Marvel Comics' Stan Lee Passes Away at 95; November 12, 2018

Kip Currier; Marvel Comics' Stan Lee Dies at 95

Marvel Comics' legend Stan Lee passed away today at the age of 95 in Los Angeles. In the 1960's, Lee collaborated with the late iconic artist Jack Kirby (and later, others as well) in co-creating many of Marvel's most famous superhero characters--the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, the Avengers, the X-Men, the Black Panther, and many more. Lee and Kirby's creations now rank among the most lucrative Intellectual Property in the "616 universe".

It's interesting to note the headlines that have been appearing today--some citing Lee as "creator", while others use "co-creator":

Stan Lee, creator of legendary Marvel comic book superheroes, dies at 95; NBC News

Comic Book Genius Stan Lee, Spider-Man Creator, Dies at 95; NBC San Diego 7

Stan Lee: Spider-Man, X-Men and Avengers creator dies aged 9; The Guardian

Marvel Comics co-creator Stan Lee dead at 95; ABC 13

Stan Lee, Marvel Comics writer, co-creator of the Avengers, X-Men and Spider-Man, dies aged 95; ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Marvel Comics Co-Creator Stan Lee Dead at 95; TMZ

Marvel Comics co-creator Stan Lee dead at 95; WGN 9

Destination Station: "Sharing the Wonders of YOUR International Space Station (ISS)"; Kip Currier, November 12, 2018

Kip Currier; Destination Station: "Sharing the Wonders of YOUR International Space Station (ISS)":

[Kip Currier: Tuesday, November 6, 2018 (also Midterms Election Day in the U.S.), the University of Pittsburgh hosted Destination Station--a NASA traveling educational effort to raise awareness of the 15-nations International Space Station, NASA's recent-past missions and future ones, and research conducted in space that yields real-world commercial opportunities and benefits here on Earth. Some of that research leads to "patentable subject matter", as I'll highlight below.

This is the press release that Pitt sent out before the 11/6/18 event:

"Destination Station is making its way to Pittsburgh and landing on Pitt’s campus at the University Club on Tuesday, November 6!

At Destination Station, NASA astronauts, scientists and staff partner with the ISS to share the real and potential impacts of the space station on our everyday lives through general public events, researcher meetings, educational activities and legislative discussions.

The space station utilizes microgravity, extreme conditions and low-Earth orbit to provide a unique science platform, which has currently enabled over 2,400 researchers in 95 countries to conduct more than 2,000 innovative experiments. Since 2000, the station has supported investigations in the areas of biology and biotechnology, human health, technology demonstrations and Earth, space and physical science. To learn more about the space station, please visit www.nasa.gov/station."

NASA Astronaut Mike Fincke, Col., USAF, gave a fascinating presentation. Col. Fincke is originally from Emsworth, Pennsylvania, just north of Pittsburgh. He was a member of the July 2011 final mission of The Endeavour Space Shuttle, which was also the historic final Space Shuttle mission (see here and here).

Col. Fincke told some very memorable stories, some with photos. One photo showed him as a young boy launching a rocket near the Buhl Planetarium (I remember fondly the excitement of visiting here as well, on school and family visits!), which was located on Pittsburgh's North Side. He noted how lucky it was that the photo managed to capture the trail of his rocket as it rose into the air--as this was before the many upshot options of digital photography! Little could he have imagined, he said, that some thirty years later, he would be strapped into a Soyuz Rocket at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazahkhstan, blasting up to the International Space Station, which was constructed between 1998 and 2011 by 15 nations, including the U.S.

He also showed some photos of other noteworthy experiences; like visiting the set of TV show Star Trek Enterprise (the underrated 2001-2005 prequel series to The Original Star Trek of the 1960's) and meeting actor Scott Bakula (top right image in the photo assortment below), who played Enterprise Captain Jonathan Archer.
(The beginning credits to Star Trek Enterprise show real footage of significant aviation and space exploration-related historical events--like the International Space Station at the 1:02 mark--with a few futuristic spacecraft renderings at the end, depicting the Trek universe's first deep space-venturing ships.)

Col. Fincke's talk provided background about the International Space Station (ISS).
One "Fun Fact": the Station orbits Earth once every 90 minutes (at an altitude of 256 miles above the planet). 

Here are some slides about research conducted in space:

Some examples of the kinds of research done on the Station. Col. Fincke mentioned that Proctor & Gamble secured several patents from the Colloidal Stability research. And that Flame Retardant findings help firefighters and consumers.

Col. Fincke shared his excitement about humans going to Mars and beyond, with spacecraft like the Orion:

 At the entrance to the University Club, where the event was held, a spacesuit greeted visitors:

A trailer parked outside offered a brief video about the International Space Station and a look at a rock from Earth's moon:

 

Satanic Temple Sues Over Goat-Headed Statue in ‘Sabrina’ Series; The New York Times, November 9, 2018

Julia Jacobs, The New York Times; Satanic Temple Sues Over Goat-Headed Statue in ‘Sabrina’ Series

"The Satanic Temple filed a lawsuit on Thursday against Warner Bros. and Netflix, alleging copyright violation of its goat-headed statue, which it says appears in the new “Sabrina” series.

The temple objected to the use of the statue’s likeness in the “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina,” which features a much darker portrayal of the teenage half-human, half-witch immortalized decades ago in Archie comics.

In the lawsuit, filed in United States District Court in Manhattan, the plaintiffs ask for at least $50 million for each alleged infraction: copyright infringement, trademark violation and injury to the business’ reputation. They also request an injunction barring the companies from redistributing the series with the image of the statue. The temple argues that the television show not only copied its conception of the deity — a muscled figure with two young children staring up at it — but also that it gives the statue and the Satanic Temple itself a bad rap."

Jeff Koons Is Found Guilty of Copying. Again.; The New York Times, November 8, 2018

Alex Marshall, The New York Times;

Jeff Koons Is Found Guilty of Copying. Again.


"On Thursday, a court in Paris ordered Mr. Koons, his company Jeff Koons L.L.C., the Pompidou Center and a book publisher to jointly pay Mr. Davidovici almost $170,000 for breach of copyright and damages caused. The amount is small compared to the value of Mr. Koons’s “Fait d’hiver,” which the Prada Foundation bought for over $4 million at auction in 2007.”

The U.S. must take action to stop Chinese industrial espionage; The Washington Post, November 4, 2018

Editorial Board, The Washington Post; The U.S. must take action to stop Chinese industrial espionage

"In fact, China’s industrial espionage is not a passing fancy but the pillar of a long-term drive to become a global economic, military and political power, with ambitions to rival the United States. Sadly, the hopes of the past two decades, that Beijing would become a fair competitor playing by international rules, have been dashed.

It is a good first response to indict the perpetrators in the Micron case, and for Mr. Sessions to bolster resources and attention to the threat. Beyond that, however, the United States must see the Chinese espionage for what it truly represents: the pursuit of superpower might by stealing the labor and investment of others. The economies of the United States and China are inexorably entwined, which will make confronting the espionage threat even harder. But it must be done. In the end, China will respond only to compulsion."

Open-access plan draws online protest; Science, November 8, 2018

Tania Rabesandratana, Science; Open-access plan draws online protest

"Hundreds of scientists are pushing back against Plan S, a plan to crack down on scholarly journals’ paywalls, launched 2 months ago by 11 national research funders in Europe. In an open letter published on 5 November, about 800 signatories say they support open access (OA)—making papers available free to all readers online—but condemn Plan S as “too risky for science.”"

In Favor of the Caselaw Access Project; The Harvard Crimson, November 7, 2018

The Crimson Editorial Board, The Harvard Crimson; In Favor of the Caselaw Access Project

"We hope that researchers will use these court opinions to further advance academic scholarship in this area. In particular, we hope that computer programmers are able to take full advantage of this repository of information. As Ziegler noted, no lawyer will be able to take full advantage of the millions of pages in the database, but computers have an advantage in this regard. Like Ziegler, we are hopeful that researchers using the database will be able to learn more about less understood aspects of the legal system — such as how courts influence each other and deal with disagreements. Those big-picture questions could not have been answered as well without the information provided by this new database.

This project is a resounding success for the Harvard Library, which happens also to be looking for a new leader. We hope that the person hired for the job will be similarly committed to projects that increase access to information — a key value that all who work in higher education should hold near and dear. In addition to maintaining the vast amounts of histories and stories already in the system, Harvard’s libraries should seek to illuminate content that may have been erased or obscured. There is always more to learn."

Harvard Converts Millions of Legal Documents into Open Data; Government Technology, November 2, 2018

Theo Douglas, Government Technology; Harvard Converts Millions of Legal Documents into Open Data

[Kip Currier: Discovered the recent launch of this impressive Harvard University-anchored Caselaw Access Project, while updating a lecture for next week on Open Data.

The free site provides access to highly technical data, full text cases, and even "quirky" but fascinating legal info...like the site's Gallery, highlighting instances in which "witchcraft" is mentioned in legal cases throughout the U.S.

Check out this new site...and spread the word about it!] 


"A new free website spearheaded by the Library Innovation Lab at the Harvard Law School makes available nearly 6.5 million state and federal cases dating from the 1600s to earlier this year, in an initiative that could alter and inform the future availability of similar areas of public-sector big data.

Led by the Lab, which was founded in 2010 as an arena for experimentation and exploration into expanding the role of libraries in the online era, the Caselaw Access Project went live Oct. 29 after five years of discussions, planning and digitization of roughly 100,000 pages per day over two years.

The effort was inspired by the Google Books Project; the Free Law Project, a California 501(c)(3) that provides free, public online access to primary legal sources, including so-called “slip opinions,” or early but nearly final versions of legal opinions; and the Legal Information Institute, a nonprofit service of Cornell University that provides free online access to key legal materials."

USMCA Sends Canada Back to the Drawing Board on Copyright Law; Centre for International Governance Innovation, October 3, 2018

Michael Geist, Centre for International Governance Innovation; USMCA Sends Canada Back to the Drawing Board on Copyright Law

"In the weeks leading up to the conclusion of the trade-pact negotiations, most of the attention was focused on supply management and the dairy sector, the threat of tariffs on the automotive industry and the future of dispute-resolution provisions. Yet, once the secret text was released just after midnight on Sunday, the mandated reform to Canadian copyright law became more readily apparent.

Leading the way is a requirement to extend the term of copyright protection from the current term of the life of the creator plus 50 years to the life of the creator plus 70 years. The additional years of protection will effectively lock down the public domain in Canada for two decades, with no new copyright expiry on works until 2040 (assuming the agreement takes effect in 2020)."

U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement: Intellectual Property Provisions for the Modern Age; Lexology, November 6, 2018

Kelley Drye & Warren LLP - Brooke M. Ringel, Lexology; U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement: Intellectual Property Provisions for the Modern Age

"The intellectual property (IP) chapter of the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), in particular, reflects significant updates.  While NAFTA included IP provisions – and was, in fact, the first trade agreement to do so – the USMCA reflects a more comprehensive approach to ensuring the United States’ most important trading partners respect and enforce IP rights at a high level."

NDAs Are Out of Control. Here’s What Needs to Change; Harvard Business Review, January 30, 2018

Orly Lobel, Harvard Business Review; NDAs Are Out of Control. Here’s What Needs to Change

[Kip Currier: Came across this article about Nondisclosure Agreements (NDAs) while updating a Trade Secrets lecture for this week. The author raises a number of thought-provoking ethical and policy issues to consider. Good information for people in all sectors to think about when faced with signing an NDA and/or managing NDAs.]

"Nondisclosure agreements, or NDAs, which are increasingly common in employment contracts, suppress employee speech and chill creativity. The current revelations surfacing years of harassment in major organizations are merely the tip of the iceberg.

New data shows that over one-third of the U.S. workforce is bound by an NDA. These contracts have grown not only in number but also in breadth. They not only appear in settlements after a victim of sexual harassment has raised her voice but also are now routinely included in standard employment contracts upon hiring. At the outset, NDAs attempt to impose several obligations upon a new employee. They demand silence, often broadly worded to protect against speaking up against corporate culture or saying anything that would portray the company and its executives in a negative light. NDAs also attempt to expand the definitions of secrecy to cover more information than the traditional bounds of trade secret law, in effect preventing an employee from leaving their employer and continuing to work in the same field."