Leftovers

• Hackaday ☛ Introducing The Swiss Army… Tool?

  You’ve probably used one for everything from opening packages to stripping wires in a pinch (because you know better than to use your teeth). We’re talking about the blade of the iconic Swiss Army knife. And while there are many different models out there, they all feature at least one knife among their utensils. Until now.

• Hackaday ☛ An Audio Delay, The Garden Hose Way

  Creating music in 2024 is made easier by ready access to a host of effects in software that were once the preserve only of professional studios. One such is the delay; digital delays are now a staple of any production software where once they required infrastructure. [Look Mum No Computer] is no stranger to the world of Lo-Fi analogue music making, and along with his musical collaborator [Hainback], he’s created an analogue delay from an unexpected material: garden hose pipe.

• James G ☛ My plant

  The previous owner of the flat in which I live left a plant pot. A blue plant plot with patterns on its sides. I was left with no information about the plant. There was no message about what I could expect from the plant -- what type it was. I wondered: what would grow, if anything? As the months passed last year, the plant grew weeds then, seemingly from nowhere, thorns grew. I thought the thorns were weeds until, one day, a friend suggested otherwise. "James, those might be roses."

  My grandparents may see some humour in that story, the avid gardeners and flower appreciators they are. I always look up to the efforts of keeping the garden clear. Of growing new fruits and vegetables every year. Of cultivating a space where Nature is allowed to do its work (Which also means seeing the occasional cat or pheasant walking through your bushes!), with the requisite attention to allow the flowers and fruits to flourish.

  I was going to say that I want to embrace the plant outside, to help it thrive. Then I started worrying.

• James G ☛ What are effective ways to sift through new research?

  I have two problems when it comes to sifting through research papers, particularly on Arxiv.

  Problem #1: Discovering new information in established fields

  The first is wading through significant amounts of research on a topic in which I am actively involved. For me, this is the field of computer vision. I like to stay on top of new model architectures, some of which I go on to use or integrate into software that I maintain. The four main ways in which I find novel research in computer vision to look at further is: [...]

• James G ☛ Ideas, various and sundry

  Perhaps I have some kind of imposter syndrome when it comes to believing that I can have interesting (to me) ideas. I often think that someone else will come up with a better idea for something -- for example, a new topic to write about, or a new project to work on. I can hear a good idea and think "wow!", but see myself more as someone who implements the ideas than comes up with them.

  This, however, is unfair to me: writing is all about exploring ideas. Perhaps I am comparing myself to others too much; thinking that my ideas should be about something when, in fact, my ideas take a different form. Or perhaps my feelings come from my lived experiences of feeling lonely, in which I talk to fewer people. Indeed, I often have new ideas when I am talking with others: if I don't talk with people, fewer ideas flow.

  I can have novel ideas. I need to keep telling myself that. I also need to remember that my creativity is my own; what is an idea to me may be smaller or take a different form than an idea from someone else. And I need to remember that conversations beget ideas, and not to blame myself for feeling less creative or that I can't have big ideas for things to make.

• Hackaday ☛ POV Digital Clock Is The Literal Sands Of Time

  Sand has been used to keep track of the passage of time since antiquity. But using sand to make a persistence of vision digital clock (English translation) is something altogether new. And it’s pretty cool, too.

• Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Terror trial: Leader of Hong Kong radical group spent crowdfunding money on gambling, sex worker, court hears

  The leader of Hong Kong radical group “Dragon Slayers” has admitted to spending crowdfunding donations raised during the 2019 protests and unrest on gambling and a sex worker during his testimony at the city’s first-ever terrorism trial.

• Reason ☛ California Students Get $1 Million After They Were Expelled for Wearing Supposedly Racist Acne Masks

  School officials falsely accused the boys of posing for a photo in blackface.

• Science

  • Science Alert ☛ These Snakes Fake Their Own Deaths, And They Even Use Special Effects

    An incredible deception.

• Hardware

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ LG Display looks to sell off its last LCD plant in China as it pivots to more profitable OLED panels

    As OLED display technology becomes more dominant and profitable, longtime manufacturers are ditching their LCD business assets.

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ China seizing TSMC would be 'devastating' for U.S. economy, Commerce Secretary says

    If China captures Taiwan and TSMC, this will be a major blow for U.S.-based companies and economy, which is why U.S. invests in its own semiconductor production, says Gina Raimondo.

  • Hackaday ☛ Ask Hackaday: Do You Calibrate Your Instruments?

    Like many of you, I have a bench full of electronic instruments. The newest is my Rigol oscilloscope, only a few years old, while the oldest is probably my RF signal generator that dates from some time in the early 1950s. Some of those instruments have been with me for decades, and have been crucial in the gestation of countless projects.

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Commodore 64 runs Hey Hi (AI) to generate images — takes 20 minutes per 90 iterations to make 64 pixels

    Nickbild on Microsoft's proprietary prison GitHub creates and documents a Commodore 64 Hey Hi (AI) sprite generator.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • France24 ☛ French health minister visits overseas territory Mayotte after cholera death

    France's health chief said Thursday that the response to the cholera epidemic on the country's Indian Ocean island of Mayotte has been "adequate" – a day after its first cholera-related death.

  • Science Alert ☛ Sweet Vapes, Deadly Risk? New Study Finds Dangers Lurk in Popular Flavors

    We've created a new health crisis.

  • Latvia ☛ Protesters rally for better cystic fibrosis care in Latvia

    With messages like “Don't put our kids in the way of getting medication,” “cystic fibrosis - the fight we need to win!” and other slogans, parents of cystic fibrosis patients picketed outside the Saeima on May 9.

  • Off Guardian ☛ AstraZeneca just pulled their Covid jab….why?

    British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca is halting production and supply of their Covid19 “vaccine”. The news was announced yesterday, following the European Medicines Agency declaration that the shot would no longer be cleared for use.

• Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)

  • 'It's No Longer Xbox, but Microsoft Gaming.' Brand Veterans Explain Recent Layoffs

    Even before the announcement of more layoffs, Xbox veterans confirmed that Microsoft bosses have now begun to interfere more in the company's games division.

  • Games ☛ Microsoft's mystifying mismanagement | This Week in Business

    The big news this week was Microsoft taking an axe to the ZeniMax studio system, shutting down Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks, Redfall studio Arkane Austin, and Mighty Doom maker Alpha Dog Studios. Roundhouse Studios will also cease to exist, with Microsoft saying the team will join ZeniMax Online Studios.

    People often associate layoffs with a struggling company that must get rid of people because it doesn't have the money to pay them anymore. That is absolutely not the case here. This is at least the fourth round of layoffs at Microsoft in the past year-and-a-half, a span which has been the most profitable stretch in the company's history.

  • Mirror UK ☛ Xbox Game Pass price increase could be happening in exchange for Call of Duty

    After shuttering three Bethesda studios (and turning another into a support studio for The Elder Scrolls Online), Xbox management apparently isn't done with making terrible decisions that will continue to send its brand into the toilet. Reports have come out in the time since, that claim that after spending almost $70billion to nab Call of Duty as part of the Microsoft Activision deal, the series may not even be coming to Xbox Game Pass. If it does, we could be looking at an Xbox Game Pass price increase to ensure the franchise gets added to the subscription service. This is all according to a report from The Verge's Tom Warren

  • Xbox Layoffs Partially Blamed on Activision Blizzard Acquisition

    Former Microsoft employees have suggested that the company’s purchase of Activision Blizzard is partially to blame for ongoing Xbox layoffs. While some employees have been speaking on condition of anonymity, former Microsoft gaming PR executive Brad Hilderbrand has openly voiced his concerns about Game Pass, and the consequences of Activision Blizzard’s purchase.

  • Fallout 76 players keep nuking Xbox boss Phil Spencer in protest of studio closures

    Luckily for Spencer, the nukes going off are inside the wasted world of Fallout 76. Still, it sends a clear message that players aren’t too impressed with Xbox right now.

  • Xbox Shuts Down Four Studios, And More Will Follow

    This week couldn't have been more bizarre than this in the history of the gaming industry. While Sony's PSN unrest with Helldivers 2 and censorship issues with Stellar Blade seemed to be settling, on May 7, Microsoft announced the closure of four studios, which will result in the cancellation of many games. Things only got worse when Microsoft abruptly shut down three Studios: Tango Gameworks, which developed Hi-Fi Rush, Arcane Austin, which developed Redfall, and Alpha Dog Games, which developed Mighty Doom.

    Bloomberg reports that as part of a broad effort to decrease costs at Xbox, more developers would be let go. Everyone seems to be engrossed in the notion that Xbox is being completely ignored by Microsoft's shifting priorities and strategy. Anyone who has ever trusted Xbox before will find that this is something that will be spoken about for quite some time. They had previously terminated the jobs of 1,900 workers at Microsoft, and now they are closing down Bethesda's Arkane Austin, Alpha Dog Games, Tango Gameworks, and Roundhouse Studios. In the process, they discarded one of the company's most successful new franchises in recent years.

  • Metro UK ☛ PS5 and Xbox console sales are down 25% on last year in the UK

    Gaming’s annus horribilis continues, as hardware sales fall by 30% compared to 2023 and there are no new entries in the UK software top 10.

    When discussing Microsoft’s recent closure of multiple Bethesda studios, it’s important to point out that while their action seem short-sighted and callous, their central concern, that the traditional video games market is no longer growing, is entirely valid.

  • Publisher of RPG Soulslike Labeled an Elden Ring Competitor Announces Devastating Layoffs Amid Game Pass Release Confirmation

    The gaming industry's ongoing trend of layoffs continues, with multiple schools closing and going ahead with layoffs.

  • GO Media ☛ Game Theory: Microsoft killed some damn fine game studios this week

    Things haven’t been good in the world of video game creation for a minute; it’s never especially good, for instance, when Wikipedia has a whole separate article just to cover a specific slate of business closures in your industry. But even with that caveat, the stats on the site’s “2023-2034 video game industry layoffs” page are still pretty depressing: More than 10,000 people laid off at several major studios over the last two years, with dozens of other shops closing outright. This, in what’s generally been a banner couple of years, from a critical point of view; games are doing great, apparently, but the people making them, not so much.

  • With Devs Like Tango Gameworks Getting Sunsetted, Creative Gaming Has No Future

    In a very ridiculous move, Microsoft has killed the brilliant Tango Gameworks, among other studios.

  • New York Times ☛ Apple Says Destructive iPad Ad ‘Missed the Mark’

    People in the creative world widely panned a commercial showing a giant hydraulic press squishing objects ranging from paint cans to a piano.

  • Windows Central ☛ 'Oh Frick Go Back' is a new app (by a Linux dev, gasp) that saves you from Microsoft's 'comically bad' Windows 11 Start menu and its intrusive ad campaign

    Maddy, a programmer using Linux as her daily driver recently developed a third-party tool to help Windows users remove ads from Windows 11.

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • Reason ☛ The Government Fears This Privacy Tool

      The Department of Justice indicted the creators of Samourai Wallet, an application that helps people spend their bitcoins anonymously.

    • AccessNow ☛ Position paper: GDPR enforcement done right

      EDRi and Access Now have co-drafted a position paper on the EU Proposal for additional procedural rules concerning the General Data Protection Regulation.

    • JURIST ☛ ECHR rules Albania violated court access rights and right to private and family life of citizen

      The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Tuesday ruled by a majority that Albania violated the right of access to justice of the applicant after his son was severely beaten up at school.

    • IT Wire ☛ News Corp mantra: Surveillance Giant Google good, Facebook (Farcebook) very bad

      The Australian's James Madden and Sophie Elsworth had a good time with the report on Meta, writing: "The decision by tech giant Meta to abandon payment-for-content deals with news outlets, and its failure to monitor publishing of harmful and illegal material on its social control media platforms, will be the focus of a federal parliamentary inquiry.

      "The Albanese Government will establish a joint parliamentary select committee to investigate the consequences of Meta walking away from its financial deals with news media companies, and the impact that decision will have on Australian society."

• Defence/Aggression

  • RFERL ☛ Gunmen Kill 7 Barbers In Pakistan's Volatile Balochistan Province

    Attackers fatally shot seven barbers before dawn on May 9 in a home in a volatile province in southwestern Pakistan, police and a government official said.

  • France24 ☛ Israel strikes Gaza's Rafah despite US warning on arms transfers

    Israeli warplanes struck Gaza's crowded southern city of Rafah Thursday after US President Joe Biden vowed to stop supplying artillery shells and other weapons to Israel if a full-scale assault goes ahead.

  • JURIST ☛ Sri Lanka security forces continue to abduct and torture Tamil civilians: human rights group report

    Sri Lankan security forces continue to impose abduction and torture on Tamil civilians, a Wednesday report from the International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP) revealed.

  • JURIST ☛ Human rights groups call on France to hold Bashar Al-Assad accountable for 2013 chemical attacks

    Syrian and international human rights groups and victims’ associations called upon the French government to support the independent investigation against Bashar Al-Assad on the 2013 Syrian chemical attack in a joint statement published on Wednesday.

  • Meduza ☛ President of Tajikistan: Crocus City Hall attack did ‘serious damage’ to country’s image — Meduza

  • New York Times ☛ Stormy Daniels Makes a Statement in Court for Trump’s Criminal Trial

    During her time on the stand in former President Donald J. Trump’s criminal trial, the adult entertainer dressed for history — and a jury.

  • JURIST ☛ India ruling party deletes X post targeting Muslims after Election Commission order

    A post made by the Karnataka branch of India’s ruling political party, BJP, was deleted from X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday, following an order by the Election Commission of India (ECI). Indian media reported that the post was no longer visible, with a message saying, “This page doesn’t exist.”

  • New Yorker ☛ The Pure Chaos Inside Donald Trump’s Criminal Trial

    Stifled by a court-imposed gag order, the former President must sit and listen to hours of “at times tedious, at times embarrassing, at times damning evidence against him,” the staff writer Eric Lach says.

  • Reason ☛ Nico Perrino: When Does Protesting Become a Crime?

    Executive VP of FIRE Nico Perrino discusses the history and legality of campus protests.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • RFERL ☛ Days After Ordering Nuclear Drills, Putin Warns Of Rising Global Risks

      Just days after announcing military exercises involving tactical nuclear weapons, Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned of the rising risk of a global conflict.

    • RFERL ☛ Putin, Pashinian Agree On Withdrawal Of Russian Troops From Some Armenian Regions

      Russian border guards will withdraw from a number of regions of Armenia but will continue to be deployed on the Armenian-Turkish and Armenian-Iranian border following an agreement between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin said on May 9.

    • France24 ☛ Putin says Russia's nuclear forces are 'always' on alert in Victory Day speech

      President Vladimir Putin on Thursday warned his nuclear forces were "always" on alert and added that Moscow would not tolerate any Western threats during an address on the annual Victory Day parade.

    • Atlantic Council ☛ Putin’s one tank victory parade is a timely reminder Russia can be beaten

      Putin's one tank victory parade reflects the catastrophic scale of Russian losses in Ukraine and is a reminder that behind the facade of overwhelming strength, the Russian army is far from invincible, writes Peter Dickinson.

• Environment

  • Energy/Transportation

    • YLE ☛ Burning smell leads to flight evacuation at Helsinki airport

      The domestic flight from Helsinki to Kokkola was carrying a government minister as well as four members of parliament, according to Finnish media reports.

    • Meduza ☛ A shrinking giant Gazprom’s losses on the European market have left the company in the red. Increased exports to China might not be enough to compensate. — Meduza

    • DeSmog ☛ Net Zero Ministers Met Oil and Gas Representatives Twice a Week in 2023

    • JURIST ☛ China plans to strengthen lithium battery industry regulations

      China sought to solicit public opinion towards the draft regulations, aiming at regulating its rapidly growing lithium battery industry on Wednesday. The rules, proposed by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, are designed to curb unchecked expansion and promote sustainable and high-quality development within the sector. 

    • Atlantic Council ☛ China builds more utility-scale solar as competition with coal ramps up

      China's transition to more utility-scale solar installations furthers its decarbonization efforts. However, regional resource limitations, limited interprovincial electricity transfers, and cheap coal present structural and economic headwinds.

    • New York Times ☛ For an Uncool Car, the Chevy Malibu Made a Huge Mark on the Culture

      An unassuming car had a surprisingly large cultural footprint.

• Finance

  • The Strategist ☛ Australia’s future must be made in global supply chains

    Economists hate it, and nationalists yearning for the Australia of yore love it.

  • RFA ☛ Chinese rapper’s song about growing up poor goes viral

    'Factory' lays bare scenes of poverty, pollution and hopelessness in his hometown.

  • CCIA ☛ California Considers Another Digital Tax with Harmful Consequences

    California legislators recently unveiled the state’s latest misguided attempt to rebuild the local news industry — SB 1327.

  • Mexico News Daily ☛ Inflation in Mexico rose in April; central bank expected to hold off on rate cut

    The April inflation data was published ahead of the Bank of Mexico's monetary policy meeting on Thursday.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • New York Times ☛ In Budapest, Pooh-tin Hails China’s ‘Deep Friendship’ With Hungary

    The Chinese leader met with Viktor Orban, the Hungarian prime minister, one of China’s most fervent admirers and protectors in Europe.

  • RFERL ☛ Orban Meets With Xi, Calls China 'One Of The Pillars Of New World Order'

    China and Hungary will expand cooperation in several areas, including in the nuclear power industry, Hungarian Prime Minister Vitkor Orban announced in Budapest on May 9 after talks with visiting Chinese President Pooh-tin Jinping.

  • The Straits Times ☛ US committee targets Georgia Tech's alleged ties to Chinese military linked research

    WASHINGTON - A U.S. congressional committee on China has asked leading research university Georgia Institute of Technology to detail its collaboration with a Chinese university facing U.S. government restrictions due to its alleged ties to the country's military.

  • CS Monitor ☛ On rare visit, Pooh-tin Jinping tries to rescue China’s relationship with Europe

    Beijing once hoped Europe’s quest for independence from Washington would lean the Continent toward China. Nothing could be further from the truth.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China’s Pooh-tin Jinping in Hungary to celebrate ‘new era’ with Viktor Orban

    By Ludovic Ehret Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban will host Chinese President Pooh-tin Jinping in Budapest on Thursday in a bid to strengthen already flourishing ties between Beijing and its closest EU ally. The state visit to Hungary is the last leg of Xi’s European tour, his first since 2019.

  • France24 ☛ China’s clean car manufacturers find a European foothold in Hungary

    Years of under-investment in electric vehicle technologies and supply chains have left European carmakers struggling to keep up with their Chinese competitors. But even as the EU debates putting up trade barriers against electric vehicles imported from China, Chinese automakers are investing hundreds of millions in setting up their very own European factories in Viktor Orban’s Hungary.

  • RFA ☛ China-Cambodia joint military exercise to kick off on May 16

    Four Chinese warships are joining the Golden Dragon exercise, making it their biggest-ever joint sea drills.

  • RFA ☛ China’s third aircraft carrier completes first sea trial

    The Fujian still needs months of trials before launching test flights with modern catapult system.

  • The Strategist ☛ US-China cooperation remains possible

    When US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Beijing last month in an effort to stabilise relations with China, many of the issues that he discussed with Chinese President Pooh-tin Jinping were highly contentious.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • New York Times ☛ Colson Whitehead Cancels His Commencement Speech at UMass Amherst

    The author said he made the decision after the university called the police to remove peaceful protesters from their encampments.

  • RFA ☛ Pro-China activists harass Tibetan protesters in Hungary during Xi’s visit

    They rip up banners and block the demonstrators with flags of China.

  • MIT Technology Review ☛ Hong Kong is targeting Western Big Tech companies in its new ban of a popular protest song

    It wasn’t exactly surprising when, on Wednesday May 8, a Hong Kong appeals court sided with the city government to take down “Glory to Hong Kong” from the internet.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • Press Gazette ☛ Foreign Office whistleblower sacked after being outed by BillBC journalist

    Foreign Office worker sacked for disclosures to BillBC over Kabul animal evacuation in 2021.

  • Press Gazette ☛ Facebook’s referral traffic for publishers down 50% in 12 months

    Referrals to news sites from Facebook (Farcebook) have fallen 50% in one year

  • New York Times ☛ Israel’s Shutdown of Al Jazeera Highlights Long-Running Tensions

    The network will keep covering the war in Gaza, but it will be harder for Israelis to watch. Israel calls the network a security threat, while Al Jazeera says Israel wants to conceal its brutality.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Jimmy Lai trial: Apple Daily’s parent firm narrowed its losses in lead up to its closure, court hears

    The parent company that owns the Apple Daily newspaper saw an improvement in its financial situation in the months ahead of a police raid, arrests, and its eventual shutdown, the national security trial of media mogul Jimmy Lai has heard.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • The Straits Times ☛ ST Picks: Shining a light on school bullying in China

  • Reason ☛ Labor Board Goes After Amazon CEO for Suggesting Workers Might Be 'Better Off' Without Unions

    The First Amendment applies even to the CEOs of successful companies, but the NLRB seems to disagree.

  • ACLU ☛ In Austin, a Lawyer is a Luxury

    A lot of people are surprised to hear they may not get a lawyer at their first bail hearing: “Don’t I have a right to an attorney?”

    You should – that’s what the ACLU has argued in court in Galveston, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Utah. But half of U.S. states do not guarantee counsel at first appearance. In these states, first appearance is typically a rushed proceeding where magistrates (limited-purpose judges) rubber-stamp detention orders without entertaining arguments to let people out of jail. This “hearing” often takes place inside the jail with no means of public access. Without defenders present to fight on behalf of arrestees, and without the check of public accountability, the gross unfairness resulting from the lack of counsel can be lost on even the most well-meaning public officials.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• Patents

  • JUVE ☛ Supponor turns sport stadium advertising dispute against AIM Sport in Germany

    Following developments at appeals courts in the UK and Germany, Supponor and Sportfive may once again use an older version of hardware-based technology for sports stadium advertising in Germany.

  • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Major Proposed Changes to Terminal Disclaimer Practice (and You are Not Going to Like it)

    The USPTO recently issued a notice of proposed rulemaking that could significantly impact patent monopoly practice, particularly in the realm of terminal disclaimers filed to overcome non-statutory double patenting rejections.  Under the proposed rule, a terminal disclaimer must include an agreement that the patent monopoly will be unenforceable if it is tied directly or indirectly to another patent monopoly that has any claim invalidated or canceled based on prior art (anticipation or obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 102 or 103). The new enforceability requirement would be in addition to the existing provisions that require a terminal disclaimer to match the expiration date of the disclaimed patent monopoly to the referenced patent monopoly and promise enforcement only during common

  • Microsoft hit with $242 million US verdict in Cortana patent lawsuit

    Microsoft must pay patent owner IPA Technologies $242 million, a federal jury in Delaware said on Friday after determining that Microsoft’s Cortana virtual-assistant software infringed an IPA patent.

    The jury agreed with IPA after a week-long trial that Microsoft’s voice-recognition technology violates IPA’s patent rights in computer-communications software.

    IPA is a subsidiary of patent-licensing company Wi-LAN, which is jointly owned by Canadian technology company Quarterhill and two investment firms. It bought the patent and others from SRI International’s Siri Inc, which Apple acquired in 2010 and whose technology it used in its Siri virtual assistant.

    “We remain confident that Microsoft never infringed on IPA’s patents and will appeal,” a Microsoft spokesperson said.

• Trademarks

  • TTAB Blog ☛ TTAB Orders Cancellation of UBANK Registration for Banking Services, Rejects Laches Defense and Suggested Geographical Carve-Out

    In this mostly straightforward cancellation proceeding, Respondent UBANK (Texas) conceded that Petitioner UBANK TN was the first user of the mark UBANK for banking services. Respondent claimed, however, that petitioner's prior use resulted in "minimal market penetration," asserted that the challenged registration should survive with a carve-out granting rights to Petitioner that are geographically limited to Jellico, Tennessee, and argued laches as an affirmative defense. The Board was unimpressed and it granted the petition for cancellation. UBANK (TN) v. UBANK, Cancellation No. 92078890 (May 1, 2024) [not precedential] (Opinion by Judge Martha B. Allard).

• Copyrights

  • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Supreme Court Affirms Availability of Back-Damages Under Copyright Discovery Rule

    On May 9, 2024, the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Warner Chappell Music v. Nealy, No. 22-1078, 601 U.S. ___ (2024), resolving a circuit split over the availability of back-damages in copyright monopoly infringement cases. In a 6-3 decision authored by Justice Kagan, the Court affirmed the Eleventh Circuit’s ruling, permitting recovery of damages for acts that occurred more than three years before the filing of the lawsuit under the “discovery accrual rule.”