Patent Baristas

Bloggers May Need to Yield Equal Time

FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell (R) recently warned bloggers that the Commission’s decision to smack down Comcast  for hobbling Bit Torrent could lead the government to start “dictating content policy” by requiring blogs to give equal time to opposing views under the Fairness Doctrine.  We’re not sure if criticizing the U.S. Patent Office practices would count as political speech but, if so, Greg Aharonian will have a lot of catching up to do.

Genentech Wants Bigger Dowry

Playing coy, Genentech rebuffed an offer from Swiss pharma Roche to buy the remaining shares in the firm it does not already own for $43.7 billion.  Roche, which has been the majority owner of Genentech since 1990 and owns 55.9% of shares, offered $89 per share for the outstanding stock in July.  Roche Holding AG is expected to increase its offer for the rest of Genentech by 21 percent to $53 billion.

Mass.  Enacts Pharma/Device Code of Conduct

Massachusetts enacted Senate Bill 2863, which requires the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to establish a pharmaceutical and medical device marketing code of conduct, and imposes compliance and reporting requirements on pharmaceutical and medical device companies that employ a person to sell or market prescription drugs or medical devices in Massachusetts. (via FDA Law Blog)

It’s Dress-Down Day Everyday

Condé Nast Portfolio noted that there are fewer distinctions between industries and power levels when it comes to apparel as “pretty much everyone looks more like they belong in tech support than in a partners’ meeting.”  Why?  “In a world where profits are down, bankruptcies are rampant, and the most entrenched I-bankers are getting the heave-ho, you can’t afford to look as though you spared an extra second thinking about the cut of your Charvet shirt.”

Patent Office Wants More Money

USPTO announced a 5 percent inflation adjustment in its patent user fees, reflecting the increase in the Consumer Price Index for 12 months.  Fees will increase effective October 2, 2008.  The increase proposed for public comment in June was 4 percent, but recent CPI data apparently looked better with a 5 percent increase.

New Tricks For Your iPhone

iSmashPhone has 12 iPhone Tricks You Might Not Have Known like how to scroll to the top of a page in any application (by tapping on the “top bar”)  and how to type alternate characters (hold a letter for a pop-up of various versions of the character).  Now updated with 8 More iPhone Tricks You Might Not Know.

Doping For Gold

In the Olympic spirit, Wired presents 10 next-generation doping methods.  The next headaches for the World Anti-Doping Agency include popping hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) to stimulate red blood cell production without EPO and manipulating genes to block naturally occurring muscle-growth inhibitors —  blocking the protein myostatin gave the mice up to 60 percent more lean muscle mass. Even more promising, Johns Hopkins’ Se-Jin Lee recently found that overproduction of one myostatin inhibitor pumps the mice up even more: up to 81 percent in females and 116 percent in males. Results of human clinical trials are pending so you might want to hold off on self-exerimentation.