Paraguayan farmers question probe into killings

In this Nov. 13, 2012 photo, a farmer walks behind black flags representing 11 landless farmers who were killed during clashes with police in the Yvy Pyta settlement near Curuguaty, Paraguay. The ?Massacre of Curuguaty? on June 15 occurred when negotiations between farmers occupying a rich politician's land ended with a barrage of bullets that killed 11 farmers and 6 police officers. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)

In this Nov. 13, 2012 photo, a farmer walks behind black flags representing 11 landless farmers who were killed during clashes with police in the Yvy Pyta settlement near Curuguaty, Paraguay. The ?Massacre of Curuguaty? on June 15 occurred when negotiations between farmers occupying a rich politician's land ended with a barrage of bullets that killed 11 farmers and 6 police officers. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)

In this Nov. 14, 2012 photo, Lidia Romero cries holding a family photo album as her husband Catalino Aguero talks in their home's yard in the Carro Cue settlement, near Curuguaty, Paraguay. The couple's son De Los Santos was killed and their daughter Lucia was imprisoned during the ?Massacre of Curuguaty? on June 15 when negotiations between farmers occupying a rich politician's land ended with a barrage of bullets that killed 11 farmers and 6 police officers. ?They gave me my son's decomposing body in a black plastic bag. He had bullet wounds in both feet, but a huge hole in his neck,? said Catalino Aguero. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)

In this Nov. 15, 2012 photo, Lucia Aguero lies in the hospital on the 50th day of her hunger strike in Coronel Oviedo, Paraguay. Aguero, a 25-year-old mother of two small children, was jailed after a chaotic pass through a hospital emergency room where doctors were too busy with the wounded to remove the bullet from her thigh. Aguero witnessed the ?Massacre of Curuguaty? on June 15 when peace negotiations between farmers occupying a rich politician's land ended with a barrage of bullets that killed 11 farmers, including her brother, and 6 police officers. Aguero joined the hunger strike with others to protest being jailed without formal charges for the last six months. She lasted 59 days without food, and nearly died before a judge said she and three others could return home under police custody until the hearing. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)

In this Nov. 14, 2012 photo, Catalino Aguero poses under his son's collection of animal skulls at his home in the Carro Cue settlement near Curuguaty, Paraguay. Aguero's son De Los Santos was killed and his daughter Lucia was imprisoned during the ?Massacre of Curuguaty? on June 15 when negotiations between farmers occupying a rich politician's land ended with a barrage of bullets that killed 11 farmers and 6 police officers. ?They gave me my son's decomposing body in a black plastic bag. He had bullet wounds in both feet, but a huge hole in his neck,? said Catalino Aguero. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)

In this Nov. 14, 2012 photo, Lidia Romero cooks in her home in the Carro Cue settlement near Curuguaty, Paraguay. Romero's son De Los Santos was killed and their daughter Lucia was imprisoned during the ?Massacre of Curuguaty? on June 15 when negotiations between farmers occupying a rich politician's land ended with a barrage of bullets that killed 11 farmers and 6 police officers. For Romero, the fight for a plot of farm land drew much too high a price. ?With my daughter in jail and my son dead, I am destroyed,? she said. ?I barely have the will to keep on living.? (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)

(AP) ? Lucia Aguero stood with the other farmers in the standoff. About 300 of them had occupied the rich politician's land that they insisted wasn't legally his. On the other side of the clearing were some 200 riot police. She watched as the two negotiators walked up to each other and began talking.

And then the shooting started.

The negotiators were both hit. The young woman threw herself to the ground, shielding a friend's 4-year-old boy beneath her as she felt a bullet's sting in her thigh. In the end, 17 were dead, including the men who were trying to resolve the six-week-old occupation.

Politicians opposed to President Fernando Lugo seized on the "Massacre of Curuguaty" on June 15 to vote the sandal-wearing leftist out of office for "mismanaging" the property dispute. Paraguayans' hopes that Lugo would make good on his promises of land reform died.

Six months after the shootout, there has been no official accounting of how a peaceful negotiation ended with a barrage of bullets that killed 11 farmers and six police officers. Farmers and their supporters say the official investigation is a one-sided effort to make an example of the farmers, so nobody will dare challenge the interests of powerful landowners ever again.

Grieving relatives suspect the dead farmworkers were wounded and then summarily executed by police after the firefight. In separate interviews, they described bullet wounds in three of the corpses that they said showed people were shot at close range in defensive positions.

Catalino Aguero, Lucia's father, lost his 24-year-old son, De los Santos, in the firefight.

"They gave me my son's decomposing body in a black plastic bag. He had bullet wounds in both feet, but a huge hole in his neck," Aguero said. "Witnesses of the tragedy told me my son begged for help, lying face down, because his wounds were painful, but a police officer came close and shot him."

His daughter Lucia, a 25-year-old mother of two, was arrested along with 11 other people, mostly farmers. She was taken to a hospital emergency room after she was wounded, but doctors were too busy with other victims to remove the bullet from her thigh.

"When I couldn't stand the pain any longer, I used a razor blade in jail to make a cut, and pulled out the .38-caliber bullet with my finger," she said

Aguero joined a hunger strike to protest being jailed without formal charges. She lasted 59 days, and nearly died before a judge said she and three others could return home under police custody until a hearing Dec. 17.

The former president, Lugo, has called the shootout a setup. His land redistribution efforts were threatening the economic interests of the country's most powerful businessmen, and they needed a scandal big enough to bring him down, he said.

"This government of coup-plotters has no interest or political will to seriously investigate and clear up the case. And the prosecutor's performance gives little credibility," Lugo declared last month.

Promises of land reform got Lugo elected, but he made no headway as president, with no available state land to redistribute or money to pay for expropriations. No major landowners wanted to sell, with soy prices reaching historic highs.

One leader of the new president's Authentic Radical Liberal Party, Deputy Elvis Balbuena, told the AP that Lugo has only himself to blame.

"He was entirely responsible for the Curuguaty case," the legislator said. "He has as his presidential legacy the deaths of 17 people. Lugo was commander of the security forces, he was a friend of the leaders of different groups of landless farm workers, and he . oversaw the office that administers the distribution or purchase of land."

Prosecutor Jalil Rachid has had six months to investigate and is expected to deliver his evidence to a judge Dec. 17. Police have made no comment, deferring to the prosecutor.

Despite complaints that he has ignored human rights violations by police, Rachid told The Associated Press that he's only building a case against the farm workers.

The suspects are "accused of murder, criminal conspiracy, invading private property and resisting authorities. We also have a list of 54 fugitives," Rachid said in a brief AP interview. "I'm only bringing forward these accusations."

Most of the suspects were among the wounded, while the fugitives' names came from a list of people who hoped to claim a plot of land through the occupation.

The farmers say the prosecutor should be investigating police, too.

Martina Paredes said her brother's body had one bullet wound in the leg and another in the head. "For me, they shot him from above," she said, execution style.

When the non-governmental Human Rights Coordinator complained to the prosecutor's office, it was told that "Paraguayan law doesn't penalize summary executions, so the prosecutor's office can't investigate a complaint about an act that's unpunishable," said the group's lawyer, Jimena Lopez.

Paredes said victims' families want to file an official complaint against the national police, but their lawyer's priority is to defend the 12 suspects ? who face 18 to 25 years in prison if convicted.

Ballistics tests would presumably indicate whether the negotiators were felled by the kind of automatic weapons that police carried, or by one of the handful of low-caliber hunting rifles recovered from peasants. But Rachid has not revealed what evidence he's gathered.

Advocates for the farmworkers say he's biased because his father was close friends with the owner of the occupied ranch. Rachid has dismissed those accusations, saying his critics are only trying to influence the country's presidential election, scheduled in April.

The peasants say they're afraid. Early Saturday morning, one of this community's few surviving leaders, Vidal Vega, was killed by two masked gunmen on a motorcycle as he fed his chickens. He was expected to be a witness for the defendants.

"We think he was assassinated by hit men who were sent, we don't know by whom, perhaps to frighten us and frustrate our fight to recover the state lands that were illegally taken," Paredes told the AP.

Most of the jailed suspects are farmers. A businessman who gave a ride to a wounded survivor was also detained, as was a Communist Party activist who helped organize the occupation.

The underlying dispute that set up the clash was decades in the making. The area's poor residents allege the land was stolen from the state by Sen. Blas Riquelme, a leader of the Colorado Party that backed dictator Alfredo Stroessner from 1954 to 1989 and has dominated the nation's politics ever since.

Riquelme, who died of a stroke in September at age 83, took over the property in 1964, benefiting from a Stroessner law that granted free title to any adult male willing to farm fallow land. So many military officers, politicians and businessmen took advantage of the law that by the end of the dictatorship, all of Paraguay's rural state-owned land was in private hands.

Local farmers challenged Riquelme's claim, but after eight years of legal fights, the peasants lost patience and invaded a forested corner of the 135-square-mile ranch in May.

"Our leader, Ruben Villalba, told us with such conviction that the property would be divided up. And so we followed him," said Roberto Ortega, 58. He sold his tiny shack and plot of land to a neighbor for $3,000 and marched onto the Riquelme ranch with his wife, carrying all their remaining possessions. Their only son was killed there.

Most of the occupiers came from Yby Pyta, or "Red Dirt" in the native Guarani, a settlement of wooden shacks that runs along the asphalt highway that carries soy to Brazil. The town is surrounded by vast, privately owned industrial agriculture: the Riquelme soy operation across the highway, and an even bigger Brazilian-owned sunflower plantation behind them. Beyond that there's soy, and more soy.

For Lidia Romero, the mother of Lucia Aguero, the fight for a plot of farm land came at much too high a price.

"With my daughter in jail and my son dead, I am destroyed," she said. "I barely have the will to keep on living."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-12-05-Paraguay-Land%20Killings/id-2dbf8f5bea4d485692630fc16f68a503

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Home Based Business Information That Is Very Valuable | Kenny's ...

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Astronomy and Space Sticker Book | Education & Reference - Xavier ...

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Vick's downfall has been startling

frank_byline_new.png

It was 6:30 p.m. on Aug. 14, 2009, and Katie Couric opened up the nightly national news with these words:

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?We begin tonight with the return of a fallen sports star. Michael Vick returned to the NFL today, joining a new team, the Philadelphia Eagles. Two years ago, he was one of the league?s brightest stars, with the biggest contract, before losing it all when he was convicted of running a dogfighting ring. Now out of prison, he?s trying to turn his life around.?

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The start of Michael Vick?s Eagles career was the biggest story in the United States that day.

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The end of Michael Vick?s Eagles career -- at least the likely end of it -- wasn?t even the biggest Eagles story on Monday. That honor went to Jim Washburn?s firing.

In the span of 40 months, Vick has gone from the biggest story in the country to a sidebar on his own team.

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Head coach Andy Reid?s announcement that rookie Nick Foles will start at quarterback the rest of the year, even when Vick is fully recovered from his concussion, quietly marked the likely end of Vick?s stay in Philadelphia.

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There?s still a chance Vick will play again in an Eagles uniform. Reid said that when Vick does clear his concussion test and return to action, he?ll likely be No. 2, ahead of Trent Edwards, so if Foles gets hurt after Vick comes back, Vick could quarterback the Eagles at some point in the last four games of a disastrous season.

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And it is conceivable that if Foles struggles the rest of the year, whoever?s coaching the Eagles next year -- whether it?s a new coach or in the unlikely event it?s Reid -- could decide that a 33-year-old Vick is the Eagles? best quarterback option, likely at a reduced rate than the $16.5 million he?s owed for 2013.

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But the Eagles do have an escape hatch from Vick?s $100 million contract, which has four years at $62.5 million remaining after this season, including a base salary of $15.5 million in 2013. If the Eagles release Vick once the season ends in a month, they will owe him just $3 million.

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So what is the takeaway from Vick?s four-year stay in Philadelphia?

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Mixed.

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On the one hand, this is where Vick was able to re-establish himself in the NFL and in the community following his prison stay. He?s been a model citizen since signing with the Eagles in the summer of 2009 -- cooperative with the media, active in the community, a supportive teammate, a reclusive family man.

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On the field?

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Vick won eight of his first 10 starts after replacing Kevin Kolb early in 2010, but since then he?s just 10-14, leaving him 18-16 as an Eagles quarterback, barely over .500. The only quarterback to start more than 10 games in an Eagles uniform the last 25 years and have a worse record is Ty Detmer, who went 9-9 in 1996 and 1997.

After his spectacular start, things started to turn for Vick Christmas week in 2010.

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As Vick prepared to face the Vikings on Dec. 26, these were his stats: 63 percent completion percentage with 20 touchdowns, five interceptions and a 103.6 passer rating.

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Then the Vikings game was postponed a couple days by a blizzard, Leslie Frazier and the Vikings provided the rest of the league a blueprint to neutralize Vick with a ferocious attack of blitzes, and the Vikings stunned the Eagles, 24-14.

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And Vick was never really a special player again.

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A few weeks later, with a chance to beat the Super Bowl-bound Packers in the Eagles? only home playoff game in the last six years, he threw a terrible game-ending end zone interception on first down, then he lost six of his first nine starts last year and six of nine starts this year before suffering a concussion against the Cowboys on Nov. 11.

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He?s missed the last three games of this lost season and has now missed nine starts since he replaced Kolb early in 2010.

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And in 24 games since that 8-2 start, these are Vick?s numbers: 54 percent completion percentage with 31 touchdowns, 25 interceptions and a 77.3 passer rating.

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Vick didn?t throw an interception in his first seven games with the Eagles. Since then, he?s thrown 30 in 28 games.

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His 103.6 passer rating the first 14 weeks of 2010 was third-best among all NFL quarterbacks, behind only Tom Brady and Phillip Rivers.

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His 77.3 rating since the Vikings game in 2010 is 28th-best among NFL quarterbacks during that span.

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Most importantly, his 10 wins over the past two years are only 19th-most in the league.

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Average. At best.

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Curiously, Vick?s overall stats since he got to Philly compare quite favorably with other Eagles quarterbacks, thanks to the overwhelming numbers he put up in his 2010 Pro Bowl season.

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His 88.4 passer rating is highest in franchise history, breaking the record of 86.5 set from 1999 through 2009 by his former teammate, Donovan McNabb.

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His 51 touchdown passes are actually sixth-most ever, behind McNabb (216), Ron Jaworski (175), Randall Cunningham (150), Norm Snead (111) and Sonny Jurgensen (70), and he?s also sixth in passing yards, behind the same five guys.

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Vick is also third in career completion percentage at 60.2 percent, behind Kolb (60.8) and Bubby Brister (60.3).

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Vick is one of only eight quarterbacks in the franchise?s 80-year history to lead the Eagles to the playoffs, and his 95.1 career postseason passer rating -- boosted by a 76-yard touchdown pass to Jeremy Maclin on a trick play in 2009 -- is second to Rodney Peete on the all-time Eagles? postseason list.

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Incredibly, Vick is also in the all-time Eagles? top-20 list in rushing with 1,667 yards and 17th with 13 rushing touchdowns, and his 6.5 per-carry average is second-best in Eagles history, behind only Cunningham, who averaged 6.6.

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But ultimately, barring a surprise return to action and a change in fortune, Vick?s Eagles years will be remembered as largely disappointing ones.

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Vick was a three-year starter without a playoff win to his name, and the only other Eagles quarterbacks to start eight or more games three straight years without delivering at least one postseason victory since 1945 are Snead, Jurgensen and Roman Gabriel, all in the 1960s and 1970s.

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Vick gave us 2? months of thrills and a few other scattered moments of brilliance, including a season-ending four-game winning streak last year and last-minute comebacks this September against the Browns and Ravens.

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But there were too many fumbles at crucial points, too many interceptions with the game on the line, too many costly mistakes when just one more big play would have won the game.

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Would things have been different if Vick had a more consistent offensive line, a respectable defense, and an offensive coordinator who made more of a commitment to the running game?

Maybe. But it?s too late to wonder what if.?

Vick was briefly a superstar, briefly on top of the world. But his moment was fleeting. The Eagles were a home win over a 5-9 Vikings team away from a likely first-round bye two years ago this month, but Joe Webb was better than Vick that day, and Vick has won 10 of 24 starts since.

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Ultimately, Vick?s Eagles career will go down in the books as one that brought tons of excitement, numerous brilliant plays, unforgettable electrifying runs and boundless promise.

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For a while, he gave us hope. But in the end, he gave us little else.

Source: http://www.csnphilly.com/12/05/12/After-hot-start-Vicks-time-as-an-Eagle-d/nbcsportseagles.html?blockID=810079&feedID=692

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Android 4.1.2 update ready for global Galaxy S3, multi-view and other features included

Android Central

International S3 gets full-screen multi-tasking and a slew of other features in latest update

It's early December, and as rumored, the Android 4.1.2 update has started rolling out on international Galaxy S3 phones (HSPA+ version, GT-i9300), starting with devices in Poland. But there's more to this update than the minor change in OS version would indicate. As was also rumored, the new update adds the "multi-view" multitasking feature that originally made its debut on the Galaxy Note 2. Multi-view allows you to hold down the back key to bring up a multi-tasking menu, then partition your screen in two in order to run two apps on-screen at the same time.

Also new is "page buddy." which adds additional context-sensitive home screen pages that activate when you've got headphones connected, or if you're roaming overseas. There's also a redesigned gallery app -- again, from the Note 2 -- and a customizable notification panel. The Paper Artist app from the Galaxy Note 2 is included too, in addition to Group Cast for media sharing.

Smart rotation from the Galaxy Note 2 has also made it across, and the Samsung keyboard has been upgraded too. We've can't yet confirm whether it's the same SwiftKey-based keyboard that's found on the Note 2, but given that just about every other Note 2 feature is present and accounted for, it's pretty likely that's exactly what it is.

So there's a lot of new stuff for Galaxy S3 owners to get stuck into. Kudos to Samsung for porting these new features back to the S3. SamMobile has a direct download for the Polish version of this update already; other territories should start to get this update over-the-air and through Kies in the coming days and weeks.

If you're curious about multi-view, we've embedded our quick video walkthrough on the Note 2 after the break.

Source: SamMobile

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Patent Pooling Is an Effective Tool for IP Monetization | IPWatchdog ...

The U.S. patent system has garnered a lot of attention over the past several months, much of it a negative portrayal of patents as a tool more likely to stifle than protect innovation?and much of that sentiment stemming from Apple?s recent legal triumph over Samsung.

As the larger business, government and societal debates continue relative to the future role and efficacy of the patent system, it?s worth taking a moment to remind ourselves that product and technology licensing is not anathema to the qualities of fairness and transparency.

Patent pooling is one example of a proven, effective tool that is helping industry better manage its licensing programs. By ?pooling? patents from many license holders, licensors generally are able to lower transaction costs and administrative overhead, and benefit from a centralized model that encourages patent bundling and fair play. Licensees likewise enjoy advantages in the form of lower royalty fees and a single point of contact that eliminates the need to negotiate separately with multiple license holders.

One-Blue, LLC, officially launched its patent pool in July 2011 as the one-stop-shop licensing agent for the Blu-ray Disc? (BD) industry. Representing 15 licensors from among the world?s global consumer electronics manufacturers, One-Blue operates a pool of more than 10,000 essential BD patents and to date has executed 72 Registration and/or License Agreements.? As our efforts have unfolded we have learned a number of important lessons that to us clearly demonstrate we have delivered upon our promise to promote a level playing field and foster innovation by instituting a per batch licensing process and by delivering upon our promise to enforce non-compliance.

Of course, there have been critics of patent pooling in the past, sometimes identifying what could be considered objective hurdles to the model. These business concerns, which center around monetization of patents in a timely way, largely relate to the mechanics of licensing and avoiding the free-rider problem, which unfortunately is a problem with so many collaborative business models.

To address the criticisms of patent pooling we have taken what we believe to be a unique approach.? In administering this pool, we have instituted a number of ?best practices? that we believe could (and probably should) be applied with equal success to other industries, from smartphones and computers to biotechnology. By adhering to these practices we believe that companies can ensure that their patent pools are fairly governed, cost-optimized and able to take swift enforcement action when required.

Enforcement: In the event an action is warranted, all members of the pool agree to participate by making their patents available for enforcement actions. This prevents some members from opting out of patent enforcement, while at the same time enjoying the pool?s benefits.

Per-batch licensing: Each product shipment carries licensing documentation and registration logos with serial numbers that can be verified by customs officials, distributors and retailers. This avoids cases where a company signs a license agreement but then fails to abide by its terms, which ultimately increases the cost of business for all other parties. While per-batch licensing may seem like an extra step, it ensures that royalties are applied only to the products shipped?not to the company itself.

Pre-netting: In cases where licensees hold pre-existing patent licenses with patent pool licensors, pre-netting subtracts what would be due the licensors when calculating royalty payments. This step ensures that licensees pay only for what they use and encourages broader participation in the pool.

Patent weighting: Not all patents are created equal. A weighting system of patents compensates licensors whose essential patents are subjectively determined to be of greater value.

Throughout history patents have been a force that pushes innovation forward. Yes, at times there have been patent battles, but these battles are eventually marked by settling of the industry, cooperation and leaps forward for innovation and technologies.? But without the incentive to profit and a mechanism to deliver rewards based on value, scope and scale of the contribution we fail to deliver value to those willing to fund and develop innovation.

At One-Blue the adoption of what we believe are best practices improves upon an already proven model that has lead to successful licensing of core patent assets that allow industries to grow and companies to flourish. When the media paints images of all patents being bad they are doing a disservice to the industry and ignoring the good that has come from patented innovation and the sharing of such innovation via patent pools and other cross-licensing arrangements.

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William J. Lenihan?is Director, IP Licensing of One-Blue, LLC.?Prior to One-Blue, Bill was the Director of IP Licensing for the Philips Electronics joint optical licensing program which included the IP of Philips, SONY, Pioneer and LG Electronics. Bill is a graduate of Manhattan College and resides in Pleasantville, N.Y.

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Source: http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2012/12/05/patent-pooling-is-an-effective-tool-for-ip-monetization/id=30939/

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All Sony connected TVs to get Ensequence tech in 2013 to serve up contextual content

All Sony connected TVs to get Ensequence tech in 2013 to serve up contextual content

Not getting your fill of connected TV action with contextual content and ads appearing alongside your soaps? Your hunger could be satisfied by picking up a Sony-made television in 2013, as Hirai and Co. have inked a multi-year deal with the folks at Ensequence to bake software for such experiences into all of their connected TVs starting next year. Ensequence leverages the automatic content recognition tech inside Sony's sets and provides a platform for content producers and advertisers to sling up everything from relevant coupons to trivia games on displays. If you watched the 2012 Olympics through Verizon FiOS, chances are you've glimpsed the company's technology in action. Proud owners of connected TVs made by Sony between 2011 and 2012 won't be left out of the contextual content bonanza, however, as a software update packing Ensequence's secret sauce will be available. For more details, and prognostications regarding the future of internet-savvy televisions, hit the jump for the press release.

Continue reading All Sony connected TVs to get Ensequence tech in 2013 to serve up contextual content

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Source: Ensequence

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/04/sony-connected-tvs-ensequence-2013/

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High-Skilled Immigration Reform Stopped In Senate

images (26)As expected, the last great hope for immigration reform quickly died in the United States Senate, as the Democratic majority will likely follow through on a promise to kill the STEMS Jobs Act. Engineering-starved tech firms have become a casualty of partisan bickering over how to overhaul the entire immigration system, with both Democrats and Republicans refusing to allow more high-skilled immigrants without changes to low-skilled visas. In other words, congress will have to accomplish a great feat of compromise before there are more high skilled immigrants...so don't hold your breath.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/cU5qapuwN-g/

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Dropbox updates Android app with bug fixes and file management

Dropbox updates Android app with bug fixes and file management

Dropbox updated its app for Android today, bringing the oft-used cloud storage / sharing service to version 2.2.2. Included is the usual assortment of unspecified bug fixes we're accustomed to seeing in such point upgrades, but there is one major improvement of note: the ability to manage files and folders. Sure, this may not seem like a revolutionary move on the company's part, but for photo-obsessed users that have the service set to auto-upload, the change is welcome, indeed. It's live in the Google Play store now, so head on over to the source to get that download started.

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Via: Android Police

Source: Google Play

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/IZD7MgGCjgU/

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Diet helps prevent repeat heart attacks | MNN - Mother Nature Network

Too often, people with cardiovascular disease assume the medications they take to lower their cholesterol and blood pressure are enough to prevent another heart attack or stroke. But a new study underscores the fact that eating healthfully also counts ? a lot. Healthful eating may not only reduce a person's risk for a new heart attack or stroke, but also lower the risk of dying.

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Canadian researchers interviewed nearly 32,000 people from 40 countries with an average age of 66.5 years about their eating habits. All the people in the study, who were already enrolled in two randomized clinical trials, had either established cardiovascular disease or diabetes mellitus with end-organ damage. The participants' food intake was recorded using a food frequency questionnaire that contained 20 food items. Volunteers were asked how often they ate food from various categories during the previous 12 months and were followed for nearly five years.

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During the follow-up period, a total of 5,190 cardiovascular events, such as heart attacks or strokes, occurred. But people who had the healthiest diets fared the best. Those who ate a heart-healthy diet had a 35 percent reduction in their risk of death from cardiovascular disease; a 14 percent decrease in their risk for a new heart attack; a 28 percent decrease in their risk for congestive heart failure; and a 19 percent reduction in their risk for stroke.?

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A diet was considered heart-healthy if people followed dietary recommendations and consumed more fruits, vegetables, whole grains and nuts and had a higher intake of fish relative to meat, poultry and eggs, according to the researchers. For example, Americans in the study who fared best ate four servings per day of fruits; five servings of vegetables; one serving of nuts or soy protein; and three or more servings of whole grains, amounts that are consistent with current American dietary guidelines.

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People who had the healthiest diets were more likely to be older (an average of 66.7 years of age) and more active and were less likely to smoke. They also tended to have a lower body mass index and drink more alcohol. (Men drank an average of 1.5 to 2.5 glasses per day and women drank from 0.5 to 1.5 glasses daily.) Older people with cardiovascular disease are "more concerned about their health, so they try harder," said nutritionist and study researcher Mahshid Dehghan of the Population Health Research Institute at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada.

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The study findings don't negate the important role medication plays in helping people manage cardiovascular disease. Rather, the findings drive home the fact that overhauling one's diet is equally crucial. "A healthy diet offers a consistent benefit over and above the benefits of taking medication," Dehghan said. "The two go hand in hand."

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The study appears today (Dec. 3) in the journal Circulation.

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Pass it on: Medication plus a healthy diet can help prevent recurrent heart attacks and strokes.

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This story was originally written for MyHealthNewsDaily and is republished with permission here. Copyright 2012 MyHealthNewsDaily, a TechMediaNetwork company.

Source: http://www.mnn.com/health/fitness-well-being/stories/diet-helps-prevent-repeat-heart-attacks

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