Monday, October 20, 2014

Talking Dogs Explain The Supreme Court

The Supreme Court doesn't permit video broadcasts of its oral arguments -- only audio recordings.  The audio recordings are sometimes uninteresting.  To solve that problem, Last Week Tonight With John Oliver helpfully got a group of dogs to play the part of Supreme Court Justices, with the real audio in the background.

If you are inspired to create your own videos of this type, the show has helpfully provided stock footage.

EFF Files Comments With Patent Office About Review Of Issued Patents

In 2011, Congress passed the America Invents Act (AIA) to enact certain patent reforms.  The AIA included some provisions allowing review of issued patents in the Patent Office, which can be much cheaper than district court litigation.  Last week, EFF filed comments with the Patent Office about the review proceedings, which I helped draft.  EFF's blog post about those comments is here.