In 2008’s iconic superhero film The Dark Knight, Heath Ledger’s Joker barks at Christian Bale’s Batman: Don’t talk like one of [the cops]; you’re not! Even if you’d like to be. To them, you’re just a freak, like me. They…
Early this year, America’s cultural centers were rocked by a sordid tale of privilege gone wrong that would’ve fit right into an Edith Wharton novel. Jeff Bezos, the richest man on earth, the creator of Amazon, and a man increasingly…
The debate over patent reform, both in Congress, and in Washington proper, has reached a stalemate. Everyone on all sides seems to agree that the patent system is a great treasure of American constitutional law, and that a patent granted…
Trusting any internet service or company with your data is always, at best, a calculated risk. On the one hand, the temptation of certain services, or the need for access to some information, or the lure of personal convenience, can…
Patents are one of the most miraculous legal inventions of the modern age: with a stroke of a pen, an idea that can save lives, or move mountains, can become a source of prosperity not just for the world, but…
Bipartisanship in today’s Washington is as rare as a wardrobe completely free of items purchased at Brooks Brothers. But rarer still, is when that bipartisanship runs against moneyed interests. Indeed, most “bipartisan bills” should practically come with a NASCAR-style sponsor sticker,…
Picture eastern Texas, and your mind may conjure up images of cattle ranchers, chicken fried steaks, or maybe even a select few country artists. But if you ask people who work in the realm of patent policy, the images evoked…
Imagine the following scenario: A group of technical whizzes found a new car company in the United States. After initially going through vigorous competition, the company eventually establishes complete market dominance not only in building cars, but also in building…
In a year that has put the untenable practices and politics of Silicon Valley’s tech barons under scalding sunlight, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos has come in for a particularly nasty set of burns. Just to remind ourselves, let’s count them: First,…
America’s legal system is swamped with bad faith actors. From activist judges who overturn perfectly sensible limits on immigration, to the literal activist lawyers who bring frivolous suits against those limits, to grafters who have turned GoFundMe pages into a…