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United States

White House May Name Patent Reform Opponent As New Head of Patent Office 211

An anonymous reader writes The Obama Administration is set to appoint Phil Johnson, a pharmaceutical industry executive, as the next Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, according to sources. The move is likely to anger patent reform advocates given Johnson's past efforts to block legislation aimed at reining in patent trolls, and in light of his positions that appear to contradict the White House's professed goal of fixing the patent system. The top job at the Patent Office has been vacant for around 18-months since the departure of previous director David Kappos in early 2013. Currently, the office is being managed by former Googler Michelle Lee, who was appointed deputy director in December. Earlier this month, Republican Senators led by Orrin Hatch (R-UT) sent a letter to President Obama that praised Lee but that also described the current USPTO management structure as "unfair, untenable and unacceptable for our country's intellectual property agency."

Comment Re:Feel good legislation vs. cost (Score 1) 532

Lets compromise we can ban HFCS and also get rid off all laws pushing kids/young adults to be couch potato's. Things like all the no skateboarding/biking/roller blading bans all the curfews. The school systems requiring piles of paperwork and waivers to let a kid walk or bike to school.

Much like the bike helmets studies that show while safer if it means they turn into fatties more kids are having worse outcomes in the long run if they do not bike because of it or pick up another active activity.

Comment Re:The Sugary Slope (Score 1) 532

Go to a really poor neighborhood's bodega and you will see them selling individual cigarettes often at 2-3 times the price if they bought a pack. They will also break up packages of butter etc. The poor tend to buy small quantities yet much more often and often pay a premium for the privilege. These practices are often against manufactures/distributers contracts and/or the law.

Comment Re:Numbers don't look right (Score 1) 461

CT, 6 contractors out of the 30 or so and nobody will even talk to you about home owner installs/labor. You need the manufactures certificate for the tax credit and all that I've contacted will not give it unless it's professionally installed by somebody they have licensed.

The site you cited [nrel.gov] gives the same numbers as I have about 26kw of panels gets me 29kwh annually and would cover my entire south facing roof. 2kwh a month current usage or 24kwh a year and some wiggle room to charge a EV later. Sure if you lived in a smaller home in a better area for sun the numbers change quickly.

We differ greatly on panel cost I show complete ready to mount panels at around 150 a pop out of china.

Comment Re:Most interesting part... (Score 5, Interesting) 461

Might have something to do with the ridiculous pricing in the US. Every licensed installer in my state charges 6-10x the wholesale panel price and will only do a fixed bid install that is about 4x the T+M labor cost. To get any of the government subsidies you must use a licensed installer. In effect I can put up the 100 or so pannels to meet my current needs for 30k including skilled labor yet the cheapest installer it looking for 100+ with the government programs taking it back down to 80 meaning they are making 70+k on whats quoted as a 2 day job with a 5 man crew.

We need to put a stop to the installer language on the government subsidies, simply having the various trade inspectors sign off seems ample proof, but that is a whole different discussion.

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