Author: Nick Booth

It's a messy time for Intellectual property, but Tesco should know where it stands.

Is this evidence of Tesco using Rosie Cosies IP? Original Image Rosie Cosie and Tesco
Is this evidence of Tesco using Rosie Cosie's IP? Original Image Rosie Cosie and Tesco

A mum who runs her own knitting business is claiming that Tesco has started to sell one of her designs without acknowledging her intellectual property rights:

“I have not supplied the design or pattern to them and I did not give my consent for my design to be used but it seems that doesn’t count when it comes to big business, they just take what they want regardless of the intellectual property rights of individuals.”

I reckon we are all confused about IP at the moment but any business which fights to protect it’s own IP has no place abusing others’.

Perhaps it’s time for Julie Williams to start a legal fundraiser using a tip jar under the title “Every Little Helps” ?

Stuff I've seen April 15th through April 17th

These are my links for April 15th through April 17th:

  • G20 Police Witnesses IDed: ‘D5′ – City of London Police dog handler A712 – ID'ing G20 police officers
  • YouTube – How copyright extension in sound recordings actually works – How copyright extension in sound recordings actually works.
  • Better ways to share information digitally: West Midlands Regional Observatory. – The Observatory’s Population & Society Group is planning a seminar in the summer to investigate and discuss how research organisations in the West Midlands can get better at sharing information digitally. Do you have any thoughts on this?
  • The Social Innovation Camp comes to Scotland. – Over one weekend from 19th-21st June 2009, we’re bringing together some of the best of the UK’s software developers and designers with those at the sharp end of social problems at the Saltire Centre, Glasgow.

    Their mission will be to turn six back-of-the-envelope ideas that could change the world into social start-ups in under 48 hours – complete with working software.

    You’ve got until Friday 22nd May 2009 to send us your idea that uses the web to create social change and you could be joining 100 other participants to try and make it a reality.

  • Local Authority Mapping Collective | Bringing together mapped data across the UK – The Local Authority Mapping Collective aims to get officers from local authorities in the UK collaborating with one another using Google My Maps. It is hoped that this will allow for large sets of mapped data to be made publically available without the need for bespoke software development. This data could then be used on local authority websites, as well as being made downloadable to use in any number of projects.

    We would also like to encourage members of the public to get involved; if your council is not submitting their data to any of our maps, let them know about this project. The more local authorities we can get on board, the larger the data sets we can make available.

Things I've spotted – April 12th.

Here are some o the things I’ve been reading April 12th from 11:23 to 18:18:

  • Thriving too: Building a Biker Community – “Contrail is a tool for developing bicycle communities. As you ride, contrail leaves a faint chalk line behind your bike. The goal is to encourage a new cycle of biking participation by allowing the biking community to leave a unique mark on the road and to reclaim this crucial shared space.”
  • Can the Statusphere Save Journalism? – “Think about it. Of the hundreds, thousands, of newspapers around the country, there are really only a few that matter. Good journalism and journalists, on the other hand, are worth saving.”
  • LGA defends council-run newspapers | Media | guardian.co.uk – The media is getting desparate: “The Local Government Association has hit back at press industry claims that council-run newspapers and magazines damage local newspapers, saying they are not “rivals or alternatives”.”

Stuff I've seen April 5th through April 6th

These are my links for April 5th through April 6th:

  • Walkit.com gets a redesign. – Need I say more!
  • Government Needs Smart-sourcing, Not Crowdsourcing | techPresident – Clay Shirky, while in London last month promoting the release of Here Comes Everybody in paperback, said the following: “All the rhetoric, including – I’m embarrassed to say – some of mine, has assumed in the past that democratic legitimation is itself enough to regard aggregate public opinion [online] as being clearly binding on the government. I’ve changed my mind.”
  • G20: Tom Watson MP – Watch the short youtube film from Lloyd davis where Tom Watson explains why the G20 matters and why it’s important that bloggers were given access to the conference.