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Apple facing hefty damages to University of Wisconsin in patent lawsuit

Andrew Chung
Reuters
Tue, 13 Oct 2015 05:45 UTC
Apple Inc could be facing up to $862
dog/apple
© diveright.ru
"Aw, crap!"
million in damages after a U.S. jury on Tuesday found the iPhone maker used technology owned by the University of Wisconsin-Madison's licensing arm without permission in chips found in many of its most popular devices.

The jury in Madison, Wisconsin also said the patent, which improves processor efficiency, was valid. The trial will now move on to determine how much Apple owes in damages. Representatives for the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) and Apple could not immediately be reached for comment.

WARF sued Apple in January 2014 alleging infringement of its 1998 patent for improving chip efficiency. The jury was considering whether Apple's A7, A8 and A8X processors, found in the iPhone 5s, 6 and 6 Plus, as well as several versions of the iPad, violate the patent.

Cupertino, California-based Apple denied any infringement and argued the patent is invalid, according to court papers. Apple previously tried to convince the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to review the patent's validity, but in April the agency rejected the bid.

According to a recent ruling by U.S. District Judge William Conley, who is presiding over the case, Apple could be liable for up to $862.4 million in damages. He scheduled the trial to proceed in three phases: liability, damages, and finally, whether Apple infringed the patent willfully, which could lead to enhanced penalties.

WARF used the patent to sue Intel Corp in 2008, but the case was settled the following year on the eve of trial. Last month, WARF launched a second lawsuit against Apple, this time targeting the company's newest chips, the A9 and A9X, used in the just-released iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, as well as the iPad Pro.

Comment: The chips are down. Looks like the University of Wisconsin's Alumni Research Foundation is about to take a big bite out of Apple, maybe two!

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Brick Wall

Chris Hedges: 'A pipeline straight to jail'

Chris Hedges
Truthdig
Sun, 11 Oct 2015 17:22 UTC
Image
© Michael Nigro
Boris Franklin in a classroom at Rutgers. When he was in prison, he was a student under the New Jersey Scholarship and Transformative Education in Prisons Consortium (NJ-STEP), and he is now attending Rutgers under the university’s Mountainview Program.
The defeat of the Harvard University debate team by a team from the Eastern New York Correctional Facility in the Catskills elucidates a truth known intimately by those of us who teach in prisons: that the failure of the American educational system to offer opportunities to the poor and the government's abandonment of families and children living in blighted communities condemn millions of boys and girls, often of color, to a life of suffering, misery and early death. The income inequality, the trillions of dollars we divert to the war industry, the flight of manufacturing jobs overseas and the refusal to invest in our infrastructure wrecks life after innocent life.

Comment: 'There are people who think about things, who read things, who try to connect the dots. People read psychology and science to see how things fit together. You see libraries in some cells.' Read more about inmates dedicated to seeking knowledge behind bars:

Killers win academic contest of wit?



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Heart - Black

"Go back to Africa or go to prison': Israel labels asylum seekers as infiltrators

Kit O'Connell
Mint Press News
Wed, 14 Oct 2015 16:35 UTC
African prisoners Israel
© AP Photo/Oded Balilty
African migrants stands inside Holot detention center as others protest outside against the detention center near Ktsiot the Negev Desert in southern Israel, Monday, Feb. 17, 2014.
The recent release of 1,200 prisoners from a detention center in the Negev Desert is not a signal that Israel is rethinking its harsh treatment of refugees. Thousands of immigrants still face a choice between imprisonment and repatriation to their war-torn countries.

Some 65,000 African refugees are believed to currently live in Israel. In May, The Washington Post reported that Israel sent letters to 45,000 refugees from Sudan and Eritrea, offering them a choice: They could accept accept a cash payment and a one-way ticket back to Africa, or they could go to prison. Israel also began construction of a massive fence to prevent the entry of more refugees this year.

In February, Amnesty International strongly objected to the treatment of African refugees in Israel, both in and out of detention:

Comment: See also:

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Arrow Up

Public support for fracking shows significant drop as perception of risks beginning to outweigh benefits

Charlotte Anscombe
Phys.org
Wed, 14 Oct 2015 00:00 UTC
fracking
© REUTERS/Elijah Nouvelage
A new survey shows that public support for the extraction and use of shale gas has dropped significantly over the last year with concerns about the potential impact on the environment beginning to outweigh the possible economic benefits.

The University of Nottingham Shale Gas Survey has been tracking the public perception of shale gas extraction in the UK since March 2012. The survey has tracked changes in awareness of shale gas, and what the public believe to be the environmental impact of its extraction and use, as well as its acceptability as an energy source.

The 11th survey, with over 6,700 respondents, was conducted between the 23 and 28 September 2015.

Comment: It's heartening to know that people are now questioning the propaganda regarding the safety of hydraulic fracturing and are willing to take a public stand against the practice. However, the O&G industry and their bought and paid-for political shills will not give up the fight so easily, despite the well-documented negative consequences on health and the environment.

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Stock Down

Stock giftcards: Just in time for Christmas shopping

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Wed, 14 Oct 2015 15:24 UTC
netflix stock
© lifehacker
As we noted this morning, in the New Normal world, the only marginal buyer of Index futures are central banks [and] when it comes to individual stocks, the biggest buyer is the company itself.

The retail "dumb money" abandoned ship long ago after watching 40% of their 401ks go up in smoke on the heels of a meltdown catalyzed by the implosion of the American homeownership dream which, thanks to the Fed and Wall Street, had been supercharged and securitized. To the extent the turmoil in September and October of 2008 didn't drive the individual investor permanently onto the sidelines, the subsequent realization that the entire "market" is nothing but a giant casino being manipulated at every turn by greedy cabals with names like "The Cartel" finished the job.

The world got wise to the central banker bid a long time ago and now, with Cheryl Davis Hillary Clinton's push to bring an end to the "tyranny of the next earnings report" and thus to the practice of leveraging the balance sheet and employing financial engineering to inflate the bottom line, the buyback bid may soon be in jeopardy as well.

Comment: Now the average Joe can join the stock market casino. Just don't expect to come out on top.

12 signs that an imminent global financial crash is continuing

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Mr. Potato

Hillary Clinton emerges as the "winner" in the vomit-inducing Democratic debate

Melissa Dykes
The Daily Sheeple
Wed, 14 Oct 2015 14:55 UTC
clinton and sanders
Last night, Hillary Clinton and four other people who are only there to make it look like she has actual competition took the stage for the first Dem debate. I write "debate," but really it was just an excuse to give Hillary presidential candidate airtime while four other guys stood around at podiums.

This morning, news outlet talking heads are sucking up to her as if they didn't just spend the last six months nailing her butt to the wall over her email server scandal (as if that's even the worst thing the woman has ever done).

From NYT Columnist Frank Bruni's "I never doubted that Hillary Clinton had many talents. I just didn't know that seamstress was among them... she threaded the needle as delicately and perfectly as a politician could" to Van Jones on CNN with "Hillary Clinton was Beyonce. She was flawless," it's enough to make anyone paying attention sick how contrived this whole thing is.

Comment: Despite being corrupt to her very core, it's obvious that Hillary is being groomed to be the next frontrunner in the race for Tyrant-in-Chief of the United States. In fact, her absolute corruption makes her the perfect candidate! Not that it matters one whit. It's all theater.

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Stormtrooper

Cleveland & Denver courts used Lamar Sims as the same 'expert' for 12yo Tamir Rice and 17yo Jessica Hernandez shootings


RT
Wed, 14 Oct 2015 00:44 UTC
Image
© NBC
Tamir Rice
The "police use-of-force" expert who wrote one of two reports that deemed the fatal police shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice in November was "reasonable" was also instrumental in clearing Colorado officers in the fatal shooting of a 17-year-old girl.

S. Lamar Sims, a senior deputy district attorney in Denver, Colorado, was hired by the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office to conduct an independent review a Cleveland, Ohio police officer's use-of-force against Rice ahead of a grand jury trial. The inquiry will attempt to determine whether Officer Timothy Loehmann, who is white, used reasonable force in shooting the 12-year-old Rice, who was black, because he was perceived as being "a serious threat."

Sims' 52-page report was released on October 10. The report will be one of several items a grand jury will consider when weighing whether Loehmann and his partner, Frank Garmback, will be charged with a crime.

"There can be no doubt that Rice's death was tragic and, indeed, when one considers his age, heartbreaking," Sims wrote in the report. "However, I conclude that Officer Loehmann's belief that Rice posed a threat of serious physical harm or death was objectively reasonable as was his response to that perceived threat."


Comment: Horse hockey!

Tamir Rice family lawyer blasts report defending cops, calls grand jury process 'subversive and evil'


On November 22, 2014, the Cleveland Police Department received reports concerning a male with a gun at a playground. A cruiser with Officers Loehmann and Garmback arrived on the scene shortly after. Police said Loehmann engaged when Rice reached into his waistband, and that officers did not realize that he was carrying a toy weapon. Loehmann fired two shots at Rice, which struck him in the abdomen, and the boy subsequently died from his wounds in hospital the following day.

Rice's "gun" was found to be an Airsoft replica. It lacked the orange safety feature visualization to show that it was, in fact, a fake.

Comment: See also:

Oligarchic, corporate elites have created a society of captives
Totalitarian systems accrue to themselves omnipotent power by first targeting and demonizing a defenseless minority. Poor African-Americans, like Muslims, have been stigmatized by elites and the mass media. The state, promising to combat the "lawlessness" of the demonized minority, demands that authorities be emancipated from the constraints of the law. Arguments like this one were used to justify the "war on drugs" and the "war on terror." But once any segment of the population is stripped of equality before the law, as poor people of color and Muslims have been, once police are permitted under the law to become omnipotent, brutal and systematically oppressive tactics are invariably employed against the wider society. The corporate state has no intention of carrying out legal reforms to curb the omnipotence of its organs of internal security. They were made omnipotent on purpose.


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Star

Putin's popularity soars in Middle East: A welcome alternative to U.S.-caused wars and terrorism

Zeina Karam and Vivian Salama
Yahoo News
Mon, 12 Oct 2015 12:39 UTC
putin syria
© P Photo/Muzaffar Salman
In this Sunday, March 4, 2013 file photo, photos of Syrian President Bashar Assad and Russian President Vladimir Putin are propped against a wall during a pro-Syrian government protest in front of the Russian Embassy in Damascus, Syria.
Amid the ornate walls of Damascus' famed Omayyad Mosque, preacher Maamoun Rahmeh stood before worshippers last week, declaring Russian President Vladimir Putin a "giant and beloved leader" who has "destroyed the myth of the self-aggrandizing America."

Posters of Putin are popping up on cars and billboards elsewhere in parts of Syria and Iraq, praising the Russian military intervention in Syria as one that will redress the balance of power in the region.

The Russian leader is winning accolades from many in Iraq and Syria, who see Russian airstrikes in Syria as a turning point after more than a year of largely ineffectual efforts by the U.S.-led coalition to dislodge the Islamic State militants who have occupied significant parts of the two countries.

The reactions underscore that while the West may criticize Putin for supporting Syrian President Bashar Assad, there is some relief in the region at the emergence of a player with a coherent — if controversial — strategy.

"Putin does more than just speak," said Sohban Elewi of Damascus, summing up the views of Syrians on opposing camps who regard U.S. policy in Syria and Iraq as fumbled and confused.
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Radar

Netherlands gas extraction slashed by more than half as earthquakes drive locals from their homes

Lucan Amin
The Guardian, UK
Sat, 10 Oct 2015 07:38 UTC
Image

Destruction in the area of Groningen, The Netherlands, caused by earthquakes, courtesy of Shell/Exxon


Groningen has been one of Europe's richest gas fields for 30 years, and thousands of people say their homes have been damaged by the tremors that drilling sets off. Now a class action may finally bring them compensation - and force a rethink of European energy security

Five years ago, Annemarie Heite and her husband, Albert, bought their dream home; a traditional 19th-century farmhouse in Groningen province in the northern Netherlands. The couple planned to raise their two young daughters in this charming corner of the Dutch countryside. "Then, the living was still easy, and affordable," Annemarie says, her tone bittersweet and nostalgic. Today, their house is scheduled for demolition.

Hundreds of earthquakes have wrecked the foundations of the Heites' home and made it unsafe to live in. Annemarie's biggest fear is the safety of her daughters. She points to a room. "This is where my children sleep," she says, "and everyday I'm just picking up pieces of bricks and stuff from the ceiling."

Heite fears that her children may not be any safer at school. Her daughter Zara goes to a local primary school that has not been structurally reinforced to withstand strong earthquakes. "I feel powerless. It feels like I can't do anything," Heite says. "It's not like I'm a frantic, hysterical person, but nobody is taking this seriously, not the school or the mayor, no one."

Comment: In the anthropocentric worldview upheld by Western liberals, man is always responsible for 'nature going wrong' - in this case, causing earthquakes. It's very ironic because, in the old days, man's 'sins' were blamed by the Church for causing environmental calamities, a stance that is pooh-poohed as 'archaic' today... even though the same stance also predominates today, only now it's shrouded in mumbo-jumbo scientifico-speak.

While it is plausible that gas production in the Netherlands is having knock-on effects that have led to the recent spate of earthquakes and tremors there, it should be noted that these quakes only began causing damage to homes about 5 years ago, while the Dutch government has since cut production "by 58% to its lowest level in 30 years."

It's too early to tell because Shell and Exxon Mobil only recently 'took their foot off the pedal', but if earthquakes there were to now increase in spite of the drastic reduction in gas extraction, the scapegoaters may need to go back to the drawing board and come up with an alternative narrative for why people's homes are crumbling.

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Heart - Black

Indiana woman sentenced to 24 years in prison for neglect of malnourished, disabled granddaughter


Yahoo! News
Wed, 14 Oct 2015 00:00 UTC
Image
© wishtv.com
Steve Sells and Joetta Sells
A judge sentenced a central Indiana woman to 24 years in prison Monday for the neglect of her malnourished, disabled, teenage granddaughter.

The Anderson woman apologized in court, saying her husband "would not let her care for" the girl. She pleaded guilty last month to six counts of neglect, three counts of criminal confinement and one count of battery resulting in bodily injury.

The physically and mentally disabled teenager, then 15, was found severely malnourished and neglected inside the home she shared with her grandparents last December. She weighed less than 40 pounds. She's now in foster care. Madison County Prosecutor Rodney Cummings said in August that the girl's weight had increased to approximately 100 pounds and she was attending a special needs class.

The girl's grandfather also had entered into a plea agreement and was scheduled to be sentenced Monday, but Circuit Judge Mark Dudley threw out the deal when the grandfather denied having battered the girl. A trial is set for Nov. 17.

Authorities have said the girl was abused and locked in a room, day and night, in the family's home. They have said they believe she was confined to the room from 2011 until she was found last year.

Comment: 24 years is not long enough to pay for the suffering this young woman had to endure.
December 2, 2014 - The 15-year-old was living with her grandparents — Joetta and Steve Sells — in the 3400 block of Forest Terrace. Police believe the girl was being kept in a locked room with a mattress, space heater, bucket and oatmeal. During a search of the room, they found blood and feces on the floor.

Investigators have questions about the government assistance that was supposed to help cover any expenses related to taking care of the girl.

"The money was there for that purpose and where did that money go," said Detective Joel Sandefur, with the Anderson Police Department.

An unrelated 4-year-old child was living with the Sells. According to police the child is now is DCS custody. During a police interview, the child demonstrated how a lock was put on the door and explained how the victim would put her fingers around the door trying to get out. The child also described to police how Steve Sells would pick up the teen by the hair and drag her.

Police said Joetta Sells admitted her husband would lock the 15-year-old girl in her room. When police questioned Steve Sells he said he did it to protect himself because the teen was very strong. The affidavit for probable cause points out Steve Sells weighs between 200 and 225 pounds.

Investigators are trying to paint a timeline of the alleged neglect by looking at the victim's medical and education records. The girl stopped attending Anderson Community Schools in October 2010. During a police interview Steve Sells said his granddaughter had not been to the doctor since January of 2012 because her Medicaid ran out.

According to the prosecutor, a juvenile court case involving the Sellses was filed in 2010 but the case was dismissed by DCS a month later.

"It's puzzling and I think we need to have some answers about that," Cummings said.

Steve Sells and his wife, Joetta, were granted custody of his granddaughter in 2009. Records show he appeared in court in on Nov. 6 in an attempt to get child support for the teen.

Anderson couple accused of keeping malnourished girl, 15, in feces-covered room


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