The Prior Art

Change in comment policy

This blog turned six months old on Tuesday. Happy half-birthday!

That makes it a good time to make a change in policy. This blog has been open to comments since the start, but they've been moderated, a decision I made early on I was very new to this. (I've published every comment submitted to me, verbatim.)

Well, I just managed to annoy myself with my own policy after having to approve my own comment. The policy is unnecessary. So, I'm going to allow unmoderated comments, in the interest of generating a more vigorous public conversation and... not annoying myself.

I won't ever alter a comment in any way. I won't delete anything unless it's incredibly uncivil or somehow illegal. If I do delete part or all of a comment for one of those extraordinary reasons, I will note that I have done so. Anonymous comments are fine. Have fun!

UPDATE: I wrote this post and then didn't immediately change the setting, so several comments on last few posts went unpublished until now. They've all been published and now, Monday May 12th, the new comment policy is truly in effect. Really!

 

Change in the New Year

I recently accepted a position at IP Law & Business magazine. Started just a few days ago.

I'll continue to cover IP issues, and am still based in San Francisco.

While I'll continue to maintain this blog, the focus will change going forward. I'll continue to reflect on IP issues, but the blog will likely broaden and I'll write about some non-IP issues, including my thoughts on the 2008 election coverage, journalism generally, and a certain television show that will be an important part of my life for the next 10 weeks.

My new professional email is jmullin@alm.com; for personal matters please use joemullin@gmail.com.

Hope everyone's doing well in the new year!

A new project

This blog will feature notes and extras from my coverage of intellectual property and related topics at the San Francisco and Los Angeles Daily Journals.

The Daily Journal is California's leading legal affairs newspaper. It's published Monday through Friday and can be read online (by subscription) here.

On days when I have a story in the paper, I'll post about it on the blog (posts connected to print stories are categorized under "DJ Articles"), and will try to add something extra here. I'll also blog about various IP news and issues that catch my attention but don't make it into my stories.

Over time, I'll add notes on my some of my already published articles as well.

I'm new to blogging, and still fairly new to the IP beat, so comments, criticism, suggestions, and story tips are welcome. I look forward to joining the lively online conversation about IP legal issues.

Cheers
Joe Mullin