Posts by Chris Bell
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Thanks, Russell, as always. Another London fire disaster hardly anyone knows about (although it does have its own Wikipedia entry), the Denmark Place fire of 1980: Denmark Place arson: Why people are still searching for answers 35 years on from one of the biggest mass murders in our history
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Legal Beagle: Into the River/Interim Restrictions, in reply to Rob Stowell,
Rob, you're correct that the Kindle edition of _Into The River_ isn't available from Amazon.com but it is available from the Amazon.com.au website: bit.ly/1Uwz35E . New Zealand Amazon customers can shop from either the US or the Australian store, your choice.
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when we went to pay up, the bar had overcharged us $140 for things we’d never ordered.
Things you'd also never drunk, I take it? :-)
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Hard News: Asking for a Contribution, in reply to 3410,
Thanks for the correction.
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Public Address gets a name-check in my short story 'Iniquity' (Kindle Edition: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004VN34R8), so apart from everything else I owe you some of my royalties. Next time I get a cheque from Amazon, I’ll PayPal you my contribution.
CB
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Speaker: TPPA: It's Extreme, in reply to Rich Lock,
Hi Rich, I don’t know whether they’re on the list. I do know that people in those regions would prefer it if no one else could market products using those names.
I hadn’t finished reading the post [see, I hadn't even checked who wrote it!] but wanted to comment on that point before I was sidetracked ;-). I guess you might argue that they _became_ generic for the very reason that those who make ‘real’ Stilton want to protect it. Stilton and Parmesan _shouldn’t_ be generic. The goal should be more about applying manufacturing standards to what you’re able to sell under those names, rather than geographic exclusivity.
I don’t have anything new to add to the debate, but I did work for a couple of years in copyright. Along the line its original, simple purpose was sidelined. Around the world there are people still working in copyright who are doing sensible, worthwhile work to protect and administer creative people’s rights. But the positive aspects have been almost entirely swamped by corporate greed.
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I would add, however, that I DON'T think copyright is the right mechanism for protecting geographic indicators.
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OK, copyright and patents are a shambles and the way US corporations are abusing the intended purpose of copyright is predictably insane.
But I do support geographic protection of product descriptors like champagne, stilton, parmesan, cheddar and so on. If you make a cheese, why try to pass it off as something that originated in another country on the other side of the world? Market your own local product name instead. Needless to say, that should apply to international use of New Zealand products, as well. The counter-argument is where do you stop, but there's a difference between growing a grape variety and selling the end product as champagne.
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I recommend '7 + 3 Is The Striker's Name' from the 'Wake Up The Nation' sessions.
Nice video to go with it on iTunes.
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That's right: not that Chris Bell. We are many. Some would say too many, but then apparently we are the Cosmos.
Try telling Stephen Hawking that.