Leftovers

• CS Monitor ☛ Iconic Route 66 is turning 100. What can it still tell us about ourselves?

  As Route 66 marks its 100th anniversary, The Christian Science Monitor travels its length to discover what American stories the road can tell us today.

• New York Times ☛ New Banksy Statue Causes Stir in Central London

  The statue depicts a man marching with a flag that covers his face. It appeared in a section of London near statues of 19th-century British military and colonial figures.

• New York Times ☛ Where in the World Is All That Gold Stored?

  As central banks buy more gold, where to put all that heavy metal is an increasingly important question. Reserves must be secure and ready to trade in a crisis.

• New York Times ☛ Why Countries Are Stocking Up on Gold

  As risk has escalated, central banks have bought more gold to stash in reserve. A widening Middle East war could add to the urgency.

• Zit Seng ☛ Ping Check

  Yes, we are still alive. My last post was over 3 months ago. It’s the longest break I’ve ever had between posting anything. I’ve been really busy, and perhaps also really absorbed in many other projects, so this blog hasn’t gotten as much of my attention.

  I still have many things to write and share about. Too much, actually, but they are such a mess that I haven’t been able to come up with something coherent to write about. So, instead, I’ll just rant about a couple of random things in this post.

• Chuck Grimmett ☛ Harvesting and Tying with Zenmai

  Jay Guarneri wrote a great article in the 2026 edition of Tenkara Angler about collecting zenmai from ferns and tying kebari with it. He inspired me to go out and collect some of my own zenmai this spring.

• Allen Pike ☛ We Can Do Hard Things

  Doing something hard yet pointless is foolish. But doing something hard yet valuable has a lot of benefits.

• Joe Crawford ☛ Adventure! ~ 30 Apr 2026

  These might be just weird happenstance, but somehow that “adventure” framing makes it feel more dramatic.

• Science

  • Science Alert ☛ We Outlasted Neanderthals Thanks to One Key Difference, Study Suggests

    Success is not assured.

  • Science Alert ☛ UK Healthy Life Expectancy Has Fallen by More Than 2 Years, Study Warns

    Of 21 high-income countries, only the US now ranks lower.

  • Science Alert ☛ Africa Is Splitting Apart Faster Than We Thought, Forming a New Ocean

    It's reached a "critical threshold".

  • Science Alert ☛ Yawning Does Something Unexpected in Your Brain, MRI Scans Reveal

    We still don't know why we do it.

  • Science Alert ☛ Most People Develop Diverticulosis in Their Gut by The Age of 80… So What Is It?

    The more you know...

• Hardware

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Get 32GB of RAM and 2TB SSD for $406 when paired with AMD's new 9950X3D2 — Asus ROG X870E Apex gets you a monster overclocking AM5 bundle for $2,048, $400 off

    Snag this premium 4-item combo from Newegg featuring the Ryzen 9 9950X3D2, 32GB of Corsair Vengeance RGB RAM, 2TB WD SN7100 M.2 SSD, and an overclocking-focused Crosshair X870E Apex motherboard for $2,048.99. The $398.98 off gets the RAM and storage for only $406

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • The Straits Times ☛ Manila landfill fire leaves Filipinos gasping for clean air

    Residents and evacuees alike said the smoke was still impacting their health and livelihoods.

  • Science Alert ☛ Human Genome Pioneer J. Craig Venter Dies at 79

    His work helped scientists decode life.

  • New Yorker ☛ A Conversation with a Health-Care-Provider Support Bot

    Here are a few things I’d rather do than log in to a portal: Get three mosquito bites. Drive all the way to Encino to have something notarized.

• Proprietary

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Apple 'has given up' on Vision Pro, report claims — costly price and weight behind purported failure, but the company continues to hire into its Vision Production Group

    Reports suggest Fashion Company Apple may be shifting focus away from the Vision headset, despite ongoing hiring tied to its Vision Products Group, possibly implying otherwise.

  • Microsoft CFO flags workforce cuts as AI spending surges

    Total Microsoft headcount declined year-over-year during the company’s fiscal 2026 third quarter ended March 31, as the software giant focuses on “building high-performing teams that operate with pace and agility,” Hood said during a Wednesday earnings call. She said the company expects the trend to continue, with headcount projected to further decline on a year-over-year basis in the next fiscal year.

    The company also disclosed about $900 million in one-time charges tied to a recently announced voluntary retirement program, expected to affect fourth-quarter operating expenses.

  • Seattle Times ☛ Here’s how much Microsoft’s buyout program will cost

    Microsoft’s workforce will shrink in the next year, likely driven by the company’s recently announced voluntary retirement program.

    Those buyouts, which will be formally offered in about a week, will cost the company roughly $900 million, Microsoft Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood said in a Wednesday earnings call with analysts.

  • Qt

    • Qt ☛ Qt Contributors Summit 2026: Oslo in October!

    • Qt ☛ Security advisory: QML Code Injection in VectorImage Component in Qt declarative module impacts Qt

      Improper Control of Generation of Code ('Code Injection') vulnerability in the VectorImage component of the Qt declarative module has been discovered and has been assigned the CVE id CVE-2025-14576

  • So-Called 'Artificial Intelligence' ('AI') / LLM Slop / Plagiarism

    • Tom's Hardware ☛ Victim of Hey Hi (AI) agent that deleted company's entire database gets their data back — cloud provider recovers critical files and broadens its 48-hour delayed delete policy

      An SaaS business got all its data back after its cloud data provider recovered critical databases that were ruthlessly wiped by an Hey Hi (AI) agent gone rogue.

    • Futurism ☛ If Proprietary Chaffbot Company Loses This Trial, It Could Effectively Be Eliminated in Its Current Form

      The timing of MElon's lawsuit couldn't be worse for OpenAI.

    • Futurism ☛ Amazon’s New AI-Generated “Podcasts” Shilling Every Imaginable Products Are Already Backfiring Spectacularly

      On fake dog poop: "At four inches long, it's sized perfectly for believability."

    • Tom's Hardware ☛ Talent over tokens: Hey Hi (AI) models are becoming more expensive to run, and productivity gains are limited — efficient workers might be the solution to strained budgets

      Major firms are finding the rising costs of Hey Hi (AI) hard to manage, as human workers are now often more affordable alternatives to Hey Hi (AI) within certain contexts. With many platforms switching to per-token billing and rising model costs, we may be reaching an inflection point where human workers are a more efficient way to spend.

    • Futurism ☛ Mark Kapo-berg Just Got Shot Down by China, Again

      Denied.

    • Futurism ☛ OpenAI Strangely Concerned About Goblins

      Tackling the real issues.

    • Latvia ☛ 'AI nutritionist' offers eating tips for a healthier lifestyle

      Artificial Intelligence (AI) may not actually eat anything itself, but that doesn't stop it suggesting things for you to put in your mouth, reports Labs of Latvia.

    • Scoop News Group ☛ Everyone’s building Hey Hi (AI) agents. Almost nobody’s ready for what they do to identity.

      Anthropic recently announced that it would not release Mythos, its most powerful Hey Hi (AI) model, to the public. The model discovered thousands of previously unknown software vulnerabilities — flaws that had sat undetected in major operating systems and web browsers for as long as nearly three decades.

    • Ben Congdon ☛ Thoughts on Marginal Token Spend

      The rise of coding agents has made it easy for a single engineer to spend thousands of dollars a day in LLM tokens. This is a new class of expense, and it will change the future cost structure of software engineering. We are between stable equilibria today in SWE: the old one, of needing humans to drive any code change, and a yet-to-be-established new one, where Hey Hi (AI) agents write most code.

    • France24 ☛ Musk vs Altman: Beyond battle of egos, who gets final say on AI?

      Just another billionaires' battle of egos or does the 150-billion dollar lawsuit that pits MElon against Scam Altman go to the heart of how artificial intelligence could determine the future of humanity? We’ll ask about the origin story of OpenAI, founded by some of Silicon Valley’s leading luminaries as a non-profit organization that would put innovation at the service of a socially-responsible Hey Hi (AI) that wouldn’t destroy the planet... the growing pains and fallouts that followed... leading up to the launch of Abusive Monopolist Microsoft Chaffbot and OpenAI's alliance with Microsoft.

  • Social Control Media

    • WhichUK ☛ The rise of fake days out on social control media (and how to protect yourself)

      From a Buckingham Palace market to a Thai cable car ride, Hey Hi (AI) posts on social control media are luring visitors to attractions that don’t exist

• Entrapment (Microsoft GitHub)

  • Evan Hahn ☛ Notes from April 2026

    After a busy March, April was a little quieter. But don’t worry, I still have a bunch of little links for you to click on.

    GitHub’s uptime hasn’t been great recently. Even though I dislike the Abusive Monopolist Microsoft subsidiary, I wrote “In defense of Microsoft's proprietary prison GitHub ’s poor uptime”, which argues that it’s not as bad as folks seems to be saying.

• Security

  • Integrity/Availability/Authenticity

    • The Straits Times ☛ Scam alert: Fake gold that is hard to detect emerges in China

      Local media reported that fraudsters had been mixing rhenium with gold to make fakes that are hard to detect.

    • Press Gazette ☛ Martin Lewis says Meta scam ads stealing his name are ‘worse than ever’

      Lewis spoke about issue as it was announced he will receive BAFTA Special Award.

• Defence/Aggression

  • The Straits Times ☛ At least 358 executed under North Korean leader Kim Jong Un: Rights group

    There were two confirmed cases of hanging that took place in front of the public.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Military officer in Malaysia charged with murder over fatal drink driving crash

    At a separate Magistrate’s Court, he claimed trial to two counts of driving under the influence.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Civil servants among 69 Malaysians nabbed in international online child exploitation crackdown

    Investigations showed that the crime also involved a commercial element, with obscene material being bought and sold.

  • France24 ☛ Pakistan: The US 'was always banking on' Islamabad mediation

    “The US was always going to bank on Pakistan.”

    Bilal Khan says #Pakistan’s role as mediator between the US and #Iran comes as no surprise, considering Convicted Felon’s partiality towards leaders Asim Munir. More on #F24Debate ➡️ https://f24.my/BtMM

  • The Straits Times ☛ S. Korean Army eyes drones as personal weapons for future troops

    Under the plan, the Army aims to introduce more than 50,000 training drones by 2029.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China, US economic chiefs raise complaints in ‘candid’ call ahead of Convicted Felon-Xi summit

    Ahead of the planned May summit, ties between Beijing and Washington have remained largely calm.

  • New York Times ☛ How Convicted Felon’s Iran Blockade Is Complicating a High-Stakes Trip to China

    If Hell Toupée flies to China as planned in May, the primary topic will clearly be the rippling economic effects of a war that Beijing has made clear it viewed as unnecessary.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China holds naval, air patrols near Scarborough Shoal as Philippines, US stage drills

    The patrols come in response to annual regional drills from April 20 to May 8.

  • Futurism ☛ D4vd Bought Chainsaws and Body Bag on Amazon After Murder, Prosecutors Say, in the Most Grisly Case of Internet Brain Rot We’ve Ever Heard

    This is incredibly dark.

  • New York Times ☛ Hezbollah Using Fiber-Optic Drones Against Israeli Targets

    The Lebanese militant group is attacking Israeli troops with explosive drones controlled by fiber-optic cables, like those commonly used in the war in Ukraine.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Japanese travellers to China drastically decrease amid diplomatic row

    Japanese-speaking tour guides are facing lower income in places like Shaanxi, home to the Terracotta Army.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Paraguay president to visit Taiwan in May amid China pressure

    Paraguayan President Santiago Pena will travel to Taiwan from May 7 for a state visit aimed at deepening diplomatic and economic ties, his office and Taiwanese authorities said.

  • JURIST ☛ US soldier pleads not guilty to using classified intel on Venezuela to win bet

    A US soldier pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to charges of using classified intelligence on the raid and capture of Venezuelan President Nicolàs Maduro to win $400,000 on prediction market betting site Polymarket. Gannon Ken Van Dyke is a 38-year-old US special forces soldier who was involved in the planning and execution of Maduro’s capture.

  • New York Times ☛ Police in Australia Were Warned of Terror Risk Before Bondi Attack, Report Says

    A Jewish security group told police an attack on the community was “likely” because of heightened antisemitism, days before December’s mass shooting in Sydney.

  • New York Times ☛ House Passes DHS Funding Bill, Ending Shutdown

    Republicans were forced to use a special maneuver to steer around opposition in their own party and speed the measure to the floor, relying on Democratic cooperation to push it through.

  • New York Times ☛ The Homeland Security Shutdown Ends

    Also, Maine’s governor bows out of a crucial Senate race. Here’s the latest at the end of Thursday.

  • CS Monitor ☛ Congress ends DHS shutdown amid flurry of action before taking a break

    Lawmakers passed items including a bill to end the Department of Homeland Security shutdown ahead of a one-week recess and multiple impending deadlines.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China threatens EU with retaliation if it bans Huawei gear

    The move escalates tensions in the long-running clash over national security and Huawei's products.

  • France24 ☛ US troop withdrawal from Germany would be 'foolish', expert says

    U.S. President The Insurrectionist has again threatened to pull American troops out of Germany, a key NATO ally. Speaking with FRANCE 24's Mark Owen, Dafydd Townley, Teaching Fellow in US politics and international security at the University of Portsmouth, says that such a move would be "foolish" explaining that "Germany is exceptionally important as a logistical and refuelling hub for American air force operations".

  • Defence Web ☛ Mali’s armed groups fill a government vacuum – addressing this is key to ending the violence

    Mali has been in a state of political turmoil since 2012.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • Latvia ☛ Saeima moves forward weapons ban for dual Russian, Belarusian citizens

      On Thursday, April 30, the Saeima approved in the first reading amendments to the Weapons Law drafted by the opposition National Alliance, which would prohibit the issuance of firearms permits to Latvian citizens who are also citizens of Russia or Belarus, as well as to create a legal basis for revoking permits that have already been issued.

    • Latvia ☛ Latvian dual citizens find it hard to drop Russian, Belarusian citizenship

      It is becoming increasingly difficult for Latvian dual citizens to renounce their citizenship of aggressor states – many young people who wish to renounce their citizenship of an aggressor state in order to avoid losing their Latvian citizenship are facing complications. Those involved report that embassies often delay the process, Latvian Radio and Latvian Television reported on 29th April.

    • France24 ☛ Jury of Italy's Venice Biennale resigns over Russia row

      The international jury of the Venice Biennale resigned Thursday, just days before the world’s oldest and most important contemporary art fair opens. No reason was given, but the move came as Italy's government opposed Russia's participation. FRANCE 24's Seema Gupta reports from Rome.

    • RFERL ☛ Ukraine Strikes Deep Inside Russia, Tuapse Hit Again

      Ukraine has hit an oil facility and industrial site in Russia's Perm region, roughly 1,500 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, according to Russian officials, as US President The Insurrectionist and Vladimir Putin discussed a potential temporary cease-fire aimed at pausing the four-year war in Ukraine.

    • New York Times ☛ Ukraine Reacts With Shrug to Phone Call Between Convicted Felon and Putin

      More than a year of similar conversations have failed to bring the country any closer to peace, so Ukrainians have stopped hoping they will.

    • The Straits Times ☛ How North Korea is supporting Putin’s war in Ukraine

      North Korea may have supplied weapons and troops worth as much as US$14.4 billion (S$18.4 billion).

    • France24 ☛ Vessel carrying grain Ukraine says stolen by Russia will not unload in Israel, Kyiv says

      A vessel carrying grain that Ukraine says was stolen from areas occupied by ​Russia will not ‌unload in Israel, Ukraine said on Thursday, after Kyiv requested Israel to seize ⁠the cargo. FRANCE 24's Caroline Baum reports.

    • RFERL ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man Urges Merz To Prioritize Ukraine Over Iran

      As the US-Israeli war with Iran continues to impact and shape the region, journalists from RFE/RL deliver ongoing updates and analysis.

    • The Straits Times ☛ Ukraine sees path to Japanese arms after Tokyo eases export rules

      Ukraine's ambassador to Japan said Tokyo could help fund Kyiv’s air-defence system.

    • The Straits Times ☛ Ukrainian drones strike Russian oil facilities some 1,500 km away

      April 30 - Ukraine's Security Service, the SBU, said on Thursday its drones struck an oil refinery deep into Russia near the city of Perm, marking a second consecutive attack on oil facilities in the area as Kyiv seeks to curb Moscow’s energy revenues used to fund the war.

    • CS Monitor ☛ This Ukrainian canine unit is finding the war’s victims – and a way through hardship

      The “Antares” Pavlohrad search-and-rescue canine unit in Ukraine finds people, but its work also helps team members deal with the war’s tribulations.

    • New York Times ☛ Oil Companies’ Huge Profits Revive Calls for Temporary Windfall Taxes

      European nations imposed temporary taxes in the 2022 energy shock when Russia invaded Ukraine, but whether they can effectively help households is up for debate.

    • France24 ☛ 'Damage control mode': Reputations of Mali junta & Russian mercenaries 'hang in balance'

      Nadia Massih is pleased to welcome Ulf Laessing, Director of Regional Sahel Programme at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. Mr Laessing offers a stark assessment, framing recent attacks within a broader crisis of governance. The junta is struggling to project control while relying on an increasingly compromised external partner. Russia must now demonstrate it is “actually of any use.” All the while, the alliance between Tuareg separatists and jihadist forces is described as purely “tactical: they can’t agree on anything beyond getting rid of the government.”

    • RFERL ☛ A7, Company Implicated In Sanctions Evasion, Reportedly Linked To Russian Oligarchs

      An Russian oligarch and top business executives are using A7, an influential payments company implicated a vast sanctions evasions scheme relying on a ruble-backed cryptocurrency, for their own transactions.

    • The Straits Times ☛ Russia says OPEC+ will continue after UAE exit, no price war expected

      MOSCOW, April 30 - Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Thursday that the OPEC+ group of leading oil producers would continue working together despite the departure of the United Arab Emirates, Russian news agencies reported.

    • New York Times ☛ Lithuania Says It Broke Up Russian Sabotage and Murder Plots

      The arrests of nine people are reminders of the threat Russia poses in Europe at a time when Washington has shifted focus to the Middle East.

• Transparency/Investigative Reporting

  • New York Times ☛ Epstein Victims’ Pursuit of Justice Finds a New Venue: Albany, N.Y.

    Two victims of Jeffrey Epstein will testify at the State Capitol next week in support of a bill that would enable them to seek punitive damages from his estate.

  • New York Times ☛ Jeffrey Epstein’s Possible Suicide Note Hidden From Public View

    An inmate said he discovered the note after Mr. Epstein was found injured in his jail cell, weeks before his death. It’s now locked in a courthouse.

• Environment

  • Energy/Transportation

    • Latvia ☛ New electric car support programme to start soon in Latvia

      A new subsidy program for the purchase of electric cars has been approved in Latvia and will soon be launched, but there are a few changes in comparison to the previous programme, LSM's Māris Bergs reports on 30th April.

    • New York Times ☛ Korean Air Bans Roosters on U.S. Flights to the Philippines

      The airline was used by chicken breeders in Texas to illegally transport roosters for cockfights, an animal welfare group said.

    • The Straits Times ☛ S. Koreans’ meat-heavy diet carries bigger carbon cost than 10 return flights to Jeju, report finds [iophk: Nope. Meat is biocarbon, except for the transport which is fossil carbon. The two are *completely* different carbon cycles and in relation to global climate collapse, meat consumption is basically irrelevant. There are many reasons to eschew eating animals, but (aside from transport) none have anything to do with fossil carbon. The Strait Times is, pardon my French, talking shit to distract from the real culprits. Biocarbon is not relevant to the problem of dumping fossil carbon into the atmosphere. Again, 'business' travel expends the most fossil carbon. You should be concerend about the megatonnes of fossil carbon that 'business' travel pumps into the biopshere. That's recreational travel, which is a drop in the bucket compared to the pollution caused by business travel. Recreational travel should avoid planes, but it is the business travel which is burning the planet.]

      South Koreans eat more meat per person and consume a higher share of beef than people in China or Japan.

    • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Australia foreign minister says China agrees to collaborate on jet fuel exports

      Australia’s foreign minister said Wednesday that China has agreed to work together to facilitate exports of jet fuel, in an attempt to ease supply disruptions caused by the war in the Middle East.

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • Mexico News Daily ☛ Zoo animals beat the Mexico City heat with personalized popsicles

      Creatures slurping popsicles may seem cute, but the "Paletón" program is a proven science-backed strategy for keeping captive animals hydrated and safe from the damage that excessive heat can cause.

• Finance

  • The Straits Times ☛ Iran war splits Asian diesel market into haves and have-nots

    Powerhouses have maintained healthy domestic supplies, but importers have suffered from shortages.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China’s April factory activity expands despite Middle East war

    China’s factory activity grew for a second straight month in April, official data showed Thursday, showing resilience despite surging energy prices and shipping disruption caused by the war in the Middle East.

  • New York Times ☛ Palantir Is Making a French Chore Coat. Yes, That Palantir.

    The data analysis company is selling a version of the jacket that it says will show its commitment to “re-industrializing America.”

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Taiwan economy grows at fastest pace since 1987

    Taiwan’s economy expanded at its fastest pace in nearly 39 years thanks to robust demand for artificial intelligence technology, data showed Thursday, despite concerns over the Middle East crisis.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • Stanford University ☛ UGS passes bill supporting RA unionization effort

    The Undergraduate Senate also advocated for the return of Beyond Sex Ed as required NSO programming at their Wednesday meeting.

  • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

    • The Strategist ☛ Disinformation is Beijing’s weapon. Japan needs more than fact-checking to counter it

      Pro-China entities have attempted to use disinformation to undermine democracy and social cohesion in Japan.

    • Press Gazette ☛ Five-star employee reviews for Pink News deleted after Hey Hi (AI) allegation

      Pink News denies any involvement in the now-removed five-star reviews.

    • Digital Music News ☛ AI-Generated Taylor Swift, Rihanna, and Kim Kardashian Scams Surge on TikTok

      Online scammers are using Hey Hi (AI) deepfakes of celebrities like Taylor Swift and Rihanna to trick Fentanylware (CheeTok) users into signing up for fake rewards programs. Over the past month, Fentanylware (CheeTok) has experienced a rise in videos of AI-generated celebrities, including Taylor Swift, Rihanna, and Kim Kardashian, encouraging users to sign up for fraudulent rewards programs [...]

    • Press Gazette ☛ Irish News ‘overstated’ audience plant allegations against Stephen Nolan show, says IPSO

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • Citizen Lab ☛ Chilling Effects in the Digital Age

    Senior research fellow Jon Penney spoke with Michael Geist on the Law Bytes podcast about his new book.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • Scoop News Group ☛ FCC tightens KYC rules for telecoms, closes loophole for banned foreign services

    The commission wants telecoms to do more to verify their callers and prevent illegal calls and scams from reaching Americans.

  • Press Gazette ☛ Google, Meta and Amazon took two thirds of £46bn UK 2025 adspend

    Press Gazette analysis based on new AA/WARC data reveals extent three US tech giants dominate UK media.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • APNIC ☛ ReAct: Reflection attack mitigation for asymmetric routing

    Guest Post: DDoS attacks continue to be a destructive force on the Internet. ReAct was created to provide efficient and effective mitigation against AR-DDoS attacks, when routing is either symmetric or asymmetric.

• Digital Restrictions (DRM)

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Sony confirms PS4 and PS5 digital games don't require an online check-in every 30 days — new DRM policy only checks once for license to combat against refund scams

    The supposed new DRM policy surrounding digital PS4 and PS5 games has been finally debunked by Sony. You don't need to check-in online every 30 days for your games to still be playable, rather, only one check-in is required right after the game has been downloaded to convert a temporary license into a permanent one.

• Monopolies/Monopsonies

  • The Straits Times ☛ US names Vietnam as top concern country in intellectual property rights report [Ed: Shame list for blackmail (to adopt US laws overseas)]

    This raises the prospect of a new trade probe into the South-east Asian nation.

  • Patents

    • Unified Patents ☛ Two Chinese ETRI video codec patents held invalid after appeals

      After the China National IP Administration (CNIPA) invalidated the patents in administrative proceedings, and the Beijing IP Court upheld that invalidation, Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) filed a second appeal to China's Supreme People's Court. On April 30, 2026, Unified Patents received two judgements where China’s Supreme People's Court upheld the original invalidations on CN103384333B and CN104219523B.

    • Kangaroo Courts

      • JUVE ☛ UPC gives Frankfurt court priority in Samsung’s FRAND claim but revokes ZTE’s patent [Ed: UPC is illegal]

        On 18 March, Mannheim local division heard ZTE’s infringement action regarding EP 3 905 730. It was the first hearing of three infringement claims at the UPC between ZTE and Samsung. During the hearing presiding judge Peter Tochtermann addressed the topic of FRAND-rate setting.

      • JUVE ☛ German manufacturer free to supply wound care products to German Armed Forces [Ed: Also illegal]

        The German start-up Speed Care Mineral does not infringe a patent monopoly held by its major US competitor Teleflex. Judges Sabine Klepsch, Stefan Schilling, Stefan Johansson and Jeroen Meewisse denied patent monopoly infringement, further restricted the patent monopoly and rejected the counterclaim for revocation (case IDs: UPC_CFI_685/2024 and UPC_CFI_157/2025).

      • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ The Thin Margin Between “Generic Vascepa” and Active Inducement

        Hikma v. Amarin argument analysis: how the SG's framing collapsed the intent and conduct elements of induced patent monopoly infringement.

  • Copyrights

    • Public Domain Review ☛ Pyramid of the Capitalist System (1911)

      The working class undergirds everything in this cartoon of capitalist society.