Download apps Android

A close look at survey methodology for proof of acquired distinctiveness

The grounds for the German Federal Court of Justices decision in the Sparkassen Group/Banco Santander dispute over the validity of Sparkassens colour mark "red" (HSK 13) for financial services, namely retail banking, have been published last week. The 46-page judgment takes a very close look at the proper methodology of consumer surveys designed to prove acquired distinctiveness. Since no less than four surveys were submitted by the parties, two by each side, the Court had a wealth of material to work with.

Red.

If you are not familiar with the background of the dispute, have a look at our earlier post on the decision. Essentially, Banco Santander applied for a declaration of invalidity for lack of (acquired) distinctiveness of Sparkassens colour mark, was unsuccessful before the German IPO, successful before the Federal Patent Court and ultimately unsuccessful before the Bundesgerichtshof, which confirmed the validity of the mark. The case led to a referral to the CJEU, which was answered in the joined cases  C?217/13 and C?218/13 in 2014 (see summary by Birgit Clark on IPKat).
Given the length of the decision, I can only highlight a few points in the following. The decision will be the reference case for the design of consumer surveys for proof of acquired distinctiveness for years to come.
The IPSOS survey from 2006 showed the participants a red card and opened with the following question:

Have you ever seen this colour in connection with financial institutions, or does it appear familiar in this context? Or have you never encountered this colour in connection with financial institutions?

According to the BGH, this question was suggestive, as it already created a link to a certain kind of companies, namely financial institutions. It already introduced the key question - whether the sign was understood as reference to a single entity - into the first question, which should only filter for persons that have never encountered the sign (para. 43). The proper way was to ask whether the respondents had seen the colour in connection with the claimed products.
A further "grave flaw" of the IPSOS survey was counting those respondents that said that they had never encountered the sign among the 66% of respondents that associated the sign with the Sparkassen Group. Those respondents who do not recall ever having seen the sign must be counted among those who do not perceive the sign as an indication of source (para. 45). The Pflüger survey submitted by Sparkassen Group in 2013 was not able to correct the deficiencies of the IPSOS survey from 2006. Surveys conducted several years after the relevant date - here the trade mark owner tried to prove acquired distinctiveness at the time of filing in 2002 - could only be considered if the market conditions were stable over longer periods of time, which was not established here (para. 50).

Too much paper...

Another flaw of the Pflüger survey - which equally applies to the IPSOS survey - was that the first question asked "Have you ever seen this colour in connection with financial services [as listed] or does it appear familiar in this context? Or have you never encountered this colour in this context?" According to the Court, the part of the question here put in italics is impermissible, as it leads respondents to consider a third answer, other than yes or no, to the question. It was fine to count those who spontaneously answered that the colour appeared familiar among those who know the sign, but "looks familiar" must not be an explicit option, as it leads to inflated figures (para. 72. In the case at hand, only about 17% of respondents spontaneously answer that the colour seems familiar, but 24% if explicitly given the option).
The Court addressed, but left deliberately open, the allocation of the burden of proof. According to German case law, if lack of acquired distinctiveness at the time of filing cannot be established, the validity of the mark is confirmed, so the burden of proof lies with the nullity plaintiff. According to the CJEUs judgment in cases C-217/13 and C-218/13, the opposite is true - the burden of proof for acquired distinctiveness lies with the trade mark owner (there at para. 68). The BGH did not have to decide the issue - it hints that it is unhappy with the CJEUs finding - because it found that the evidence on record established that the mark had acquired distinctiveness at the time of the Federal Patent Courts decision in 2015. Because Germany exercised the option under Article 3(3) second sentence Directive 2008/95, proof of acquired distinctiveness either at the time of filing or at the time of decision leads to validity of the mark (§ 8(3) German Trade Mark Act).
The respondents in the Pflüger survey answered the second question as follows:

In connection with financial services...

• the colour refers to ("hinweisen") a specific financial institution (63%)
• the colour refers to several financial institutions (8%)
• the colour does not refer to any financial institution (4%)
• cannot answer (6%)

Overall, the Bundesgerichtshof considered that the survey, flawed as it was, proved that more than 50% of the relevant consumers perceived the colour as a reference to a specific financial institution, i.e. as distinctive. Although the Court repeats the old "there cannot be fixed percentage values as absolute limits" (para. 92), it is pretty clear that anything above 50% is enough (para. 109).
Also interesting is what the Court did not address with a single word - whether it is enough that the consumers perceive the colour as a reference to a single entity, or whether it must be demonstrated that they rely on the mark when choosing the product. As you may recall, Arnold J in his second KitKat decision (IPKat post) held that "the applicant or trade mark proprietor must prove that, at the relevant date, a significant proportion of the relevant class of persons perceives the relevant goods or services as originating from a particular undertaking because of the sign in question" (there at para. 57) and considered the survey evidence submitted by Nestlé, structurally very similar to the evidence before the Federal Court of Justice, to be inadequate to answer this question. Since the briefs are not on public record in Germany, it is unclear whether the nullity plaintiff even raised the issue. In any case, German Courts do not seem to be inclined to follow Arnold Js lead (for a critical take on the KitKat decision, see my recent piece in ABAs Landslide Magazine).

Available link for download

Unroot your Android smartphone A one click process

Reasons arises why one would want to unroot a rooted smartphone. It might might be to regain warranty, this is one of the biggest thing one loose when he roots his device. A rooted device looses it is warranty a situation where a phone have loosed it is warranty cover simply because of the wrong manipulation of operating system.

One can get its warranty cover back, by rooting his device(taking it back to normal).

...in this post I will dedicate my time to show you how to unroot your Android smartphone with a click using the SuperSU application.

One gets full control over a rooted smartphone, a rooted Android smartphone is not just a phone, but let me call it a super smartphone. Certain app requires root access to use and rooting a device paves way for a user to exploit the Android OS.



How to unroot a rooted Android smartphone... A one click process.


...read this before you continue; a rooted device have this 3 files listed below.

/system/bin/su

/system/xbin/su

/system/app/Superuser.apkR

...note it that after rooting you smartphone, the 3 listed file will be absent on your device.

1. Open your Google play store and tap on the magnifying lens icon to search for SuperSU application(skip this process if you have the app already on your phone).



2. Lunch this app, go to "settings" select "Full Unroot(see image below)"; simple the unroot process is complete in a click.



Now reboot you phone and your phone will be fully unrooted.

If you are still seeing superSu or superSu user on you drawer; simply open your Google Play Store and search for any of this, locate the un-install option(see image below) and click on it to unstall.

posted from Bloggeroid

Available link for download

S A Server Rebranded to NetLoop VPN V4 1 0 Works Better

This is just to inform you that Simple Android Server has been rebranded with a new name and a new update called NetLoop VPN. The essence of this VPN is for tunneling purposes.

NetLoop vpn contains a proxy server and a free VPN. The good news is that it works excellently well with MTN 0.0 Free browsing, Etisalat Chatpak unlimited, BBLited etc.


NetLoop VPN features V4.1.0:
• HTTP request Compression.
•Ability to modify TCP connection parameters.
• Ability to use hotspot over VPN ( Requires root )
•Ability to use multiple concurrent connections to the VPN servers for the best Network usage experience


Local server features:
•modify outgoing requests.
•specify alternate proxy servers to send a request through
•provide alternate headers and ability to strip headers from incoming http responses
•ability to choose number of connections to be maintained by the app (good for power management)
•ability to share configurations through any file transfer method.
•System wide proxy service

Available link for download

Its a gas! The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics

Scientific Cat-nundrums

This week, contracts won a Nobel prize. Or rather, economists Oliver Hart and Bengt Holmström were awarded the Nobel prize in economics for their work on contracts. Their studies have enhanced our understanding of incentives by examining how contracts affect relationships between employers, employees, societies and governments.  The application of incentives to IP is broad - the innovation/social contract approach to IP, patents as performance indicators in employment contracts, and, the bread-and-butter of IP, licensing contracts.

Eyes on the Prize
First of all, a bit of background. If you are an economist who supports the selection, i.e. that the winning economists work supports your own work, then you must praise the Nobel committees choice and the prestige of the prize. If you are not, then you must highlight that the economics prize is not a true Nobel prize, as it is comes from the Swedish National Bank, and therefore is not particularly impressive. Either way, one must be careful not to be too enthusiastic about a fellow economists success, lest it be taken for indication of an emotional imbalance.

Second of all, some tips if you, dear reader, are interested in winning said prize. First of all, start early and live long so that your genius has time to be recognised. Second of all, be male. Only one woman, Elinor Ostrom, has received the prize. Third, make sure you are somehow Western, and ideally American. Fourth, become at expert at posing for photos in front of books. Finally, surprisingly, remember you dont actually have to be an economist to win; John Nash, who had the gall to be a mathematician, won in 1994.  Things really are going to pot.

Contract theories
Hart and Holmström have won the prize because their names both start with H they developed complementary contract theories. Holmström began by studying trade-offs in contracts. The classic illustration is insurance, which combines both information asymmetry, where parties in a contract do not have the same information, and moral hazard, where a party may engage in riskier behaviour because the risk is shared. For example, a health insurer has less information about the insureds lifestyle than the insured.  [Merpels insurer doesnt know how much catnip she consumes.] Once insured, the insured shares potential costs with the insurer, and will engage in riskier behaviour. [Merpel has taken up parkour, because she wont have to pay for the hospital bills.]

Hart built further on this theory by examining the incompleteness of contracts. No contract can possibly foresee every outcome and consequence of incentives. He argued that property rights help mitigate this, as they place the burden of decision making on those with the property - and hence those with a stake in the unforeseen outcomes. Harts recent work on prisons illustrates this; summarised by The Economist: "In publicly owned prisons, managers might underinvest in quality-improving measures, but private owners face too strong an incentive to cut costs, leading to conditions for prisoners that are worse than those in public prisons." These incentives apply to most government services.  A privatised patent-granting body would have different incentives than a public body (think of those renewal fee$!)

Contracts and IP
Readers of Katonomics will be familiar with economists focus on the incentives-to-innovate theory of IP. This is often known as the Social Contract (covered previously here), in which IP is a contract between innovators and society; the monopoly protection of IP provides a long-term incentive to innovate. Society cannot foresee (information asymmetry) the value of each potential innovation, so all innovators are granted the same level of protection. Assigning the property right to the innovator incentivises innovation as the innovator has a stake in the outcome and the IP system as a whole.

Trophies, by R. Oxley, CC

A goal of researcher employment contracts is to align firms innovation needs with employee incentives. Patents are sometimes used as a metric of performance. There is a large body of economic analysis on the use of patents as a measure of innovation; the general conclusion of which is that patents measure patents, not innovation. More specifically, Harhoff and Hoisl (2007) examine German policies via a large survey, and find that, unsurprisingly, more valuable patents are associated with higher levels of employee compensation.  Baker (1992) models scientists salaries as entirely dependent on the number of patents they produce (a problematic assumption.)  In his model, scientists are unduly incentivised to work on "easy" patents and therefore the employer reduces the per-patent payment to avoid overpaying. Japan has recently changed its approach to patents, making it easier for employers to own patents generated by employees.

Finally, licensing contracts enjoy a never-ending analysis of incentives and clauses. The primary job of lawyers negotiating and drafting such contracts is to align the incentives in the contract with the needs of the client.  While researching the biotech sector in 2007, I came across an interesting case. My interviewee had exclusively licensed a product on a royalty basis. The licensee instead marketed a competing product, leaving the licensor without royalties.  The contract had been used to eliminate competition from the market, and failed to align the parties incentives. Another anecdote is the use by wealthy Multi-national Companies (MNC) of reversion clauses when partnering with companies in developing countries. The MNC engages in joint research and market expansion, then deliberately causes the project to fail in order to trigger the reversion clause. Both background and foreground IP, as per the contract, revert to the MNC. Its a cheap way to expand internationally.

I invite readers to tell their stories of the odd quirks of licensing contracts in the comments.  In the meantime, Im off to work with Merpel on contract incentives of catnip producers. Fingers crossed for a Nobel!

Available link for download

PHAZ P2 The Headphone that is also a power bank

An headphone that charges your phone at the same time, How cool is that? A company called Phaz just made a set of headphones which come with built in battery which is used to power up your phone (i.e a powerbank) and also power its built-in amplifier.



The headphones which were unveiled at CES 2015, has a battery with a capacity of about 1200mAh. This is decent enough to charge most devices up to about 60 - 70% battery level. One of the ears has a space for USB cable  to plug in your phone and keep the battery to last longer whilst boosting the sound via its built in amplifier.

The headset comes in two-tones with different earpad colours: Orange, Green, Purple and of course Black. Charging while using the headset though may bring about uncomfortable use as tthe USB cable has to be long enough to serve its purpose.

The company said it has used carbon fibre to keep the weight of the headphone down. The headphone also has an active bass boost powered by the built in batteries. The Phaz P2 headphone uses 40mm drivers and offer dual 3.5mm sockets: one to plug into your source and another to let you share your tunes with someone else.

The headphones are priced at $249 (N38,000 - N45,000). The price may seem a bit steep though, but the headset provides good sound with increased productivity.

What do you think? Let us hear your views in the comment box!

Available link for download

Opera Max A Free VPN App That Compress Videos Data More

Purposeful for streaming online or the Netflixer’s, Opera, the browser company has introduced a new browser called Opera Max. Opera Max is a free VPN app that helps Android users manage and save data while streaming videos, music and viewing large photos through mobile and WiFi connection.

Available link for download

DPFaces A Unique Social Media Launched By Nigerian

DPFaces.com is a Nigerian Community (Nigerian Social Media), where you get to find friends, connect, chat, explore, share ideas and more.
This is a vibrant and user-friendly entertainment network, which is very responsive according to your device.
http://www.shelaf.com/2016/11/dpfaces-unique-social-media-launched-by.htmlposted by ConnectMe

Available link for download

Police 3D print a dead mans finger to unlock his phone

Michigan police have used a 3D model of a murder victims finger to unlock a phone, according to a new report.

Fusion claims that police asked a professor at Michigan State University to reproduce a dead mans fingerprints, with the hope of getting into his smartphone.

The police already had a scan of the victims digits, taken while he was alive, which they handed over to the lab to create the 3D model.

There arent a lot of details - the investigation is ongoing - but the lab is reportedly making ten fingers, one for each print, and covering each with a "thin layer of metallic particles" so the scanner will read it as if it were a finger and not 3D-printed plastic.

The truth is (maybe) in there

Police suspect that clues to the mans murderer lie in the phone, and a 3D-printed replica of a finger is their best bet of getting in.

It does, however, raise ethical questions, some of which surfaced earlier this year Apple went to war with the FBI to prevent access to the iPhone of the deceased San Bernardino shooter.

However in this latest case the victim is not at risk of incrimination, according to the report, and therefore not protected by the Fifth Amendment that would otherwise cover him were he a suspect or alive.

If we was alive, this may well be a very different conversation.

Its also not made clear what type of phone is involved in the case, and whether a fingerprint will even be enough to get in.

Some phones require an additional passcode if the fingerprint sensor hasnt been used in a while - and we assume the police have thought this through...

• Ticked off: Can Twitter tame the trolls?

Source: TechRadar
posted by ConnectMe
Source: LivingIntunes

Available link for download

Mostly Brooklyn in September with a subway foray into Manhattan

[Drawings by Sharon Frost]

Stephen reading in Steeplechase Café, Brooklyn (above).

On the subway in Manhattan.  Dont lean on the door!

Waiting room in Brooklyn.. Room of disenchantment.

Returning from the dentist. Dr. K. gave us a CD recorded from Cannonball Adderly and Bill Evans vinyl.  Stephen is taking pictures.

Sometimes even the gargoyles arent able to protect our Brooklyn building.

Picking up our absentee ballots at the Brooklyn Board of Elections. Voting took a great deal of effort this year.  The exit signs are a little vague.

Blog:  Day Books

Available link for download

Letter to teenagers Directions to a brighter future

The Bible said, "serve the lord now that you are young and healthy," and am saying to you, "create happiness now, and enjoy it when old." what the hearth think of the world is not what it is, the success of life is narrow and two edged, feel and walk reluctantly, you are out of the path, play with it, it will give you a remarkable scar.

If you dont want to use your brain to your advantage, your brain will leave you to it is advantage. Life time experience is ones and precious, make it worth it.

All is lucky and blessed, but our efforts is equal to the conspicuousness of our blessing. "The rich worked hard for it, so do the poor lazied in for it." all is born equal no one came to the word with Gold, Diamond or money, all this are in our home Earth?? , but one will get it out of non flauntuating effort and aim, your aim determines who you whom you are, and for the good who you are will change the world, the world is your ball play it to your advantage.

Thing to do and avoid for a better future, as a teen.

1. Say no cultism; cultism is a sickness that have eaten deep into the bone marrow of every teen, they think that ones you are enrolled, you are protected and can intimidate or harm others, they think that they are at the to rule. All is vain upon vain.

2. Save the little you have; spend lot, save big. Money makes a man much complete and is necessary in life, always save money no matter how small it is, one day it will turn to a big money, remember coming together of Naira made Million and the coming together of Millions made Bullion, so always learn to save some money.

3. Be Hardworking; learn to get what you want for yourself in a legal manner, dont depend parent, friends and relatives all the time, as they might fail you some day for any reason.

4. Learn a craft; as teen make sure you have learnt one or two skill that can fetch you money for a living. I can remember being a phone technician while I was still at school, then I provide almost all I needed for my self and my people are always proud of that.

5. Be honest and sincere; an insincere person is like a balloon on a knife edge, that might explode at any thing, if you are found to be insincere believe me you, you will avoided by all, for you can cause trouble at any time.

6. Be Ambitious; an ambitious man will do anything to succeed, hey! Am not saying you should do any thing to succeed, you know what is bad, do it, dont get yourself into trouble because it might ruin your life.

7. Stand for your hearth desire; always know what you want and, know how you can achieve your aim, thanks to the brain as it is there to answer any time you call for it, apply your brain and see the solution to you problems.

7. Belive in God; god is our creator, he is always there to guide you, when your ways are right, pray to him for guidance and protection he is the answer to all of problems, the author and finisher of our faith, the ultimate Eraser that wipes all difficulty. He is always there answer you.


Live right and stay out of troubles... Legendtechny wishes you happy living... Love ya! ###kisses.

posted from Bloggeroid

Available link for download

Glo N0 00kb Unlimited Free Browsing Steady Connection Via Psiphon A Pro

Im pretty sure that you guys are still surfing with Glo N0.0kb free browsing, but the issue of frequent disconnection and poor network strength are the major concerned, even with the Terminal Emulator, the connection still not stable. Im glad to inform you that we have got a perfect solution to the annoying disconnection issue.
http://www.shelaf.com/2016/08/glo-n000kb-unlimited-free-browsing.htmlposted by ConnectMe

Available link for download

Tips To Receive Your Zoto Reward Without Trouble Earn N1000 by Referring A Friend

Zoto program "Earn N1000 by referring a friend" is still on and peoples account is flowing with free airtime while some are still ignorant of the whole things. Based on the peoples complaints through comments from the previous post. We noticed that some of the people have obstacle in getting their N1000 referral reward while some are complaining that their referral code is not displayed. Yeah, it may not display unless you make the first successful transaction.
http://www.shelaf.com/2016/10/tips-to-receive-your-zoto-reward.htmlposted by ConnectMe

Available link for download

What a shithouse week

[By Murray Dewhurst in Auckland]

So there we were last Saturday, one week out from Christmas at our last group sketch meet of the year. We met at the Waikumete Cemetery.

Its weird but it was my suggestion we came to sketch here in the countries largest cemetery a few weeks earlier. I thought Itll be cool, we can draw all that historic cemetery stuff, the chapel, the mausoleums etc, it will be really interesting and well get to visit my grandparents plot as a bonus.

As it happens though, not one, but two of my good mates died last week. Two of the most generous guys I know and both extremely funny blokes gone way too early. Paddy, of melanoma and Dan of cancer.

What a shithouse week, and what a weird, weird place to finish it.

(sketch above; some Waikumete mausoleums - a veritable whos who of early Dalmatian settlers to New Zealand)

Available link for download

Android Custom ROMs A Beginners guide

Firstly, let me wish you all a Happy New Year!. Your best of 2014 shall be your worst in 2015. Its my first post this year and today i will be telling you all you need to know about Android Custom ROMs and why you may need one. So, What is a custom ROM?

WHAT IS A CUSTOM ROM?

      ROM is an abbreviation for Read Only Memory but in this context it has been modded to mean an actual custom OS image that you install into the ROM area of your phone. A custom ROM is a fully standalone version of the OS, including the kernel (which makes everything run), apps, services, etc - everything you need to operate the device, except its customized by someone in some way. Kernel can be called the heart of the OS.

A Stock ROM is the version of the OS that comes with your phone when you buy it. Since Android is Open Source developers are free to modify the OS in any manner possible. These Modified OS is called a Custom ROM since it has been customised.

NB: Installing a Custom ROM voids the warranty of your device but is reversible by installing the Stock ROM to the device. Installing the wrong Custom ROM on your device may cause a soft/hard brick rendering your device temporary unusable.

WHY SHOULD I INSTALL A CUSTOM ROM?

There are several reasons why you may want to install a Custom ROM. Here are 5 reasons why you should:
=> UPGRADE: Your device may not be a flagship like the Galaxy S5 or Xperia Z which means the update frequency may be minimal or even non existent. Your device may be stuck on version 2.3 (Gingerbread) now that 5.0 (lollipop) is even out. Custom ROMs give you the ability to upgrade your phone to the latest OS free.

Available link for download