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Shaw's Law

Steven Shaw

Steven Shaw used to be a litigation attorney at Cravath, Swaine &gMoore, a New York law firm, and is now the online community managergfor eGullet.org and the Director of New Media Studies at thegInternational Culinary Center.

Latest Posts

Say goodbye to copyright in Canada, eh?

Last week's set of Canadian Supreme Court decisions gutting the copyright laws make me wonder whether there is any serious jurisprudence in Canada.

July 16, 2012 by Steven Shaw in Legal

Keep the United Nations out of the patent dialog

The United Nations has nothing to offer in the patent dialog and should stay out of it.

July 9, 2012 by Steven Shaw in Legal

The backlash against IP trolls will leave everyone without rights

The behavior of some patent and copyright "trolls" is distasteful, but this doesn't justify dismantling intellectual property law.

July 4, 2012 by Steven Shaw in Legal

Buy your Mac in Italy for a free extended warranty

Italian law says Apple must provide two years of support free. Seriously.

July 2, 2012 by Steven Shaw in Apple

FCC wasting time and taxpayer money on Comcast

I have to wonder if funding a bureaucracy like the FCC, which first must approve a merger like Comcast's and then levies minor fines for minor infractions while making grand claims and paying out bureaucrats' salaries, is taxpayer money well spent.

June 28, 2012 by Steven Shaw in Government: US

When patents protect Apple, are they okay?

Fanboys and Fangirls: what do you say about technology patents now that your beloved Apple is being protected by them?

June 27, 2012 by Steven Shaw in Legal

Facebook settlement dumber than originally thought

The $10 million Facebook "sponsored stories" settlement is actually a $10 million settlement plus $10 million in legal fees. And I wonder why people hate lawyers.

June 21, 2012 by Steven Shaw in Social Media

Can you patent a steak?

Cows have been around for ages, and nobody ever figured out how to butcher this particular steak. The inventors of this process have effectively made every cow worth more, and deserve a piece of the action.

June 21, 2012 by Steven Shaw in Legal

Bring on the Apple and Google spy planes

I find it hard to remember life before Google Maps. I want to see the service move forward, not back, Senator Schumer.

June 19, 2012 by Steven Shaw in Apple

How stupid do you have to be to think you'll have privacy on Facebook?

Facebook is a free service paid for by advertising. You want to use it for free, you have to accept some creepy ads.

June 17, 2012 by Steven Shaw in Social Media

Why we need software patents, and yes, I'm smarter than you

The minority, in this instance, is correct: software patents have an important role to play. Right and wrong are not determined by vote.

June 12, 2012 by Steven Shaw in Legal

Why we need software patents, part 3 of 3

There are improvements that can be made to the patent system, but they are the same types of incremental improvements every large system needs. Scrapping the system is just a bad idea.

June 11, 2012 by Steven Shaw in Legal

Why we need software patents, part 2 of 3

Given that we're progressing toward a society that makes its money through products of the mind not of the factory, our economic health depends on incentivizing our best and brightest to innovate, by making innovation a reliable way to accumulate wealth.

June 10, 2012 by Steven Shaw in Legal

Why we need software patents, part 1 of 3

The hardware/software distinction is another of those oft-repeated but intellectually nonsensical distinctions that we need to do away with if we are to have an intelligent discussion about software patents.

June 8, 2012 by Steven Shaw in Legal

Antitrust enforcement gone wild, eBook edition

The Department of Justice is breaking up a conspiracy. The only problem is that the whole point of this conspiracy is to defeat a monopoly. So the DOJ winds up supporting a monopoly. Nice.

June 7, 2012 by Steven Shaw in Amazon