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Scott Offers… Some AI-Generated “Patent Law” Nonsense — To Argue Against… Biden/Harris Drug Price Relief. Hilarious.

~ condor ~ 1 Comment

First, as always, let us all agree that Tangerine promised this in 2017, and promptly welshed on the promise.

Now that Biden/Harris were actually able, through deft negotiations and market incentives, to cut the US prices of very high burden, widely prescribed medicines (most of which are nearing their early “at-risk” generic launch dates, under the Hatch-Waxman Act of 1984)… Scott offers an “AI” conjecture (but it is really just some conservative patent lawyer — trying to write under the cloak of AI, and avoid offending his high-end clients in the generic and branded space!) that maybe the generics will now not enter the market — at all.

Poppycock.

These drugs are so widely prescribed (all as life-long, life-saving meds!), that the generics will absolutely seize the vast economic opportunity, in 2026 and beyond, no matter what. [And prices will decline, some more. Moreover, there will be additional drugs, now — added to the list for negotiated prices in the coming Harris Administration, 2024-2028.]

That was the bi-partisan genius of the Hatch-Waxman Act’s patent improvements. Signed by old Saint Ronnie into law (1984). Scott, Paul, John and the P-line boys loved it ever since. [Until now, that is.]

Another way to look at this, then is to accept that the negotiations have created near-generic pricing, about two years earlier than forecast on 10 multi-billion dollar franchises in the US.

But to say “it could be” that Sun Pharma, Dr. Reddys and Teva, and the rest won’t enter the market is… to expose a vast misunderstanding of how this all works. The generics will absolutely be able to sell these medicines for about 80% more than it costs to make them, even if the full 79% maximum discounts filter all the way down to the US retail consumers. [And not all of them will.]

What this all is — is proof that progressive policies can work, and pharma can still make hundreds of billions in profits, AND consumers can see the benefit of generic pricing a few years ahead of the Hatch-Waxman dates.

What this is NOT… is any form of “price freeze”, or any form of socialism — or communism (as the boys endlessly and falsely burp).

Was Reagan… a socialist?

Of course not. Nah — it is just that Trump cannot stand to be shown as a welsher on a populist theme/meme he offered, on the campaign trail in 2016 and into 2018. [He simply lacks the frontal lobe processing power to get sophisticated deals done, at all. “To a guy who only has a hammer in his tool-belt, everything looks like… a nail.”]

We got it done. Promise… kept.

Put that in your pipe and smoke it, boys.

Ahem. The Hard Right Sees Nixon-Era Price Freezes. They Are Losing Their Tiny Minds. Kamala Harris Hasn’t Even Hinted At That.

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All day long, I’ve been reading various ill-informed burpings, out of the hard right media and blog nuts. [See this for John’s, Scott’s and Steve’s stupid lies — and my excoriation of the same, overnight.]

They would like to falsely frame Kamala Harris’ statements of yesterday as “price freezes” — which we all know failed — and failed miserably — under Richard Nixon’s (GOP) presidency.

I won’t give any play to those false narratives. Economic incentives are not price freezes.

And we need look no further than the success of the current administration as to the just concluded price negotiation process, on the top ten US pharmaceutical products, to see how a deft but progressive hand might work. Here’s what she actually said:

…My plan will include new penalties for opportunistic companies that exploit crises and break the rules, and we will support smaller food businesses that are trying to play by the rules and get ahead. (Applause.)

We will help the food industry become more competitive, because I believe competition is the lifeblood of our economy. More competition means lower prices for you and your families. (Applause)….

So don’t let the liars con you. My Madame President will achieve inflation control with a series of carrots and sticks, similar to the incentives we saw under Mr. Obama’s presidency. There will be no price freezes. Now you know.

नमस्ते

Eddy Grant Has Clarified His Copyright — In “Electric Avenue” — And How Tangerine’s 2020 Campaign Stole It, Without Permission, Or Compensation.

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The able USDC Judge Koeltl, in Manhattan asked for this memo of law, last week — now he has it. Tangerine’s camp has until late next week to reply.

But this looks like a statutory knock out punch. [Recent backgrounder, on this aspect, here — from me.] Trump is liable for willful infringement of a copyright, and false light publicity, at common law. Here’s the meat of it — but do go read all 13 pages, if the rights of artists matter to you. This is an excellent primer:

…This copyright infringement action relates to Defendants’ Donald J. Trump (“Trump”) and Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. (the “Campaign,” and together with Trump, “Defendants”) willful and unauthorized taking of the musical composition (the “Composition”) and sound recording (the “Sound Recording”) of Plaintiffs’ works entitled “Electric Avenue.” The Court’s Order requested that Plaintiffs advise the Court as to “(a) whether, by the terms of the May 3, 2001 Agreement (the “Agreement”) or otherwise, London Records owned all of the rights in the sound recording of “Electric Avenue” such that London Records could have registered the copyright for the sound recording “Electric Avenue,” and (b) whether the subsequent copyright registration of the collective work also included the copyright registration for the sound recording of “Electric Avenue.”

Plaintiff answers both questions in the affirmative. As discussed herein, the Agreement granted London Records the exclusive license to “exploit” Electric Avenue in the World (excluding only the United Kingdom and Ireland, Africa and the Caribbean) and thus register the Sound Recording in the United States. Furthermore, based on well settled Second Circuit precedent, the SR Registration dated March 22, 2002, of the album “Eddy Grant: the greatest hits” (the “Album”), as a collective work, included the registration for the Sound Recording as a constituent part of the Album because London Records had the exclusive rights to all constituent parts of the Album. Morris v. Business Concepts, Inc., 283 F.3d 502, 505 (2d Cir. 2002)….

[Tangerine’s / Defendants’] reply in support of their motion for summary judgment attempts to distinguish Morris, Streetwise, and Woods by drawing an artificial distinction between a collective work and a derivative work. However, the court in Morris made no such distinction; the court simply held that “unless the copyright owner of a collective work also owns all the rights in a constituent part, a collective work registration will not extend to a constituent part.” 283 F.3d at 506. However, Plaintiffs have demonstrated unequivocally that they are the copyright owner of the Album, a collective work, and the Sound Recording, a constituent part of the Album. Based on the plain language in Morris, the registration of the Album included the Sound Recording.

Moreover, Woods completely defeats Defendants’ argument because the court in Woods dealt specifically with a collective work. 920 F. Supp. at 64 (“the color version of “(Upper) Chamber” appeared in The New City, a collection of illustrations by Woods.”). Defendants also misstate that the court in Woods did not address the issue of publication, which is belied by the very same language in the opinion that Defendants quote: “Wood’s submissions show that he owns the copyright in the earlier published ‘(Upper) Chamber….’”

Now you know — and, onward to Mahler’s 8th, under the stars — by the lake, so long as the rains hold off — until 7:15 pm tonight… grin.

नमस्ते

Mirengoff — A Realist — Is Conceding That Kamala Harris Will Be Our Nation’s 47th President. Cool.

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I am not surprised. After all, being a realist is what got him “fired“, in February 2022, from Powerline — by Steve Hayward. But I digress.

While he tells some lies on his way to doing so, below — I reprint it all… in full, because it acknowledges the over-arching reality: Tangerine is a dead letter.

Harris | Walz speaks to the modern (but less than fully engaged) Americans. The ones Tangerine courted, but abandoned in 2016. And Harris speaks to whole swaths of America (women mostly) who detest the now convicted felon, and unmasked misogynist — that is one Donald J. Trump.

So Democrats will take the White House in November — Paul knows it, in his heart. And they may both keep the Senate, and take the House… if JD Vance keeps opening his yap… and Trump keeps… being the racist he is. Here’s Paul:

…One might say her choice at least elevated conviction over opportunism, but I don’t think so. I believe Harris and her team thought they could get away with nominating a hard-core radical because of his “everyman” persona and a mainstream media that would provide cover. The sad part is that Harris and her team might very well be right.

If I’m right that Harris is a left-winger but also an opportunist willing to trim her ideological sails to achieve political gain, can we at least hope that, if elected, she will curb her leftism to retain popularity? Yes, we can hope for this outcome, but we shouldn’t expect it.

Joe Biden was less radical than Harris, but every bit as opportunistic. He governed from the left. There’s good reason to believe that Harris, buoyed by victory and mistaking it for a mandate to be her genuine self, would do the same….

Meanwhile over at Powerline, Steve Hayward continually posts glib memes, and insipid charts… either wholly unaware that he is a… a long-dead dinosaur (or happy to just sit and watch the asteroid’s arrival in what becomes the Gulf of Mexico). He already resides in what is an ash-bin… of evolutionary thought.

Hilarious. John and Scott too — even this morning, still post lies, preposterously hoping to melt the iceberg, dead ahead of RMS-Titanic-Trump-Vance.

And I am here for it all — can’t wait, in fact. Thanks Paul!

Mpox Update No. 1: Pakistan Sees One Case; Begins Airport, And Border Screenings — With Afghanistan, China, India And Iran.

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This clade 1b version (see our item of yesterday) is a quite-contagious virus — mere casual contact is potentially enough to transmit it. So this proactive move makes solid scientific sense.

No word on whether Sweden (see yesterday’s) has begun African-arriving airport passenger screenings, at least from select nations.

But Pakistan in now the second non-African nation to see a patient present with Mpox. Here’s the latest:

…Authorities in Pakistan started screening all travelers to the country for the mpox virus as a precautionary step after a positive case was detected this month.

Scanners have been put in place at all airports and at border crossings with Afghanistan, China, India, Iran to report suspected infections as part of efforts to prevent the virus from spreading in the country….

Now you know. And yes — let’s arrest this before it can spread much more widely. Onward.

नमस्ते

[U X2: Sat.] Harris Did NOT Call For “Price Freezes”, Despite Hinderaker’s Nixon-Era Lies.

~ condor ~ 1 Comment

Man, is he an annoying little spud.

Tonight, John Hinderaker and other hard right chuckleheads didn’t wait, to listen to what she actually said — or even read the transcript, before declaring it “Nixon Era price controls”. He is a liar.

Nothing like it. Nothing at all.

The new Harris initiative includes penalties for bad actors/crooks; and separate incentives (for small businesses) — not freezes.

Here’s what she actually said:

…My plan will include new penalties for opportunistic companies that exploit crises and break the rules, and we will support smaller food businesses that are trying to play by the rules and get ahead. (Applause.)

We will help the food industry become more competitive, because I believe competition is the lifeblood of our economy. More competition means lower prices for you and your families. (Applause)…

So again, Hinderaker beclowns himself — he’s senile. And he lies. It is Tangerine that uses tariffs and price controls. See 2018-2020.

Note that the drug price negotiations (on top ten US drugs) process has already started working for Biden/Harris. That’s a promise Tangerine welshed on.

Negotiations — not price controls. Updated: 08.17.2024 AM — Scott Johnson now also “cries wolf” about what was said.

They are simply lying.

Second update — late in the afternoon. Steve offers a comically-ill informed non-argument, on economics — since it will NOT be a price freeze. True, retail outlet grocers survive on very low margins; but the incentives will be for reducing the number of wholesalers in the chain, and the penalties will hit monopolist pricing coming out of mega midwestern corporate farms. Ones that sometimes boost prices to wholesalers by 10% a week.

So the whole Steve piece suffers from ill-informed… lying. Cool story though, bro.

I get it, that’s all the boys have left — as it seems clear Tangerine never has, and never will, articulate any policy (other than build a failed wall — and tax cuts for billionaires). Oh well.

Y A W N.

Out.

In Which We Learn That Hinderaker… Sees Himself, In this — And Has Very (Thin, Crepe Papery) Whyte Skin….

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I have long known (25+ years) that John Hinderaker has no discernible sense of humor.

What I didn’t know, was that he was so immensely self-conscious — and self-important… about his whyte/Dakota/Minnesota roots. Whatever “roots” those might be.

Here, he feels Gov. Walz (who in fact cooks a mean ghost pepper chili!) demeans himself, by poking fun at bland whyte Minnesota foods — tacos, particularly.

At base of course, we know that what bothers John… Is that Kamala gets the punch lines in this advertisement, and Gov. Walz is merely the set up man.

In John’s view of the world, white men run everything… And women of color should be thrilled to be allowed in the same room with him (and them) — and she should simply smile and nod, subserviently. So that’s what really bothers him about this ad.

Personally, I love it! Especially that it works Hinderaker into a belching lather!

Not even very polite, nice, white Minnesota ex-military Governors should take themselves too seriously… But John wouldn’t know anything about that… because his upbringing in the Dakotas was entirely devoid of irony.

What I see… is two funny, warmly-humble, relatable humans — people you’d enjoy sitting with at a barbeque, or grabbing a beer with… in sum, two nice people to be around — who also well-understand how dangerous the Tangerine agenda is.

I’m out for a great weekend, now — grinning ear to ear (with Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 under the stars, closing — tomorrow night)!

नमस्ते

Roman Space Telescope Update… Friday Fun | Interstellar Space Science.

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We are pleased to report (with a short video explainer in tow, below!) that the pioneering space wide-field ‘scope is on track, and on target, for a launch in late 2026.

The main camera instrument has arrived at Goddard, for mating to the rest of the housing, and to be secured to a launch ready platform. So all lights are green, from here to 2026. Now she just has to find her best-suited “ride” — up to her final orbital position. More — in the coming months:

…In order to know how the universe will end, we must know what has happened to it so far. This is just one mystery NASA’s forthcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope mission will tackle as it explores the distant cosmos. The spacecraft’s giant camera, the Wide Field Instrument (WFI), will be fundamental to this exploration.

The Roman Space Telescope that will survey the infrared universe from beyond the orbit of the Moon. Its two instruments are a technology demonstration called a coronagraph, and the WFI. The WFI features the same angular resolution as Hubble, allowing it to capture infrared images that will be around 200 times larger than Hubble can provide while revealing the same level of rich detail. Data it gathers will enable scientists to discover new and uniquely detailed information about planetary systems around other stars. The WFI will also map how matter is structured and distributed throughout the cosmos, which should ultimately allow scientists to discover the fate of the universe.

The WFI is designed to detect faint infrared light from across the universe. Infrared light is observed at wavelengths longer than the human eye can detect. The expansion of the universe stretches light emitted by distant galaxies, causing visible or ultraviolet light to appear as infrared by the time it reaches us. Such distant galaxies are difficult to observe from the ground because Earth’s atmosphere blocks some infrared wavelengths, and the upper atmosphere glows brightly enough to overwhelm light from these distant galaxies. By going into space and using a Hubble-size telescope, the WFI will be sensitive enough to detect infrared light from farther than any previous telescope. This will help scientists capture a new view of the universe that could help solve some of its biggest mysteries, one of which is how the universe became the way it is now.

The WFI will allow scientists to peer very far back in time. Seeing the universe in its early stages will help scientists unravel how it expanded throughout its history. This will illuminate how the cosmos developed to its present condition, enabling scientists to predict how it will continue to evolve.

With its large field of view, the WFI will provide a wealth of information in each image it takes. This will dramatically reduce the amount of time needed to gather data, allowing scientists to conduct research that would otherwise be impractical.

Nancy Grace Roman is on target for its planned launch in the mid-2020s. Scientists will soon be able to explore some of the biggest mysteries in the cosmos thanks to the WFI’s wide field of view and precision optics….

Now you know. What a glorious age of space science we are graced with — and, what a time to be alive!

नमस्ते

WHO Declares Second Mpox Emergency In Under Three Years — With Congo The Epicenter, But Now A Case Confirmed In Sweden…

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This is discouraging, even as it seems the few suspected cases of Ebola in Bas-Uélé, DRC have turned up negative for that far more lethal virus.

Even so, the Ib clade of Mpox runs at about a 10 percent fatality rate in sub-Saharan Africa. No word yet — on the prognosis for the case in Sweden — but it is reported to be of the more contagious variety. So WHO has declared an emergency — to arrest it all, before it leaps to additional continents, as Ebola did in 2022 — reaching both Israel, and Pakistan. Here’s the latest:

…Mpox is a viral infection that spreads through close contact. It’s classified into two distinct viral groups, called clades: clade I and clade II.

The strain that spread widely in 2022 and prompted the WHO’s first public health emergency declaration was a version of clade II. The current outbreak, however, is a version of clade I, which is “likely to be associated with a higher risk of a more severe course of disease and higher mortality,” according to the Public Health Agency of Sweden….

The version of clade I responsible for the outbreak in Congo also appears to be fairly transmissible via routine close contact, such as between members of a household. That’s a notable difference from the clade II strain, which was transmitted primarily via sexual contact among men who have sex with men during the outbreak two years ago….

It is increasingly true now, that with post jet age travel, we are all our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers — in a single global biome. We need to realize that global human health — and pandemic abatement — is a global imperative. Onward.

नमस्ते

In Which Johnson Admits LA Trump Appointed Judge Just “Made Up” Some Stuff — Re UCLA.

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This is… a tell.

This morning, Scott Johnson sees a Tangerine appointee offer a loony opinion/injunction on the UCLA campus protests matters… and will only comment by saying “no matter what happens down the road with this opinion…” — meaning he knows it is not tethered to actual black letter law. [He won’t say more because the opinion discriminates against speech, based on its content… but that discrimination based on content… is of a flavor he enjoys.]

Had either a Biden or Obama appointee written it, Johnson would offer ten to 15 paragraphs about the judge “making up the law, from whole cloth” — about “odious activist” judges being a horrible thing, and about “socialism.”

Hilarious. Scott — call the thing by its name: it is reversible error, out of LA.

Out… grow a spine, man.