If we assume that the word is the result of intellectual activity, then hardly anyone will argue about the role of the achievements of mental labor as the driving force of history.
1967
Year
14
Of July
100%
History Influence
Let's Take A Look
What Is
Intellectual Property
What is meant by the legal term “intellectual property”? This concept should be perceived as a set of rights of the author and other rightholders, allowing to dispose of these very intangible objects, to prohibit and permit their use by third parties who have such intentions.
An Excursion Into History
Types Of Intellectual Property
Regarding the list of species underneath. IP category, the decision was taken in the Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), adopted in Stockholm on July 14, 1967.
The right to have exclusive opportunities for the use of IP, as well as personal moral rights of authors to the result of intellectual activity or means of individualization, can be obtained only through legislative consolidation.
Help To Establish A Monopoly
Professional patent attorneys with extensive experience in their field of activity are ready to provide assistance in establishing a monopoly of authors on certain forms of using the results of their intellectual and creative activities, as well as in regulating relations with third parties wishing to obtain the right to use IP.
The right to use the appellation of origin of goods is ensured by a certificate obtained as a result of fulfilling the conditions of state registration. In this capacity, a modern or historical name is used, both official and unofficial. Whether it is a full or an abbreviated version of the name, the main condition is its correspondence to a specific area or geographic object that is directly related to the product of interest.
Place Of Origin
Trademarks and service marks are designations by means of which the individualization of goods or services is ensured. Moreover, whether it is a verbal, pictorial, combined, three-dimensional or other designation, the exclusive right is given only for the list of those goods and services for which registration is made. The title of protection is valid for 10 years.
Trademarks
A brand name, as an IP object, is used to identify a specific enterprise. The exclusive right is acquired from the moment it is entered into the Unified State Register of Legal Entities. There is no need for special registration.
The app Hornet, which caters to the gay male community, has seen a 30-percent increase in social feed engagement since social distancing measures began in mid-March, according to CEO Christof Wittig. And the dating app Tinder reported that it saw more engagement on March 29 than on any other day in its history, with more than 3 billion users swiping to connect with people, according to an April 1 press release. In 2020, online dating revenue in the U.S. amounted to 602 million U.S. dollars, and it is projected to reach 755 billion U.S. dollars by 2024. The number of users is also expected to see an annual increase, with 53.3 million Americans expected to use internet dating services in 2024, up from 44.2 million users in 2020. That year, paying customers accounted for approximately 15 percent of U.S. online dating users. While many dating sites and apps are free, some platforms use a freemium pricing model that supports online purchases.
Some online dating apps have been working on implementing new features to prevent catfishing—other companies are even producing AI intelligence to fend against it.
The revenue from this industry and its frequency of use are astronomical.
Even if the person you’re meeting volunteers to pick you up, avoid getting into a vehicle with someone you don’t know and trust, especially if it’s the first meeting.
OkCupidwas created in 2004 by a group of friends from Harvard University.
When you engage in social events where you’re likely to meet new people, the pool of those who are single and looking is much smaller than when you’re on an app or dating site where everyone is in the same boat as you. Research shows, however, there are negative side effects of online dating, particularly for young women. People cite the obvious reasons for being on dating apps, such as seeking a long-term partner or a sexual encounter; the split is fairly even.
Everyone knows that songs are protected by copyright. And copyright in fact plays one of the most important, if not the most important role in a musician’s career. So let’s find out how copyright works in the music industry, and what the consequences are if someone wants to take it away from you.
The copyright to any result of creativity arises to its author at the moment of creation of the work. Once a work has been created (text and sheet music have been recorded, or an arrangement or recording has been made), copyright protection comes into play. In many countries, work of authorship is not required to be registered with a particular national governmental authority, but in the United States, registering the work with the Library of Congress is the only way to ensure that the author can bring a lawsuit in the event of an infringement.
If both the lyrics and music for a song were written by the same person, everything is very simple – they own the copyright to the song as a whole. Things are a little more complicated in the case where the lyrics were written by one person and the music composed by another. Each of them is the author and owner of the rights in full to his work:
the author for the lyrics
the composer for the music
And then there are possible variants of events:
If the author of the lyrics and the composer agree to create a song together, they should sign an agreement stating who owns which copyrights. For example, the author of the lyrics can waive the exclusive rights to their lyrics, assigning them to the composer. Then the author of the lyrics will still be considered the author (within the meaning of the law) of the lyrics, but will not be able to dispose of it. Or everyone in this deal can retain the rights to their part of the song and receive equal income from the performance of the work and sales of its studio recordings.
If a producer or a record label is involved in the creation of the song, then, as a rule, all the exclusive rights to that song belong to the producer or the label (unless the contract says otherwise!).
This is where things get interesting! But before we get to the part where we tell you why your favorite artists are broke, let’s find out what the purpose of copyright is.
Purpose Of Copyright
Copyright allows the owner of the rights to a song to decide how, when, where, and by whom that song may be used. One of the purposes of copyright is to enable authors to: make a living from their talents, receive a financial return on the time and energy invested in creating the work, and recognition of their authorship.
Copyright includes economic rights that give the author of the song the right to authorize, prohibit, or obtain financial compensation (in the form of equitable remuneration) for:
the reproduction of a song, for example, on a CD, online or in a movie
the distribution of copies of a song
the performance of a song in public (e.g. when a song is played in a shopping mall or a disco, authors/performers are paid a royalty)
broadcasting or otherwise making available a song to the public (i.e. via radio, TV or online)
the adaptation of a work
Note: Many of your favorite artists don’t write their own songs but perform and interpret others’ works. However, they bring their own unique style to the performance and therefore also have some copyright-like rights called related rights in their performance. Recording companies (officially called “producers of phonograms”) and broadcasters also have related rights. Each increases the value of a work in its own way, either through its own creativity or through know-how or investment of financial and organizational resources.
How Record Labels Make Artists Broke
Who hasn’t dreamed of a music career? Your face on every billboard in the country, crowds of fans, and tons of money. If you still dream of becoming a famous musician, don’t rush to google vocal lessons near me or the best beginner guitar in 2021. You may no longer want to learn an instrument or build a career in music after you learn why your favorite musicians are broke and that the same fate may await you.
As an artist, you have two career paths:
Independently record your music at home
Sign to a record label
Both options have their pros and cons. But today we’ll talk more about what happens if you decide to sign with a record label.
As streaming platforms have become increasingly popular, sales of physical media (i.e. CDs) have all but died. With the transition of music online comes new problems –
illegal file sharing. This causes the turnover and profits of record labels to decrease. So many companies are looking for ways to participate in other revenue streams generated by artists. This is quickly becoming the norm, and such arrangements are referred to as a 360-degree business model or a 320 deal.
One of the landmark 360 deals was the agreement made by EMI with Robbie Williams in 2002. Under this contract, EMI acted not only as a producer of phonograms, but also as a publisher, as well as participating in the revenues from live performances.
The 360 Deal
Why 360? The prefix 360 hints at the fact that in this type of contract the label takes care of the artist’s comprehensive development and promotion. The label is involved in all aspects of the artist’s career, including touring, brand development, marketing, PR etc., in exchange for a percentage of all revenue generated through all possible channels, not just music sales.
The advantage of this type of contract is that you get the label’s support in raising your income to the highest possible level. The disadvantage is that the label makes all the decisions to build your career. In terms of intellectual property, the record label either gets the non-proprietary copyrights to your works, or it tells you how to dispose of your copyright, and takes most of your money, including royalties.
Before launching an artist’s career, the record label gives them an advance payment, which can range from several hundred thousand dollars to several million. The artist spends this money to create an image and to get inspiration for his music – they may buy luxury clothes, expensive cars, and real estate. Then, when the music is created, it goes into distribution: albums are streamed on streaming platforms, YouTube, the artist goes on a world tour, and so on. How is the income distributed? The label will give back something like 20 percent of the revenue – if an artist made $8 million from one song, they will only receive $2 million back after taking out the advance and all the money they spent. Given this, the artist can get their hands on only a few thousand dollars.
Since the concept of “360 degrees” is relatively new, there are still no standard contracts, interest rates, as in the traditional business model. Each company develops terms for a specific performer. For example, according to the contract between Paramore and the label Atlantic Records, the label gets 30 percent of the profits from sales, concert activities, merchandising, sponsorships and fan club membership fees. In the contract between the rock band Korn and EMI, the label gets 70 percent from recordings and 30 percent from concert activities, merchandising and licensing. In the contract with Madonna, Live Nation gets 50 percent of licensing fees, 30 percent of merchandising, 10 percent of concert activities and nothing from media sales. But don’t forget that the rest of the money is also distributed among the artist, the author of lyrics and music, the producer, the distributor, and other parties involved.
Record Label Or Independence?
Now you know why many of your favorite artists are broke. Most of the money that musicians earn is appropriated by record labels. You should think very carefully before entering into such an agreement as a 360 deal. It may turn out to be much more profitable to regulate all the revenue streams on your own.
However, 360 deal would be perfect for you if you:
do not want to do administrative work, you only like to create, compose, sing
do not have money for promotion
do not want to wait for years and take risks, but want faster results
It’s hard to find someone who has never heard of a fitness tracker. But if you are one of them, we’re about to tell you everything!
A fitness or activity tracker is a compact, wearable smart gadget designed to record and monitor a user’s physical activity. It requires no effort other than the occasional recharging of the battery. Such a bracelet was specifically designed to visually analyze a person’s health.
What can a fitness tracker do? First of all, it measures the number of steps you have walked during the day (pedometer), and more advanced versions can determine:
speed of movement
the length of each step
show on a map the route traveled
It can also record parameters such as:
heart rate
calories burned, and
sleep duration
Who Got The Idea
The invention of the fitness tracker is attributed to many prominent figures, including Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham-Louis Perrelet, and others. In fact, Leonardo da Vinci is generally given credit for coming up with the original concept of the pedometer. However, neither he nor the other named personalities ever filed patent applications for their designs.
It is believed that it was John Harwood, a British watchman, who was granted the first patent for a pedometer in 1926. The patent was firstly given by the Federal Office for Intellectual Property of the Swiss Confederation for the world’s first self-winding watch.
<<< Harwood’s patent CH106583A
However, Harwood’s device can not be considered a fitness tracker in the usual sense. The world became aware of a fitness tracker after Dr. Yoshiro Hatano, a professor at the University of Health and Welfare Kyushu (Japan), launched a marketing campaign for his device in the 1960s. It was known as the ‘Manpo-kei’ (or 10,000 step meter) and was based on Dr. Hatano’s research that showed that 10,000 steps-a-day activity level along with balanced calorie intake led to the loss of weight and a healthier lifestyle. Hatano’s device was the first wearable pedometer released to the mass market.
Today’s Fitness Trackers
Today’s trackers have already crossed the line of just fitness devices. They are now part of services that combine a mobile app and cloud computing to determine complex physiological parameters, such as heart rate variability and sleep efficiency. The user receives the results of their daily and weekly activity, where an app will produce changes in health indicators, charting and giving advice and recommendations. These solutions simplify health management because the data collection is continuous.
Almost every technology company has fitness trackers in their product line. For example, Xiaomi and Huawei. Some fitness trackers are ‘part of’ a smartwatch. Such devices are developed by Samsung and Apple.
Until then, only Google lagged behind its competitors. Over the past few years, there have been numerous rumors about the Google Pixel Watch concept. In December 2020, rumors surfaced that Google may be working on its first fitness tracker – and it has no display. The rumors emerged because of the publication of a new Google patent. The design patent US0D0904920 didn’t mention the specifications or features of the device. However, it does state that the new gadget is a ‘wristband for tracking fitness’. At this point, not much is still known about this fitness tracker and whether Google will actually release it.
What To Look For When Choosing A Fitness Tracker
Choosing the best fitness tracker among dozens of brands can be not easy. Such devices can be expensive, especially if they have extra features. Those looking for fitness trackers should first determine what features are most important to them and then choose the best fitness tracker for themselves. What features to look out for:
GPS and map accuracy: most fitness trackers are equipped with GPS, but they can vary in terms of map style and accuracy.
Activities: some people want their device to track their performance when biking, walking, swimming, surfing, or snowboarding in addition to running.
Battery life: those who exercise for long periods of time may want a watch with extended battery life. Long battery life can also be useful for those who plan to use multiple apps at the same time – for example, listening to music and using GPS simultaneously.
Weight and comfort: some people may prefer to purchase a lightweight and comfortable watch for all-day wear.
Music options: those who listen to music while exercising may prefer to buy a fitness tracker that can also play music.
Summary
Fitness trackers help you keep track of your vital signs. For example, they can remind you that your activity level is too low. For this reason, devices are becoming more and more popular, because a small correction of lifestyle can allow you to avoid spending money on medical treatment. In addition, the bracelet is a stylish accessory that can complement and emphasize your look, as well as facilitate your experience of using a mobile phone, showing a notification from a messenger, which can be viewed on the go.
You can choose the best fitness tracker for you among the hundreds of brands available online and offline in stores. But remember, before you buy a particular device, determine what features are most important to you.
The use of solar energy is gaining momentum around the world, as more and more countries are switching to solar energy. But once the ability to turn solar energy into electricity was considered an invention, or even an innovation!
In 1897 Frank Shuman, an American inventor, engineer and pioneer in the use of solar energy, built a small demonstration solar engine, the principle of which was that sunlight was reflected onto square containers filled with ether, whose boiling point is less than water. Inside up to the containers were nailed black pipes that drove the steam engine.
In 1908 Shuman founded the Sun Power Company to build large solar-powered plants. Together with his technical advisor A.S.E. Ackermann and British physicist Sir Charles Vernon Boys, Shuman developed an improved system, using a system of mirrors that reflected sunlight onto boxes of solar collectors, increasing heating efficiency to the point where water could be used instead of ether. Schumann then built a full-scale steam engine that ran on low-pressure water. This gave him the opportunity in 1912 to patent an entire system with a solar engine.
<<< Shuman’s Patent US1240890
Shuman even built the world’s first solar thermal power station between 1912 and 1913. It was located in Maadi, Egypt.
Solar Energy In Sunny California
Sunny California is the perfect place to get your electricity from solar energy. According to research, there is an average of 3,470 hours of sunlight per year (of a possible 4,383) with an average of 9:30 of sunlight per day in Sacramento. It is sunny 79.2% of daylight hours. Just the perfect conditions to go solar!
But where do you start on your path to going solar? How do you choose a solar panel supplier?
There are many rankings of solar panel manufacturers through which you can choose the best solar panels company in California. For example, check out Bloomberg New Energy Finance Corporation’s rating.
But we live in a time where you need to see the bigger picture even when choosing a solar panel manufacturer. The company now stands out in the market because of its innovation. It is this criterion that may be decisive in 2021.
Current And Upcoming Innovations In Solar Technologies
Thin-film solar cells
Up to 85% of the solar cells on the market today are crystalline solar modules. However, experts assure that thin-film solar cell production technology is more efficient and therefore more promising. Typically, four types of materials are used in their construction:
cadmium-telluride (CdTe),
amorphous silicon,
copper-indium-gallium-selenide (CIGS), and
gallium-arsenide (GaAs).
The main advantage of thin-film technology is its low cost, which is why it has all chances to become the leader in the next few years. Modules based on the new base allow making solar panels flexible. They are light and flexible, which makes it possible to place such batteries literally on any surface, including the surface of clothes.
Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc., a photovoltaic (PV) company located in Thornton Colorado, is one of the top players in the manufacturing of high-performance CIGS modules, with their superlight and extreme CIGS technology being used in space, aerospace, government, and public sectors.
Transparent solar windows
What could be better than having large panoramic windows in your home with views of the city or nature? Having large panoramic windows, with a transparent coating that absorbs solar energy! Ubiquitous Energy, a Silicon Valley technology company, manufactures highly innovative transparent solar windows. The thin coating created by Ubiquitous Energy is applied to the surface of window glass to provide electricity generation, all while maintaining the aesthetic of a traditional window. It all comes down to one word-transparency. The team has achieved a solar-to-electricity conversion efficiency of 10% with their transparent materials. By the way, the company owns a portfolio of patents for its innovative technologies.
Innovative OneRoof™ Solar System
If you’re just building your home or going to renovate, the good news for you is that you no longer need to look separately for a rooftop tile and solar panel supplier. Сheck out SunPower’s recent innovation – OneRoof™ Solar System. SunPower is one of, if not the most innovative California solar panels company. According to the manufacturer, the OneRoof™ Solar System is a Class A UL-certified solar system that replaces existing roof tiles with fully integrated roof-plus-solar solutions. The system delivers an efficient, durable, attractive and cost-effective solar roofing product that is ideal for the new-home market.
There is a long list of innovations waiting for people interested in solar energy technologies. From efficiency improvements to reverse solar panels and solar paints. There is still a lot more to come in this field. Given the latest developments, the solar energy market is expected to boom in the next 5 years. Despite the rollback caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the cost of solar panel installations is anticipated to reduce by 15% to 35% by 2024 making renewable energy more affordable.
Background: On February 17, the Australian authorities passed a bill that requires technology companies to pay for the use of media news in their services. Companies must either negotiate with the media themselves or be forced to do so by regulators. Facebook and Google were the first to fall under the law. In response, the companies threatened to leave Australia altogether, but Facebook decided to act harshly and forbade users from Australia to share the news.
The law was designed to address the loss of advertising revenue to traditional media in favor of IT corporations. Of every $100 spent on online advertising in Australia, $53 goes to Google, $28 goes to Facebook and only $19 goes to others, according to the Guardian.
The bill was discussed for three years, of which 1.5 years were spent investigating the “power imbalance” between the media and online platforms. By 2020, the new rules had become more relevant, as even the oldest regional print newspapers began to close in the midst of the pandemic.
Australia’s bill is considered the most sweeping reform of the relationship between media and Internet platforms, according to Reuters. Its adoption may become a precedent for other countries wishing to strengthen the regulation of technology giants.
First Response In January: Facebook ‘Unfriends’ Australia
Facebook reacted negatively and harshly to the Australian bill: in January, the tech giant warned that it would stop operating in the country if the law was passed. Representatives of the company believed that the law was unfair and would make their work in Australia unviable.
After the bill was passed Facebook banned media and users from Australia from sharing news.
At the time, the tech giant deemed it wrong not only when users did post fake, discriminatory information, buy Facebook followers, and violate other platform rules. Attempts to repost media news were viewed in the same way. The Australian residents couldn’t post links to local and international news, and users in other countries couldn’t post links to materials from Australian publishers.
William Easton, Facebook’s managing director in Australia and New Zealand, said that the bill misunderstands the relationship between the social network and publishers. He noted that Facebook helps the media make money. For Facebook, however, profits from news are minimal – they make up less than 4 percent of the content people see in their feed, Easton said.
One Week Later: Facebook ‘Refriends’ Australia
After a week-long blackout, Facebook decided to lift restrictions on the distribution of news content in Australia after the country’s authorities agreed to make a number of changes.
“We’re pleased that we’ve been able to reach an agreement with the Australian government and appreciate the constructive discussions we’ve had with Treasurer Frydenberg and Minister Fletcher over the past week,” said William Easton in his statement online on February 22, adding that Facebook is ‘satisfied that the Australian government has agreed to a number of changes and guarantees … As a result of these changes, we can now work to further our investment in public interest journalism and restore news on Facebook for Australians in the coming days.”
The Australian government has proposed four amendments to the law. Key among them are:
The government will take into account commercial deals between Facebook, Google and the media.
The platforms and publishers will be given two months to conclude a cooperation agreement.
The agreement was reached after talks between Frydenberg and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
“Going forward, the government has clarified we will retain the ability to decide if news appears on Facebook so that we won’t automatically be subject to a forced negotiation,” Facebook Vice President of Global News Partnership Campbell Brown said in a statement online.
