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Topic: Patents

Keep the United Nations out of the patent dialog

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

Steven Shaw

By for Shaw's Law |

Our friends at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) are at it again. This time they're trying to fix the smartphone patents problem. Smartphone makers have been suing one another over patent infringement and asking for (and sometimes receiving) injunctions against importation. 

So, the ITU, which is the part of the UN that meddles in telecommunications, is doing what the UN does best: having a meeting. On October 10, representatives of various companies will be coming to Geneva to talk about smartphone patents.

Allow me to go on the record with a prediction: Nothing will happen.

Topics: Patents, Government

About

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.

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8 comments
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  • Someone's about to be on the receiving end of a very angry letter.

    Just sayin', since that's about all the UN is good for these days.
    Champ_Kind
    Reply 2 Votes

  • We need to keep the UN out of the US...

    completely. It is the most worthless organization and waste of taxpayer funds in existance.
    Test Subject
    Reply 3 Votes

  • Correction

    "Keep the United Nations out of the patent dialog"

    I think you mean "Keep the United Nations out of EVERYTHING". At it's very best, the UN is useless. At its worse, its a criminal organization.
    ForcedRegistrationSucks
    Reply 3 Votes

  • Not all bad

    The UN does some good - wait till your Japanese wife is killed on a Chinese airplane flying over France and you (American) need a lawyer to to inherit her villa in Italy. The UN has drafted a treaty which covers it; see also Law of the Sea Treaty. It suits some US politicians to bad mouth this stuff because they think the world should be a military dictatorship run from Washington DC and the UN gets in the way ...
    jw@...
    Reply 4 Votes

    • What the fruck???

      So, in order for me to reap one of the benifits the UN brings to me is to marry a Japanese woman and have her fly on a Chinese plan that is doomed to crash over the "land locked" country of France (minus the coast which is technically in the sea so Law of the Sea Treaty may apply) for my American lawyer to sue for my rights of ownership to property that belongs to me by international law...ever heard of Wills?

      Taken from the De Tullio Law Firm web page with Italy seat in Rome:
      "In absence of a Will the inheritance is devolved following the principles of the Legal Succession; in other means the Italian Civil Code (taken from Roman Law Tradition which pre-dates the UN) indicates a number of individuals (legitimate heirs) who take over the assets of the deceased. Such heirs are the spouse of the deceased and the relatives identified by the law starting from the closer ones until the 6th degree of connection. In simple terms the Italian legislator, in absence of a Will, decided to privilege the family rather than other parties. In absence of relatives within the 6th degree of connection the inheritance is devolved to the Italian State."

      Go figure...the UN out did itself.
      camaro889
      Reply 2 Votes

  • All in good time

    What do you mean, "nothing will happen"? They will hold a meeting to draft a plan to hold a conference to discuss a process! Once that's done, they'll appoint a committee to select the delegates to write the proposal to hire the consultant to run the study!
    Robert Hahn
    Reply 3 Votes

  • If the UN were so useless.......

    why does the US of A support the state of Israel so vehemently? As a creation of the UN they should give up on it entirely due to the uselessness of all that the UN does. Also why then go through the charade (as we now know it to be in the case of the invasion of Iraq) of UN sanctions on Iran. Just put together a 'coalition' and invade the country and 'pacify' (destroy) it!
    kmashraf
    Reply 1 Vote

    • ITU is just a tool of Russian and China

      The ITU is a joke.
      Yet another UN organization that is abused by countries like China and Iran for the purpose of subverting America.

      P.S. Fact: The ITU helped to thwart the US / Israel Flame cyber espionage spyware program.

      #imlookinginyourdirectionChina
      f0real
      Reply Vote
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