Author: Ron Coleman

Google: Tool or trust?

Posted on by Ron Coleman

Five years ago I asked, “Is Google a utility?” : A utility, of course, is usually a “natural monopoly”; it provides some infrastructure-type product or service in a market where competition supposedly makes no economic sense. : Its profits are essentially assured but managed; its rates are regulated; it has little choice over with whom it may […]

 

Down the hole with the copyright trolls?

Posted on by Ron Coleman

Let us reflect a little on: what justice “copyright troll” Righthaven has wrought,: so far. : Wired weighs in on the latest Righthaven woes: A federal judge ruled Monday that publishing an entire article without the rights holder’s authorization was a fair use of the work, in yet another blow to newspaper copyright troll Righthaven. It’s not often […]

 

Lives my father told me

Posted on by Ron Coleman

A couple of weeks ago I finished my year of mourning for my late father. : So this is as good a moment as ever finally to commit to writing the post I had meant for so long to write — not an opus magnum about my dad, but an insight from a person who decided […]

 

The blogger “transparency” crackup

Posted on by Ron Coleman

It’s another big moment in blogger “transparency” upon us now. :  The general rule is that the person who hasn’t “disclosed” enough to meet some preposterous concept of transparency is the person who the writer is jealous of, or worse. : The current dart board is Tech Crunch. I saw this coming, now didn’t I? : I […]

 

A PC Slant

Posted on by Ron Coleman

  This story in the Northwest Asian Weekly about the trademark registration woes of a rock band called The Slants may sound familiar to people who follow such things: The Slants, whose members are of Asian descent, have amassed fans nationwide, taking the stage at dive bars, Asian festivals, anime conventions, and even serving on panels […]

 

The book Americans aren’t allowed to buy

Posted on by Ron Coleman

Two years ago I expressed my own criticism, and later: rounded up a number of other views, of the case brought by J.D. Salinger against a “sequel” to The Catcher in the Rye written by Fredrik Colting. : Last year, in a guest post, Matthew David Brozik added his own thoughts on the topic — right on […]

 

The libertarian fallacy

Posted on by Ron Coleman

Kevin Williamson at National Review online — the in-house newsletter of the U.S. conservative establishment (comments on columns may be made only during banking hours) — offers up this formulation, which I got to via Instapundit: Some fellow at The Economist has taken me to task for my description of socialism and communism: “The difference […]

 

It’s still Father’s Day

Posted on by Ron Coleman

It’s Father’s Day, so of course, I think of my dad. My father and I were never too alike. : He was a quiet kid, and I wasn’t. : He spoke via his actions. : On reflecting on my own father as a father, especially when I became : a father, I realized what a great dad he was. […]

 

Stimulated?

Posted on by Ron Coleman

On February 17, 2010, we learned that: all doubts had, in fact, been resolved with respect to the economic policy of FDR Slim: Today is the one-year anniversary of the landmark stimulus bill which most economists agree has staved off a second Great Depression. The evidence that the stimulus has worked is overwhelming – the New […]

 

Mark their words

Posted on by Ron Coleman

Jihad Watch and Atlas Shrugs — two websites run by friends of mine who have very clearly articulated views about Islamic radicalism, and controversial ones about what to do about it — are busy, and then some, with this story: A federal agency has rejected a request for a trademark by the organization “Stop Islamization […]

 

Love me, love my tie

Posted on by Ron Coleman

Jim Lindgren of the The Volokh Conspiracy writes (hat tip to Glenn Reynolds), a tad grudgingly, of a kinder, gentler left-wing Supreme Court nominee on the issue of the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies–that supposedly black-hearted fascist group I’ve been an active member of since 1985 (hence the: Federalist: Society tie in the above […]

 

“If you see something…” it’s probably “trademarked”

Posted on by Ron Coleman

A while ago, while obsessing about New York’s:  Metropolitan Transportation Authority and its obsession with turning what might have once merely been viewed as functional municipal signage or insignia into “IP” (intellectual property), I made fun of the MTA’s trademark application (since approved) for IF YOU SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING. So in light of last […]

 

Listing dangerously

Posted on by Ron Coleman

John: Mearsheimer, the new darling of the We Don’t Hate Jews, We Hate Zionists Society of Jew Haters,: explains his Selekzion process and proves he’s not a Nazi. : Unlike them, he says there: are some Good Jews: American Jews who care deeply about Israel can be divided into three broad categories.:  The first two are what I call […]

 

Taken in vain

Posted on by Ron Coleman

Talk about “scandalous and offensive” trademarks!: [P]hrases containing some form of “God” have been trademarked [sic] more than 3,400 times in the United States: “God answers knee-mail” and “All God’s Children Got Issues” and, of course, “T.G.I. Friday’s,” the restaurant chain. But where you have trademarks, you also have trademark infringement. Which is how Megan […]

 

That time of year

Posted on by Ron Coleman

You may not realize it, but this has, until fairly recently and going back about a millenium, been the scariest season of the year for Jews. : So it’s understandable that a lot of my fellow Jews still have a visceral feeling about non-Jews’ attitudes towards Jews, and particularly those of Christians. As I have written […]

 

Two Chinas, one value

Posted on by Ron Coleman

This item from Focus Taiwan didn’t end quite the way I expected it to: A group of legislators expressed grave concern Thursday about rampant infringements or abuse of Taiwanese trademarks by Chinese companies whose products have not only circulated in China but have also been exported around the world. Not just any legislators: : Taiwanese legislators. […]

 

Successes, I’ve had a few

Posted on by Ron Coleman

Success is hard to define.:  We think we know it when we see it.:  But we seldom do.:  In fact, more often than not we actually misidentify things such as material abundance, popularity or power “success.”:  They can in fact be correlative with success, but they are not success or even necessarily proof of success. […]

 

One whale of a disconnect

Posted on by Ron Coleman

I’m not someone who wants to see a killer whale killed just because it killed someone. : It’s what killer whales do, and of course Dawn Brancheau, the Seaworld trainer who was killed by an off-kilter orca yesterday, knew that well. : Still and all, there’s something not only circular but disturbing about the reasoning displayed in […]

 

Bottoms up!

Posted on by Ron Coleman

Today is the Jewish holiday of Purim. (Unlike the biblically-based Jewish holidays, this is one, like Chanuka, on which orthodox Jews such as myself are allowed to blog!) As well explained in the Book of Esther, it’s the holiday of turnabout, surprises, false identities, intrigue, perhaps some emotional legerdemain, and not a little spiritual confusion. […]

 

Lug me tender

Posted on by Ron Coleman

Should a law school be tendering seven figures of money to a minor league baseball team for stadium naming rights? : That is certainly a novel question. I tackled the whole concept of branding, memory and stadium names in the context of the Mets’ Citi Field deal a few years ago–but a bank is one thing. […]

 

Stimulus working? Not when it comes to thinking.

Posted on by Ron Coleman

My friend Aziz Poonawalla, via: Insty who, interestingly, links to the story guilelessly (I can’t buy a link these days—should I get a turban?),: lays it right out: Today is the one-year anniversary of the landmark stimulus bill which most economists agree has staved off a second Great Depression. The evidence that the stimulus has worked is […]

 

Poor excuse

Posted on by Ron Coleman

Did you hear about this travesty in Haiti? Earthquake victims, writhing in pain and grasping at life, watched doctors and nurses walk away from a field hospital Friday night after a Belgian medical team evacuated the area, saying it was concerned about security. The decision left CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Sanjay Gupta as the only […]

 

Peace in our time

Posted on by Ron Coleman

Iran’s nuclear arsenal is a problem for which the blame can be shared across all Western regimes.:  And I don’t blame Russia, China or North Korea, really, because they’re doing exactly what Russia, China and North Korea will do.:  But this is not a Republican or a Democrat thing; it’s a disaster thing and a […]

 

Fenstermaker agonistes

Posted on by Ron Coleman

I’ve been wondering when this part of the Khalid Sheik Mohammed story was going to get a little air ever since I heard them interviewing one of the members of his “dream team,” Scott Fenstermaker, on the radio. Ed Morrissey is very smart, but he’s missing something here about Fenstermaker: He is very, very stupid. […]