Tacky Corporate Sponsorship

Last night we celebrated the birthday of one of my favourite people. He happens to be Jewish.

The kind that eats bacon at work on Friday nights.

For whatever reason, we were talking about the wailing wall - and that how there really should be billboards up on it. I warn you, the following may offend those of you who are deeply spiritual.

Imagine the Wailing Walmart. There are no final sales because, in Israel, there is a right to return. And if they said no, the customer would be like "its like I am talking to a fucking wall."

Gold Jerry.

Crazy, Screws everyone, likes long walks on the beach

Yes. It is crazy. Yes. He is trying to screw everyone.

Sounds like the George Street festival to me.

There are some absolute truths that have to be spoken about carbon taxes and other methods of taxing carbon use:

ANY regulation of GHG emissions is a defacto tax. Dion's plan just calls it that. The regulatory impact costs of Turning the Corner makes the carbon tax look like the 2% reduction of the GST. It is the mother of all carbon taxes and YOU will ultimately feel the pinch as the price of oil goes up.

The exceptions to the Carbon Shift plan are, sadly, lamentable and politically driven. Proposed by a politician looking to get elected. Shock-ing. They are as counter-intuitive as saying that regulating industry will not affect the cost to the consumer.

The idea that some moron can sue a politician in Trade-Mark for stealing their idea is, also, lamentable. The test is "are the Liberal's PASSING OFF on the plaintiff's mark in order to gain a business advantage?" Alternatively, is the Liberal plan adversely affecting the mark of the registered/common law holder? I guess a case can be made under the latter knowing that NO ONE had ever heard of them before...

The litigious phase of Canadian Politics is now consuming both the federal court and the provincial court, it would seem. It is an era in and of itself. Maybe I should write a book about how parties are litigating to see political benefit.



Deep down, I can pick apart the Carbon Shift for its exceptions. I can get upset about the the fact that the cost of business is going to increase. I can lament the misunderstanding by our political leaders of industrial realities (particularly in Canada) and that driving the cost up here will not offset emissions globally and may in fact make them worse.


BUT - I can see that the solution to the problem is YOU and that this plan is the first to actually have a bottom line "shift" to the individual user that will affect individual behaviour. YOU have to stop emitting GHGs. This is a way to do that. It is crazy. It is going to screw everyone. The PM is right. But it is the first plan that is actually going to reduce Canada's GHGs. And over time, after the carbon has settled, the principal of polluter pays has to affect more than just the corporations that create GHGs. It affects everyone equally. Crazy, eh?

The issue isn't whether or not it is crazy and will screw everyone - the issue is whether or not it is the correct thing to do and is the "top" priority which will drive the future. I think it is a gambit, to be sure. And I think the timing is...poor given what is going on in the world oil markets. But there is never a good time to have ideas like this - that is what leadership is. To the millions of Canadians who have begun of their own accord to shift their behaviour - it is a signal that someone is trying to influence that type of change.

And I have been saying it for years

Now they are protecting whales...

Government of Canada to protect right whales

But the left whales are screwed.

Of course, they probably think "right of way" has to do with letting the aristocracy go first at a stop-light.

Sports Weekend Spectacular

Rocco won. In my head.

The Celtics won. I am proved wrong. I love it when I am wrong and the team I want to win actually wins. I have two questions:

1) Does McHale get a ring too? He was, after all, the guy who made it possible for them to win.

2) Does this put Kobe on par with Magic Johnson?

Seriously- Magic Johnson was the best point guard in the league for a long time, but he couldn't get it done unless Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was standing next to him.

Kobe is, in every meaningful sense, the best player in the game right now. He dragged a rag-tag bunch unshaven louts to the finals. Which is what Magic did before they got ROUTED by a better team. What team was that? The Chicago Bulls.

His defence is great- he just can't guard every position. His offence is uncanny - he can get a shot on demand - he just doesn't hit all of them. His court vision is as good as the only other person you can compare him too- Michael Jordan. He even walks like Jordan.

Let's remember, however, that Kobe is not anywhere near done. He is not even 30 yet. Jordan won his first title at 28. The comparison is still apt.

His time will come- despite the fact that I can't stand his attitude. If that changes - and it moved a great deal this year - he will be unstoppable.

But he is no Lebron. The fact that he got to the finals last year with the equivalent of Will Ferrell's Semi-Pro team defies logic. The Cavs are going to win 70 games next year. Lebron is just an awesome specimen - Kobe Bryant plays basketball. The Reign of James will begin soon.

And somewhere, Mr. O'Neal is chuckling to himself. Best. Centre. Ever.

Litigation Night in Canada

CTV may have just bought the most expensive rights to something they can't use ever.

There are going to be at least two law suits in the very near future: the first will be launched against the composer of the original theme song to Hockey Night in Canada (HNIC). The argument will be that CBC is entitled to a gigantic chunk of the proceeds of her licensing agreement to CTV as it was their tireless promotion of the piece, under which she was already being paid a licensing fee, that created the value which she was subsequently able to sell.

The concept is called "unjust enrichment" - it occurs when a rightful owner makes off like bandit because of the hard work that someone else has invested into a thing for their benefit. I don't know if the CBC will be successful, as the negotiations in good faith between the parties will be "exhibit A" in the statement of defence - but it will be interesting nevertheless.

Down the street in Federal court...

The CBC should initiate a lawsuit, in very short order, claiming TRADE-MARK ownership over the theme song.

Yup. Trade-Mark.

Intellectual property is many things, but the one thing it is not is clearly defined. A thing (song, cartoon, movie character, patented medicine, un-patented medicine) can have more than one intellectual property type based on its use and its creation. For example - and this is the leading example which will be the first case the CBC relies on- Mickey Mouse was created in a copyrighted work entitled "Steamboat Willie," and has appeared in thousands of other copyrighted works. No one disputes that.

But, Mickey Mouse is also a Trade-Mark of the Walt Disney corporation.

Fast forward to Canada's Trade-Marks Act. A world leader in IP protection. 4(2) reads:

A trade-mark is deemed to be used (common law TM) in association with services if it is used or displayed in the performance or advertising of those services.

There is a reason that the CBC (HNIC song sold to CTV) is reporting the story a slightly different way than CTV (CTV nabs a classic). Every single person interviewed has said "wow, how did HNIC let that get away?" Why? Because they associate it with the program. The song does not stand on its own. In purchasing the song, CTV is attempting to pass off on the brand CBC created over the last 40 years.

This is where the judges come in - can a song be a trade-mark? The act defines what a trade mark, but doesn't define what a mark is. The TM definition includes:

(a) a mark that is used by a person for the purpose of distinguishing or so as to distinguish wares or services manufactured, sold, leased, hired or performed by him from those manufactured, sold, leased, hired or performed by others,

Ask a person who watched HNIC as a child, who is now blind, how s/he knows HNIC is on TV.

For the record, a Trade-Mark does NOT have to be registered to be a trade-mark. You can have a trade-mark right established by common law- through use and association.

Another way of thinking about it is what songs are distinctive to the performers? Or to the things they subsequently stand for.

There are loads of cases (See FOX on TradeMarks) that can be used by both sides, internationally, on what can constitute a mark - and I can guarantee that if *I* was in charge, this will be litigated all the way to the Supreme Court.

MAD MAXime

Frankly, I don't care about most of this issue- the way the Media has seized on it shows just how irrelevant policy is in today's discourse. Of course, I now realize that by blogging about it, I am contributing to the charade.

1) Cabinet Documents left in an unsecured location.

I am sure I left them in worse places. Finance Ministers too. With Budgets.

2) They had a "political" arrangement for a year.

Hillary had one for 35.

3) He had a big mouth and was relaxed with secrets.

That qualifies him to be the COS to the PM.

4) He was under-performing in Foreign Affairs.

That is whose fault, exactly? That is like the owner blaming the dog when the dog won't go to the bathroom on a short walk with a short leash.

5) Private Lives of Cabinet Ministers is no one's business.

Probably the first thing the Prime Minister has said in 2.5 years that I don't disagree with out of hand. Why then, pray tell, did the PM find it in his heart to attack Liberal MP Navdeep Singh Bains for stuff his uncle - over whom, Nav has no control whatsoever- allegedly did/said in BC years ago?

The one thing that annoys me, bordering on insults me, is the fact that Maxime himself lied about the relationship. At first he said they broke up in early spring, then it was proven they were still at it in early/mid May.

What is wrong with specificity? She dumped me, for the first time, right before she met Mom and Dad. I miss her. Why deny the relationship went on from a point in time? It just added to his credibility problem.

That and the promises of foreign aid to Military Junta that didn't exist (the aid, not the Junta).

6) The RCMP needs to be involved.

That is the surest way to ensure it is totally fucked up.

7) They weren't Top Secret documents, they were only quasi-secret documents.

So, we should trust him with even more secretive ones? I think that Martin's policy strategy was to announce new initiatives in this way.

It is true, cab docs are important- and are traced - (mine were XXXXX-10008) so as to avoid being photocopied and dispersed. We do need to have a better way to protect the documents.

Or, shock of shocks, maybe we shouldn't let them leave the office.

8) This really exposes how weak the current crop of Conservatives Quebec MPs are.

Actually, no. It shows how one of the four current Quebec Cabmins screwed up one thing. Replacing him may be a challenge, but I would have NO problem with him appointing a replacement. You know, an un-elected one.

9) The Government bugged her bedroom.

I thought they had no place in the bedrooms of the nation? What baloney - now she is just proving that she is nuts on top of being a woman scorned.

10) She has a green passport, and needs to return it, because otherwise it is a security risk.

I STILL have one and need to return it and it doesn't pose a security risk.