GregSJ 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (25)

• On the post: Elon Musk Effectively Admits That He Set Fire To More Than Half Of Twitter’s Value

  

  GregSJ ( profile ), 27 Mar, 2023 @ 05:11pm

  I'm not angry I'm just disappointed

  Mike, I expected better of you than this lazy reporting. As other have mentioned what Elon paid doesn't mean it is what he thought the present market value was at that time. Potential data points of real market value: Twitter's market cap on January 28th, 2022 (right before Elon reportedly started buying shares): $28.2B April 1st, 2022 (right before Elon announced he acquired 9.2% of Twitter): $31.47B September 30th, 2022 (right before Elon announced he would go through with the acquisition): $33.55B Similarly it has been reported that, Elon tried to negotiate for $31B as the purchase price during the lawsuit. If I'm steel manning the argument, the best valid market price we have is the one prior to him acquiring a large number of shares ($28.2B on January 28th, 2022). Using that date and the $20B "valuation" Twitter has lost 29% of it's value. In comparison over that same time period (January 28th, 2022 to today): Facebook has lost 37% Amzn has lost 34% Goog has lost 25% Netflix has lost 14% Apple has lost 12% So while I'm happy the 29% loss is his and not mine, Twitter appears to be performing in the middle of the pack when compared to FAANG making it very hard to claim he set fire to the value of the company.

• On the post: Rosetta Stone Says Google Is A 'Gateway For Criminals'; Urges Congress To Make Google Liable For Infringement Via COICA

  

  GregSJ ( profile ), 01 Mar, 2011 @ 12:27pm

  Re: For just introductory learning ...

  I second using Pimsleur language learning system. I had tried Rosetta briefly in the past and didn't find it to be very engaging or help much with retention.
  
  Pimsleur on the other hand has been much more engaging and I have retained a high percentage without even really trying (you just have to keep pushing play).

• On the post: Heroes Producer: Honored To Be The Most Unauthorized Downloaded Show

  

  GregSJ ( profile ), 17 Mar, 2010 @ 10:22am

  Re: Re: Re:

  Love the idea of alternate versions.
  
  As far as contractual obligations, might be time to start re-negotiating bad contracts if they are losing you money...

• On the post: Heroes Producer: Honored To Be The Most Unauthorized Downloaded Show

  

  GregSJ ( profile ), 16 Mar, 2010 @ 01:35pm

  Re:

  Instead of just saying "feel free ..." why not create a torrent themselves. In full HD quality with commercials. It seems to me by tracking the torrent they would be able to give advertiser considerably more data. Specifically they could report on how many people downloaded the show, geographic region, etc.
  
  By giving people the content they want at quality they could minimize illegal downloads and give advertisers added value by inserting their commercials into the downloaded versions.

• On the post: Louis Vuitton Sues Hyundai Over A Louis Vuitton Basketball

  

  GregSJ ( profile ), 04 Mar, 2010 @ 01:04pm

  Re: Re: Dilution not confusion

  No one ever said lobbying didn't pay ...

• On the post: Louis Vuitton Sues Hyundai Over A Louis Vuitton Basketball

  

  GregSJ ( profile ), 03 Mar, 2010 @ 10:25am

  Dilution not confusion

  The real meat of LV's claim is not in Trademark confusion but rather the dilution of the LV mark to stand for generic luxury rather than their line of goods. (Dilution is the diminishing of a famous mark’s distinctiveness. It is actionable regardless of confusion or competition - see 15 USC 1125) The problem, from the view of most Techdirt readers, is that dilution treats Trademarks as though they are the intellectual property of the owners rather than as the means of minimizing customer confusion. Thus the problem with LV's lawsuit is more of a general disagreement behind the purpose of trademark law than the lawsuit itself. That being said I doubt there was any actual dilution here but thanks to the Trademark Dilution Revision Act of 2006 all LV needs to prove is that the basketball was likely to cause dilution.

• On the post: Calling For An Independent Invention Defense In Patents

  

  GregSJ ( profile ), 24 Nov, 2009 @ 01:04pm

  Re: Re: Re: Just how could you prove it was done independently?

  Steven,
  For an independent invention defense you would probably need to prove independent invention/lack of copying. For example the insanity defense is an affirmative defense. There the defense must prove insanity; the prosecution is under no burden to prove sanity.

• On the post: Calling For An Independent Invention Defense In Patents

  

  GregSJ ( profile ), 24 Nov, 2009 @ 11:31am

  Re: Just how could you prove it was done independently?

  Michial,
  First since disclosure is not immediate on filing there should also be post invention prior disclosure.
  
  Second, just because independent invention would be difficult to prove does not make it impossible. The standard is preponderance of evidence not absolute proof or even reasonable doubt/

• On the post: Calling For An Independent Invention Defense In Patents

  

  GregSJ ( profile ), 24 Nov, 2009 @ 11:06am

  I believe the economic theory behind not having an independent inventor defense is that by giving all the rewards to the first inventor there is increased incentive to invent and disclose as soon as possible. In theory this increases the speed of invention. Again in theory, the public good of earlier invention and disclosure outweighs the cost of decreased competition and increased price.
  
  However I (and most economists I have spoken to) believe this theory fails to take into account the slowing of improvements or other future inventions due to patent infringement and legal uncertainties. As a result while the public good for the first invention may outweigh the costs, one of the first invention's costs is slowing of future inventions as patent boundaries and licenses are determined. As this increases exponentially based on the number of patents and the difficulty in making the information available to the inventor the costs begin to outweigh the benefits and the economic theory fails.

• On the post: Ralph Lauren And Its Lawyers Discover The Streisand Effect On Bogus DMCA Takedown

  

  GregSJ ( profile ), 07 Oct, 2009 @ 09:10am

  "In the meantime, it makes you wonder what the hell anyone was thinking in sending out such a bogus DMCA. Do people really not recognize the consequences?"
  
  Apparently someone doesn't as this continues to happen. It's either poor lawyering or clients who are unwilling to heed their lawyers' advice (I'm guessing the first). To me this is a sign that I will be successful post law school even in this over crowded JD market; it is clear that too many people don't understand the legal and business implications of their decisions.

• On the post: That Whole Watch An Ad To Get Content Thing? Patented… And The Patent Holder Has Been Suing

  

  GregSJ ( profile ), 02 Oct, 2009 @ 07:23pm

  I actually researched this patent as part of my summer internship after my 1L year. It is definitely proof the USPTO needs to work on its POSITA standard.

• On the post: Free MP3s… If You Sit Through An Ad

  

  GregSJ ( profile ), 01 Oct, 2009 @ 04:31pm

  trueanthem

  There is another site that has been around for a 1.5 now that does something similar. Instead of a video ad before downloading content you get DRM-free content but with a advertisement at the start of the song. The ads seem to primarily be the artist introducing the song like a dj and saying brought to you by ________ advertiser.
  
  So far the site appears to only have independent bands.
  
  It's an interesting business model with a presumably cheaper CPM. While I expected the ads to be incredibly annoying I have found that they aren't that noticeable. It's not necessarily the answer but it is another model trying to make it work.
  
  www.trueanthem.com

• On the post: Is It So Crazy For A Patent Attorney To Think Patents Harm Innovation?

  

  GregSJ ( profile ), 01 Oct, 2009 @ 09:56am

  For a great overview of Economics and Patent law I highly recommend David D. Friedman's book Law's Order: WWhat Economics Has to Do with Law and Why It Matters

• On the post: Is It So Crazy For A Patent Attorney To Think Patents Harm Innovation?

  

  GregSJ ( profile ), 01 Oct, 2009 @ 09:54am

  Law & Economy

  For a great overview of the concepts of Economics and Patent law I highly recommend David Friedman's Book Laws Order: What Economics Has to Do with Law and Why It Matters which he has made available online here: http://daviddfriedman.com/laws_order/index.shtml (specifically chapter 11 on IP)

• On the post: Connecting With Fans Via Live Theater As Well…

  

  GregSJ ( profile ), 30 Sep, 2009 @ 10:14pm

  Further proof it worked. Just bought tickets to next weeks show. Haven't been to an ACT performance in years.

• On the post: Apple Warns Palm Pre Users: We're Going To Break Your iTunes Syncing

  

  GregSJ ( profile ), 17 Jun, 2009 @ 04:16pm

  Apple lawsuit

  Mike,
  Isn't apple involved in an anti-trust lawsuit in Europe about its failure to allow other devices to connect to iTunes?

• On the post: Yet Another Study Shows That Weaker Copyright Benefits Everyone

  

  GregSJ ( profile ), 17 Jun, 2009 @ 01:03pm

  "How much do you want to bet Congress will ignore it?"
  Sadly a lot.
  
  Thanks for the find Mike.

• On the post: Copyright Infringement Requires A Lot More Than Vague Similarities

  

  GregSJ ( profile ), 11 Jun, 2009 @ 09:44pm

  Mike,
  This one could be really simple: contingency fee. Or just a gamble that the relatively low appeals cost was worth the potential multi-million dollar judgment

• On the post: Entertainment Industry Pushes To Make Mininova Useless

  

  GregSJ ( profile ), 11 Jun, 2009 @ 07:13pm

  Re: Oh NO!

  LOL. Love the sarcasm code.
  
  First PB now Mininova. Didn't aXXo leave Mininova because of some dispute? (or was that PB?)
  
  As far as your question Mike, they are both pretty unethical. Unfortunately lawyers don't get punished enough for the lies and bogus claims they bring into courts.

• On the post: Ticketmaster Takes Another Stab At Shutting Down Scalpers With Paperless Tickets

  

  GregSJ ( profile ), 10 Jun, 2009 @ 02:37pm

  Monopoly

  Is it possible that this is the sort of monopoly that will finally lead venues and promoters to choose another option for ticket sales?
  
  Without immediate changes, I'd be surprised if some ambitious attorney did not try and sue over some sort of First Sale Doctrine claim of action.

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