefield in Ukraine. Will they upend the West’s way of war? — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Conscientious objection rejected Even legal applications for alternative civilian service can lead to criminal charges in Russia. Meduza spoke to three men targeted for draft evasion. — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ European ‘hysteria,’ Trump’s ‘paper tigers’ comment, and MAGA values Putin’s messages for the West at this year’s Valdai Discussion Club Forum — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Russia launches largest strike on Ukraine’s gas infrastructure since start of full-scale war, inflicting ‘critical’ damage — Meduza

    • LRT ☛ Lithuanian president hopes to continue cyber security cooperation with Moldova

      Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda said Thursday he hopes to extend cooperation with Moldova on cybersecurity following a Lithuania-led rapid response team deployment during last year’s presidential election in the country.

    • New York Times ☛ Flights Are Briefly Halted at Munich Airport After Drone Sightings

      The airport in Germany was the latest in Europe to shut because of drone sightings. Officials have blamed Russia, which has denied being behind the drone incursions.

    • France24 ☛ Munich airport grounded by drone sightings for second day running

      Munich airport was forced to suspend operations for a second consecutive day on Friday after drones were spotted near its runways, disrupting dozens of flights and leaving thousands of passengers stranded. The incidents come amid a wave of drone sightings across Europe, raising concerns about potential spillover from Russia’s war in Ukraine.

    • New York Times ☛ Finland Court Dismisses Case About Cutting Cables in Baltic Sea

      A judge ruled that Finland did not have jurisdiction to prosecute a case against a ship believed to be a part of Russia’s “shadow fleet.”

    • France24 ☛ Drones, sabotage, surveillance: Moscow’s hybrid warfare takes to the high seas

      A spate of recent incidents involving Russian-linked ships has put the spotlight on the sea as an increasingly important element in Moscow's hybrid warfare strategy targeting Europe.

    • Latvia ☛ Latvian border guards prevent illegal crossing attempt near Russian border

      On Thursday, October 2nd, border guards prevented an attempt to illegally cross the Latvian state border with Russia in Zaļesje parish in the south-east of the country, the State Border Guard said on October 3rd.

    • RFERL ☛ French Journalist Killed In Ukraine By Drone Attack Blamed On Russia

      A French journalist was killed and a Ukrainian photographer injured in a Russian drone attack near the front lines, Kyiv and French President Emmanuel Macron said on October 3.

    • New York Times ☛ French Photojournalist Killed in Drone Attack in Ukraine

      Antoni Lallican, a Paris-based photographer, is the first working journalist to be killed by a remotely piloted drone during the war, according to press associations.

    • France24 ☛ French photojournalist Antoni Lallican killed by a drone in Ukraine

      French photojournalist Antoni Lallican, 37, was killed on Friday in eastern Ukraine's Donbas region in a drone attack, according to European journalists' associations. It was the first time a journalist has been killed by a drone in Ukraine since Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

    • New York Times ☛ Ukraine’s New Prime Minister Speaks Convicted Felon’s Language

      The appointment of Yuliia Svyrydenko, a business-oriented official, shows how Kyiv is trying to persuade the Convicted Felon administration that working with the country can be lucrative, even in wartime.

    • LRT ☛ Lithuania’s new culture minister under heat over clumsy interview answers on Ukraine

      
      

    • LRT ☛ Lithuanian PM demands resignation of culture minister amid protests

      Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė said Friday that Culture Minister Ignotas Adomavičius is expected to announce his resignation soon, following controversy over his comments on Ukraine and Crimea.

    • France24 ☛ Moldovan election result 'exceptional by European standards': Former deputy PM Popescu

      Moldovans have voted in what is arguably the country's most pivotal election since independence in 1991. Our guest says that there was "a big danger that pro-Russian forces might have drawn Moldova into Russia's war against Ukraine". But that danger was averted, and voters gave a clear thumbs-up to Moldova's European future and its desire to join the EU. We analyse the result of this parliamentary vote with Nicu Popescu, a former deputy prime minister and former foreign minister of Moldova.

    • Latvia ☛ Ukrainian film festival makes a welcome return to Latvia

      The festival "Ukrainian Cinema Days" will be held in Rīga from October 10th to 12th, organisers have announced.

    • European Commission ☛ President von der Leyen attends informal European Council meeting in Copenhagen to discuss European defence and European support to Ukraine

      President von der Leyen was in Copenhagen this week to attend the informal meeting of the European Council and the European Political Community Summit.

    • New York Times ☛ Putin Suggests Convicted Felon Will Decide Against Sending Tomahawk Missiles to Ukraine

      The Russian president warned against fulfilling a Ukrainian request for more powerful long-range missiles, while also suggesting Hell Toupée would decide against the idea.

    • Atlantic Council ☛ What Kissinger would do about Putin and Ukraine

      Supporting a free and democratic Ukraine and ending the war there are decidedly in US interests, the late US secretary of state would have emphasized.

• Environment

  • New York Times ☛ U.S. Research Focus in the Arctic Shifts: Less Climate, More Security

    The Forrest Dump administration is emphasizing defense concerns instead of climate research in the rapidly warming Arctic region.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China to cancel some flights as Typhoon Matmo nears Hainan during peak holiday travel

    All flights to and from the provincial capital Haikou’s international airport are expected to be cancelled from 11pm.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Video: How China’s ‘Great Green Wall’ brings hope but also hardship

    Inner Mongolian herder Dorj looked bitterly at the vast grasslands where his flock once grazed freely, before the practice was banned as part of a massive Chinese state greening project. Restrictions on traditional grazing are a key part of China’s “Great Green Wall” campaign, a decades-old anti-desertification project credited with “greening” over 90 million hectares.

  • New York Times ☛ Audio Clips of Sounds of Climate Changes

    For the Climate Forward live event, we gathered recordings of a melting glacier, the Amazon jungle and the underwater Arctic, all soundscapes that are rapidly changing.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Typhoon Bualoi death toll rises to 51 in Vietnam, banks told to support affected firms

    Vietnam's central bank urged banks to support affected businesses.

  • Energy/Transportation

    • Ruben Schade ☛ Renewables overtake coal for first time in Australia

      Australian homes have installed solar at record-breaking rates, but this otherwise wonderful news is still too rare down here. Our beautiful continent bakes under the harshest sun in the world, we should be absolutely nailing photovoltaic capture and storage.

      By the way, what ever happened to Singapore installing a bunch of solar down here, and transmitting it back to the Red Dot via that Sun Cable? Haven’t heard much news this year.

    • New York Times ☛ Tesla Is Sued by Families Who Say Faulty Cybertruck Doors Led to Two Deaths

      Two Californians were trapped in a burning Cybertruck because electronic doors made it difficult for them to get out or be rescued, lawsuits claim.

    • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ India and China to resume direct flights after 5-year suspension

      India and China will resume direct flights between their two countries this month after a five-year suspension, officials said, with bookings opening on Friday.

    • Devices/Embedded

      • Wired ☛ Why Are Car Software Updates Still So Bad?

        Such software-defined vehicles, or SDVs, would boost car sales, automakers hoped. According to two scorecards measuring SDV progress, Tesla leads the pack. Gartner’s Digital Automaker Index for 2025 places Chinese EV manufacturers Nio and Xiaomi in second and third positions, respectively. Wards Intelligence agrees these are the three to beat. On the other end of the scale, and similar to the Wards analysis, Nissan, Toyota, Mazda, and Jaguar Land Rover wallow at the bottom.

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • The Revelator ☛ In Understory, An Ecologist Reflects on the Grief of Losing Nature

• Finance

  • LRT ☛ Lithuanian, eurozone banks introduce additional verification for transfers to combat fraud

    Starting next week, banks in Lithuania and across the eurozone will be required to verify whether a payment recipient’s name matches the account number, in a move aimed at reducing fraud, the Bank of Lithuania said.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • Federal News Network ☛ Agency shutdown messaging draws Hatch Act, Antideficiency Act challenges

    The Hatch Act is the focus of several complaints, but one group is taking a different tactic by arguing the messages violate federal appropriations law.

  • FAIR ☛ Mumia Abu-Jamal on Media and Power

  • Pro Publica ☛ Tom Dundon, Portland Trail Blazers Buyer, Built His Fortune on Subprime Loans

    When the Portland Trail Blazers went up for sale this year for the first time in three decades, local leaders were so determined to keep the team in Portland that they penned a widely publicized letter promising the National Basketball Association they’d work with whoever the new owner was to secure an overhaul of the team’s arena.

    Fans cheered as a group of investors led by Texan Tom Dundon went all-in with a $4 billion bid for the team, which has now been accepted. Many speculated about what Dundon’s ownership of a newly successful National Hockey League team in Raleigh, North Carolina, would portend for Oregon’s oldest and biggest sports franchise.

  • Trump Canceled 94 Million Pounds of Food Aid. Here’s What Never Arrived.

    ProPublica obtained records from the Department of Agriculture that detail the millions of pounds of food, down to the number of eggs, that never reached food banks because of the administration’s cuts.

  • New Yorker ☛ A Conservative Professor on How to Fix Campus Culture

    Robert P. George opposed Roe v. Wade, same-sex marriage—and the rise of MAGA. “I say to my [liberal] colleagues,” he claims, “it was you guys who gave us The Insurrectionist!”

  • New Yorker ☛ How Russell Vought Broke the U.S. Government

    An architect of Project 2025 is now at the center of the government shutdown.

  • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

    • Futurism ☛ Sora 2 Is Generating Videos That Brutally Mock Scam Altman

      Altman: "Not sure what to make of this."

    • France24 ☛ No, this jihadist brandishing two severed heads isn’t Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa

      Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa took the floor at the UN General Assembly on September 24. Simultaneously, a photo claiming to show Sharaa brandishing two decapitated heads circulated on social control media – allegedly proof that he committed war crimes back when he was a jihadist. In reality, the photo shows an Australian jihadist, not Sharaa.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • New York Times ☛ Indian Comedian Kunal Kamra Forced Offstage Amid Political Censorship

    The Indian comedian Kunal Kamra was forced offstage after a political joke led to a mob attack. Unlike Jimmy Kimmel, he is unlikely to return anytime soon.

  • New York Times ☛ Apple Takes Down ICE Tracking Apps in Response to Convicted Felon Pressure Campaign

    Dihydroxyacetone Man administration officials issued several legal threats over ICEBlock, a popular app that allows users to alert others to the presence of nearby immigration agents.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • Press Gazette ☛ Victory for Nottinghamshire Live in battle with Reform UK over council ban

    Editor Natalie Fahy: "Journalists will not back down if our freedoms are attacked."

  • ACLU ☛ Sweeping Ban on Drone Flights Across Chicago Looks Suspiciously Like an Attempt to Ban Press Coverage

    At the request of DHS and citing “Special Security Reasons,” the FAA has imposed a sweeping, 12-day-long ban on non-governmental drone flights across a vast area around Chicago. The FAA’s “temporary flight restriction” (TFR) comes amid abusive immigration raids in Chicago and Hell Toupée’s authoritarian flooding of the city with National Guard troops and federal law enforcement agents. That raises the sharp suspicion that it is intended not to ensure the safety of government aircraft, but (along with violence, harassment, and claims of “doxing”) is yet another attempt to prevent reporters and citizens from recording the activities of the authorities.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • LRT ☛ Lithuanian culture sector braces for nationwide protests

    A warning strike titled This Could Be the Last Time will take place across the country on Sunday, as the culture sector continues its protest against the handover of the Culture Ministry to the Nemunas Dawn party.

  • LRT ☛ Lithuanian culture minister resigns after one week in office amid backlash

    Lithuania’s Culture Minister Ignotas Adomavičius resigned Friday after just one week in office, following public backlash and a strike by the country’s cultural community.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • Public Knowledge ☛ The 2025 Annual IP3 Awards

    The IP3 Awards help champion the advocates working diligently on behalf of the public interest to help everyone connect and communicate.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• Patents

  • Unified Patents ☛ Another ISG Wi-Fi 6 patent monopoly challenged

    On October 1, 2025, Unified Patents filed an ex parte reexamination proceeding against U.S. Patent 11,641,670, owned and asserted by the International Semiconductor Group, an NPE. The '670 patent monopoly is directed to access points (APs) that are configured to use information that associates MAC addresses for terminals with association identifiers (AIDs) that are locally allocated to the terminals by the AP. The goal of this is to create a smaller list of AID-assigned terminals that is faster to search, and which allows the AP to respond quicker to the associated terminals.

  • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Who Gets to Challenge USPTO Rules? Federal Circuit Says Big Tech Yes, Small Inventors No

    In US Inventor, Inc. v. United States Patent and Trademark Office, No. 2024-1396 (Fed. Cir. Oct. 3, 2025), a group of inventor advocacy organizations petitioned the USPTO for rulemaking that would allow small entity patent monopoly owners to opt out of inter partes review and post-grant review proceedings.  The USPTO denied their petition and the orgs sued, led by US Inventor. Their lawsuit was dismissed by the district court and the appellate panel has affirmed - holding that the organizations lacked Article III standing because the alleged injury to their members was too speculative, requiring a chain of contingent events largely dependent on the independent actions of third parties.

  • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ A First Look at the USPTO’s FY2026 Examiner Performance Plan (PAP): What’s Changed and Why It Matters

    The USPTO has quietly rolled out substantial changes to its examiner Performance Appraisal Plan (PAP) for FY2026.  PAP is the formal framework the USPTO uses to measure, evaluate, and rate patent monopoly examiners’ job performance. These changes are made easier because of last month's elimination of union rights of patent monopoly examiners (POPA) based upon their presidentially declared national security role.  However, this post is based upon discussions with examiners because the USPTO has not released documents regarding the plan.

• Trademarks

  • TTAB Blog ☛ Opposer Fails to Submit Evidence: TTAB Dismisses for Failure to Prove Statutory Standing

    The Board dismissed this opposition to registration of the mark FABTAH for various cosmetics products because Opposer Marie Junie St. Clair Bernard failed to prove her entitlement to a statutory cause of action (a/k/a statutory standing). Opposer alleged that she owns common law rights to the identical mark for cosmetics, and that her application to register was blocked by Applicant Lagredelle's prior-filed application. However, Opposer failed to properly submit any evidence. Marie Junie St. Clair Bernard v. Daphnee Lagredelle, Opposition No. 91289395 (September 30, 2025) [not precedential] (Opinion by Judge Elizabeth K. Brock).

• Copyrights

  • Digital Music News ☛ Indies Double Down on UMG-Downtown Deal Opposition With ‘100 Voices’ Campaign: ‘For the Long-Term Health of Independent Music, It Should Be Blocked’

    Indie musicians, execs, and organizations are once again urging the European Commission to block Universal Music’s proposed Downtown buyout – this time with a “100 Voices” campaign. In keeping with its name, that campaign features over 100 comments addressing the UMG-Downtown deal’s indie-sector impact.