George M. Wallace at a fool in the forest brought a special April Fool’s Blawg Review Prequel to his Blawg Review #51, which was then held (for real?) on his Declarations and Exclusions blog.
He makes special note of f/k/a . . . ., where next week’s Blawg Review host David Giacalone asks: “do lawyers choose to be unhappy?”. Perhaps they do “by buying into the Big Lie that Big Law is the only true source of success in our profession.” David opines: “Wanting less money and needing less prestige will go a long way toward nurturing healthy and happy attitudes.” Strong words in light of the recent up-tick in the associate starting salary arms race (Note: Offer not applicable in the Midwest.)
And finally, we’ll note that Time magazine offers a nice overview of the issues behind eBay v. MercExchange that I’ll mention despite the use of the title Patently Absurd, which is the literary equivalent of scraping fingernails across a blackboard.
The article highlights how political the patent game has become with eBay hiring big-gun lobbyists in Washington, such as the Ashcroft Group, a lobbying shop run by former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft. Juleanna Glover Weiss, an ex-press secretary for Vice President Dick Cheney, is registered as an eBay lobbyist on “patent reform.”
Expect more fun to come out of patent reform as politicians get involved.
