#Patent Publication Services

[intellects1-linkup]

Patent Publication Services | Intellects

Explore top-tier Patent Publication Services at Intellects Linkup. Our expert team ensures seamless patent publication and granting processes, delivering comprehensive solutions to safeguard your innovations. Trust us for reliable, efficient, and cost-effective patent services. Contact us today to elevate your intellectual property strategy.

[dissertationthesis]

Different Types of Patents Explained

Have you invented a new product or process? If so, you need to get it patented to prohibit someone else from making or using your product without your authorization. Now, while there are many important things to know before you even choose patent filing services, familiarizing yourself with types of patents is also a major consideration. This is because you need to know which type of patent to file. Otherwise, your patent application may be rejected. 

So, let us learn about the three most common types of patents:

Utility Patent

A utility patent, also known as a "patent for invention," covers a new (or improved) and useful product, machine, or process. It gives the inventor exclusive commercial rights to the ‘product, machine, or process’ while prohibiting other companies or individuals from using, making, or selling the innovation without authorization.

Some examples of items covered by utility patents are:

Product: Broom and candleholder

Machine: Computers

Process: Software

Utility patents are one of the most valuable assets for its owner. However, obtaining a utility patent can be difficult and a costly matter. So, working with reliable and reputed patent applications services is very important to make the process as smooth as possible.  

The maximum patent term for utility patents is 20 years from the date of filing the utility patent applications India. In addition, you also pay maintenance fees to keep your utility patent in force and maintain legal protection.

Design Patent

A design patent focuses on the visually exclusive features of an item. It protects ‘only’ the ornamental design of a functional article. By protecting the article’s appearance, form, and structure, the design patent prohibits others from importing or manufacturing the same design unless you license or sell those patent rights.

Some examples of items covered by design patents are:

Designs of jewellery, automobiles, or furniture

Packaging

Fonts

Computer icons

The maximum patent term for design patents is 15 years from the date of the patent grant. The process for filling a design patent is much simpler than that for utility patents. Still, it is important to approach a reputed patent filing services India to ensure a hassle-free approval of your design patent application. 

The drawings in both design patents and utility patents are similar, except that design patent drawings emphasize the ornamental features of the item rather than utilitarian aspects. In addition, to get the design patent protection, the design must be inseparable from the item itself.

Plant Patent

As the term suggests, a plant patent is an intellectual property right that protects key characteristics of a new and unique plant to keep it from being used, copied, or sold by others. So, it helps inventors secure higher profits by prohibiting competitors from using the plant.

The patentable plant:

can be natural, somatic, or bred.

can be discovered or invented.

should be made in a cultivated region, in case of discovered plants.

must be asexually reproducible

reproduction must be genetically identical to the original.

reproduction must be performed through methods like root cutting, division, bulbs, or grafting and budding to ensure the plant’s stability.

Please note that tubers like potatoes, jicama, sunchokes, and yams are not eligible for plant patents. Similarly, plants that are unique only due to their growing condition and soil fertility are not eligible for plant patents. 

The term for a plant patent is usually 20 years. In addition, you also have to pay maintenance fees to keep the patent in force. 

There are many online patent filing services that can help file your patent with ease. Make sure you work with a genuine and reliable service to increase the chances of getting your patent granted faster and with no minimal hassle.

Visit Now - https://www.unitedinnovator.com/patent-filing.php

[reasonsforhope]

"The Biden Administration last week [early December, 2023] announced it would be seizing patents for drugs and drug manufacturing procedures developed using government money.

A draft of the new law, seen by Reuters, said that the government will consider various factors including whether a medical situation is leading to increased prices of the drug at any given time, or whether only a small section of Americans can afford it.

The new executive order is the first exercise in what is called “march-in-rights” which allows relevant government agencies to redistribute patents if they were generated under government funding. The NIH has long maintained march-in-rights, but previous directors have been unwilling to use them, fearing consequences.

“We’ll make it clear that when drug companies won’t sell taxpayer funded drugs at reasonable prices, we will be prepared to allow other companies to provide those drugs for less,” White House adviser Lael Brainard said on a press call.

But just how much taxpayer money is going toward funding drugs? A research paper from the Insitute for New Economic Thought showed that “NIH funding contributed to research associated with every new drug approved from 2010-2019, totaling $230 billion.”

The authors of the paper continue, writing “NIH funding also produced 22 thousand patents, which provided marketing exclusivity for 27 (8.6%) of the drugs approved [between] 2010-2019.”

How we do drug discovery and production in America has a number of fundamental flaws that have created problems in the health service industry.

It costs billions of dollars and sometimes as many as 5 to 10 years to bring a drug to market in the US, which means that only companies with massive financial muscle can do so with any regularity, and that smaller, more innovative companies can’t compete with these pharma giants.

This also means that if a company can’t recoup that loss, a single failed drug can result in massive disruptions to business. To protect themselves, pharmaceutical companies establish piles of patents on drugs and drug manufacturing procedures. Especially if the drug in question treats a rare or obscure disease, these patents essentially ensure the company has monoselective pricing regimes.

However, if a company can convince the NIH that a particular drug should be considered a public health priority, they can be almost entirely funded by the government, as the research paper showed.

Some market participants, in this case the famous billionaire investor Mark Cuban, have attempted to remedy the issue of drug costs in America by manufacturing generic versions of patented drugs sold for common diseases."

-via Good News Network, December 11, 2023

[cnpatenteverything]

What information should a Request for filing Chinese patent applications include?

Regardless of the type of patent in China, a Request for filing Chinese invention/utility model/design application is required. What information should the Request include?

The information required in a Requests for filing these three types of Chinese patent applications are basically the same:

The name, address and nationality of the applicant;

The name and address of the inventor. If the first inventor is a Mainland Chinese, he is required to provide his identity card number (ID card No.). His name in Chinese should also be consistent with that shown on his ID card.

Priority claim: if a previous application filed in other country/region, it can be claimed as a priority of the Chinese patent application. The filing date thereof, the country/region accepting the application and the priority application number should be indicated in the filing request.

Please kindly note that, all the information should be provided in Chinese. If no corresponding Chinese can be provided by the applicant, the agent will translate it/them into appropriate Chinese and fill in them in the Request.

Some special requests for Chinese applications

Request for Substantive Examination (for invention applications)

A request for substantive examination may be filed upon filing, and no later than 3 years from the earliest priority date.

To expedite prosecution, the agent usually suggests that a request for substantive examination be filed upon filing. However, a delayed request for substantive examination may delay costs and allow more time for the applicant for commercial and/or technological development based on the invention.

Request for Deferred Examination (for invention and design applications)

As the request for deferred examination is usually filed in the Chinese invention applications, we would mainly introduce the deferred examination in the invention application.

A request for deferred examination for invention application shall be filed concurrently with the filing of the request for substantive examination by the applicant, and the request for deferred examination shall take effect from the date when the request for substantive examination takes effect.

The deferral period shall be one, two or three years from the date of entry into force of the request for deferred examination. Upon expiration of the deferral period, the application shall be examined in accordance with the sequence.

When necessary, the CNIPA can initiate its examination procedure and inform the applicant that his or her request for deferred examination is terminated.

Request for Early Publication (for invention applications)

A Chinese application usually publishes approximately 18 months from its earliest priority date. However, if a request for early publication is filed, a Chinese application publishes after completion of the formality examination which takes approximately 3-6 months after filing.

[batboyblog]

Things Biden and the Democrats did, this week #10

March 15-22 2024

The EPA announced new emission standards with the goal of having more than half of new cars and light trucks sold in the US be low/zero emission by 2032. One of the most significant climate regulations in the nation’s history, it'll eliminate 7 billion tons of CO2 emissions over the next 30 years. It's part of President Biden's goal to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 on the road to eliminating them totally by 2050.

President Biden canceled nearly 6 Billion dollars in student loan debt. 78,000 borrowers who work in public sector jobs, teachers, nurses, social workers, firefighters etc will have their debt totally forgiven. An additional 380,000 public service workers will be informed that they qualify to have their loans forgiven over the next 2 years. The Biden Administration has now forgiven $143.6 Billion in student loan debt for 4 million Americans since the Supreme Court struck down the original student loan forgiveness plan last year.

Under Pressure from the administration and Democrats in Congress Drugmaker AstraZeneca caps the price of its inhalers at $35. AstraZeneca joins rival Boehringer Ingelheim in capping the price of inhalers at $35, the price the Biden Admin capped the price of insulin for seniors. The move comes as the Federal Trade Commission challenges AstraZeneca’s patents, and Senator Bernie Sanders in his role as Democratic chair of the Senate Health Committee investigates drug pricing.

The Department of Justice sued Apple for being an illegal monopoly in smartphones. The DoJ is joined by 16 state attorneys general. The DoJ accuses Apple of illegally stifling competition with how its apps work and seeking to undermining technologies that compete with its own apps.

The EPA passed a rule banning the final type of asbestos still used in the United States. The banning of chrysotile asbestos (known as white asbestos) marks the first time since 1989 the EPA taken action on asbestos, when it passed a partial ban. 40,000 deaths a year in the US are linked to asbestos

President Biden announced $8.5 billion to help build advanced computer chips in America. Currently America only manufactures 10% of the world's chips and none of the most advanced next generation of chips. The deal with Intel will open 4 factories across 4 states (Arizona, Ohio, New Mexico, and Oregon) and create 30,000 new jobs. The Administration hopes that by 2030 America will make 20% of the world's leading-edge chips.

President Biden signed an Executive Order prioritizing research into women's health. The order will direct $200 million into women's health across the government including comprehensive studies of menopause health by the Department of Defense and new outreach by the Indian Health Service to better meet the needs of American Indian and Alaska Native Women. This comes on top of $100 million secured by First Lady Jill Biden from ARPA-H.

Democratic Senators Bob Casey, Tammy Baldwin, Sherrod Brown, and Jacky Rosen (all up for re-election) along with Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, and Sheldon Whitehouse, introduced the "Shrinkflation Prevention Act" The Bill seeks to stop the practice of companies charging the same amount for products that have been subtly shrunk so consumers pay more for less.

The Department of Transportation will invest $45 million in projects that improve Bicyclist and Pedestrian Connectivity and Safety

The EPA will spend $77 Million to put 180 electric school buses onto the streets of New York City This is part of New York's goal to transition its whole school bus fleet to electric by 2035.

The Senate confirmed President Biden's nomination of Nicole Berner to the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Berner has served as the general counsel for America's largest union, SEIU, since 2017 and worked in their legal department since 2006. On behalf of SEIU she's worked on cases supporting the Affordable Care Act, DACA, and against the Defense of Marriage act and was part of the Fight for 15. Before working at SEIU she was a staff attorney at Planned Parenthood. Berner's name was listed by the liberal group Demand Justice as someone they'd like to see on the Supreme Court. Berner becomes one of just 5 LGBT federal appeals court judges, 3 appointed by Biden. The Senate also confirmed Edward Kiel and Eumi Lee to be district judges in New Jersey and Northern California respectively, bring the number of federal judges appointed by Biden to 188.

[auroravictorium]

how to bug netflix 101

a few ideas/tips to put pressure on netflix to reconsider their decision, given the fact that a select few shows have had their fates reconsidered:

Keep Shadow and Bone & Six of Crows trending! Character names, 'No Mourners, No Funerals', Leigh Bardugo, and other key words might help too! And remember that the threshold to keep stuff trending gets higher the longer that words/phrases trend, meaning we have to keep it active!

Spam the Netflix title request form at https://help.netflix.com/en/titlerequest

with Shadow and Bone, Six of Crows, etc. At the very least, it'll inconvenience them.

Sign the petition at https://www.change.org/p/save-shadow-and-bone-a3b37712-c648-4b87-9bfc-8b8cd685c623

Fill their social medias with calls to renew. Again, at the very least it'll be annoying/inconvenient, but at least our voices will be heard.

If you feel so motivated, you can submit anonymous tips to publications and ask them to pick up the story (though there is no guarantee this will work). IGN, the Hollywood Reporter, Variety, and Deadline all accept anonymous tips without having to register or provide personal information.

UPDATE (16 Nov.) Send emails to the following people and let them know (respectfully) that we're unhappy with their decision and that they will be losing money as a result!

At the very least, Netflix has continually refused to listen to fans, even though we have shown that fandoms have the power to bring in lots of revenue; they seem to have forgotten who pays for their service and gives them the money they need to pay for the shows nobody has asked for.

Even worse, Netflix is holding the work of the writers hostage by owning the scripts yet refusing to produce them. Either Netflix needs to return the scripts to the writers, or they need to give the scripts to a platform who will actually use them and finish the story!

Industry-wide, there has been a repeated pattern of streaming platforms buying the right to a book or a series and then holding onto it without producing it or canceling it without finishing the story. This is similar to what 'patent trolls' do, filing for a patent without any real intent to use it. This is grossly unfair to the authors, not to mention the cast and crew whose livelihoods depend on a show surviving for longer than a season or two.

Leigh Bardugo deserves better. The crew deserves better. The cast deserves better. We the fans deserve better.

No mourners.

[bakuhatsufallinlove]

re: leaks

As the series comes to a close, I feel compelled to offer my perspective on leaks, my role in them, and how fandom has changed for the worse.

I understand that this post will probably come off as sanctimonious or emotional. That’s fine. The impending end has made everyone incredibly emotional, and I am no exception.

If you look at my blog, you’ll find that I very rarely mention anything about leaked chapters before their official release, and if I do, I tag clearly.

I want to say this outright: the manga chapters getting leaked is wrong.

It is both illegal and morally wrong.

Horikoshi-sensei chose to work with Shueisha to release MHA in Weekly Shonen Jump. They offered him terms for the production and sale of his story, and he accepted them. Shueisha contracts other companies, such as Viz, to release his work to a broader audience and increase his success. You may have reasonable objections to the workload of weekly manga, the pressure involved in running a popular shounen series, or the various publishing companies’ choices, but I strongly encourage you to avoid projecting these criticisms onto Horikoshi-sensei himself. He has expressed nothing but complete gratitude and respect for his team and colleagues, who have supported him in making his dream come true.

The exclusive first-release of his work through WSJ and its related publishers is one of his rights as a creator. He has the right to control how his work is first presented to the public.

I started reading leaks because I didn’t have access to the Japanese chapters. For a lot of reasons, I wanted to read the original chapters before a translation. Along the way I resolved this issue: I have a paid monthly subscription to Shonen Jump+. There are ways to do this outside Japan; if one wanted to contribute financially, it can be done. Regardless of what happens with leaks, I read the official release on their website every week. I recognize that I am an outlier; most people in the English-speaking fandom cannot read Japanese.

Every week, leaks stir up absolute chaos as misinterpretations and badly worded summaries produce patently false, random theories that then spread through the rumor mill of the internet. The same night, pikahlua posts their literal translations. I won’t speak for pika, these thoughts are wholly my own, but their literal translations provide the mha fandom an incredible service that:

combats rampant misinformation produced by leaks

enlightens the non-Japanese-speaking audience to linguistic and cultural nuances that present challenges in translation

facilitates deeper examination of and appreciation for the work as a whole

The first is damage control in the early days of the leak. The second is damage control during the subsequent days, as people argue back and forth about differences between the leaker translation and the official English release. The third is simply a great contribution to fandom. pika works really hard, and some of you have perhaps noticed them tagging me to thank me for providing assistance to them. I help out because, for me, if there is any contribution I can make towards improving readers’ understanding of the text and reducing the chaos that leaks have become, I feel some sense of duty to do so.

Fandom has changed. Modern leakers are not diehard underdogs bringing inaccessible art to a dedicated audience who wants to celebrate it. The Japanese release has a pricetag, but for six other languages, chapters are released online simultaneously every week for free. This kind of access is unparalleled. Leaks are fundamentally unnecessary. The fact that the fan scanlation comes out before the official release is a direct violation of Horikoshi-sensei’s wishes. I can't even put into words how disrespectful it is.

The leakers make the argument that if they didn’t leak the chapters, someone else would, but they personally made the choice to cultivate leaks as an event. They set the stage for how this works. They release the 15-some pages incredibly slowly, over a period of an hour or more, with page uploads delayed behind the summaries. If they receive the entire chapter at once, it really makes no sense to not just summarize the whole thing and schedule posts in tandem with each other in rapid succession. If they receive the pages at roughly the rate they post them, why don’t they just wait until they get the last page to begin?

The only reason to not do this, as far as I can tell, is to generate attention and earn a reputation for being first.

If they think the chapters will get leaked in some form anyway, why don’t they just let them happen and offer summaries to help? I know they must pay money to access these illegal goods, but if their intentions are honest, why don’t they acquire the leaks, translate them, and then release theirs—which you’d think could be of good, cohesive quality with extra time and care—only if somebody else puts out a shoddy upload first?

The leakers have twitter accounts with roughly 68,000 and 92,000 followers each. They manage a discord channel with over two thousand users. Hundreds of people post leaked pages untagged within minutes of the leak, commenting with wild guesses about what’s going on. I see people say that fan spaces feel empty between releases, and that’s because we’re all hyped up on leak juice, focusing all of our time and energy into this brief frenetic spell and then just waiting for the next high.

Many fandoms go on for decades after the series’ end. I think people are concerned mha’s fandom will vanish after the last chapter because when we consume at such a high rate, there may be no longevity to it. But no matter who else is with me, I’ll be here for as long as it makes me happy to do it.

Japanese fandom hates English-speaking fandom because of the leaks. They hate our asses and block us for posting spoilers, memes, and fanart based on leaked chapters before the real release. I see people be curious and try to peer into the Japanese fandom, to find out how the Japanese readership reacts to things, and I get why, but I just always feel sad and uncomfortable that we’re out here breaking the law, breaking the rules of fandom, and disrespecting the creator’s wishes, and then we still feel entitled to their spaces.

If the leakers didn’t release the chapters early to almost a hundred thousand people, maybe some random person would still get a hold of them. Maybe they’d still get spread around a little. But not like this. Not in a way that is impossible to avoid, impossible to quell, impossible to discourage.

I’m sad.

You can think this is stupid or judgmental or moralistic of me or whatever you want, but I’m sad.

Horikoshi-sensei's ending will get filtered through a bad summary and messy translations before he gets to release it properly on his own terms. I've tried to help clean up the mess they make every week, but it never feels like enough.

Every shred of attention just fuels the fire no one is willing to put out.

And I feel very little else except sorry for it.

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - The Industry is Having Issues But the Spice Spicy Must Flow

Organized, in each category, with ones I'm enjoying most at the top.

March 2024 Wk 4

Ongoing Series - Thai

Two Worlds (Thurs IQIYI) eps 1-2 of 10 - One of those "he's dead Jim so time travel" thingames starring MaxNat. I'm over this concept but I do enjoy MaxNat. Phupha (Gun) and Khram (Nat) love each other but Phupha is murdered. Then Khram is pulled to a parallel world where, years ago, Khram and Tai (Max) were in love. However, Khram was killed by Tai’s dad. Now Tai finds alter-Khram. But then there is ALSO an alter-Phupha to deal with. (Phupha is played by Gun Thanawat who was Khom, the repressed butler bodyguard from Unforgotten Night. We like this, but we scared of the love triangle aspect.) Did that make sense? Yeah, okay, see what I mean?

Initial thoughts?

The subs are troubling but I’m enjoying this show a lot. It’s nice to see MaxNat get something meaty to sink their teeth into - that’s not just each other. Also it’s so smart of them to give us a fully fleshed out entire episode developing the alter romance rather than just a separation + death. It makes Khram’s grief and motivation that much more believable. Also it’s really nice to see Nat have good chemistry with other actors. 

Deep Night (Thurs iQiyi) ep 3 of 8 (10?) - I'm still enjoying it. But Two Worlds is objectively better. So this one has lost ranking. Also, unexpectedly chili (the name of my heavy metal Thai cover band).

Lovey switchy and verse main couple too.

This is all quite pleasing.

The bit where the hosts pretend to be a BL couple actor ship was epic on so many levels.

Also unsettling.

All sex work is performative, and in a way there is something more honest about this depiction, in this setting, than what BL actors are made to do on the promo circuit. Which then begs the question, how different is BL from sex work? That's the unsettling bit, for me anyway. Not to slam on sex work AT ALL, we pro-the-true-pros on this damn blog, but actors have been shaded by association with True Professionals for a very long time and BL has already had one epic shut down in this regard. (See the PerthSaint scandal around Love By Chance, no I will not explain.) Where was I? Oh yes, so anyway, see the Gossip section for the part where they better be paid either way!

Also, since I'm a warped fucker, I found this scene funny.

And then hilarious when all of those BL tropes were just trotted out. Like a greatest hits reel.

Truly beyond meta. (How Absolute BL of them.)

Note he’s even standing in yaoi's patented "hands in pocket with the shoulders back"? 

Meanwhile, the gayest bridge in Thailand made its quarterly appearance:

And lip serviced was paid to the most touristy romantic things you can do in Bangkok.

And I mean lip service literally. 

To Be Continued (Thai C3 Thailand grey) ep 5 of 8 - I’m still enjoying it but getting more and more nervous. We getting too close to Promise territory for comfort. EXPLAIN Ji’s reticence well and do it now or risk audience mistrust. We have to be given a GOOD reason for Ji's behavior, or he'll be irredeemable.

City of Stars (Fri iQIYI) ep 8 of 12 - NO SINGING. Yes smiley kisses and good communication and a nice healthy relationship. But no singing!

1000 Years Old ep 6 of 12 - Dropping in the ranks. I’m sorry it’s just gotten boring. It has, however, inspired me to invest in my own ridiculous cream fuzzy sweater. Which I plan to wear with leather trousers and huge stumpy boots, like the Kpop queer I truly am. Or do I mean vampire? 

Kiseki Chapter 2 (Sun iQIYI) ep 1 of 6 - Seems to be an excuse for a small posse of Thai actors to wander around Tokyo playing tourist and sing in public . Someone stop them?

“Most people think this kind of thing is bad manners .”

Anyway, it’s v boring. I’ll give it one more ep but I suspect I’ll DNF.

Close Friend Season 3: Soju Bomb! (Weds iQIYI) eps 1-2 of 6 - Meh. This is also looking suspiciously DNF-a-licious.  

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Unknown (Taiwan Tues Youku YouTube & Viki) ep 5 of 11 - It's brilliant. I love it. I'm ready to hurt. Let’s do this thing. 

Distribution note: This one has been picked up and is also airing on Viki now, so it may lose YT distribution in soem territories. I like Youku's hard subs better than Viki's subs, but that's a matter of preference not information since I don't speak Mandarin.

Love is Better the Second Time Around AKA Koi wo Suru nara Nidome ga Joto (Japan Weds Gaga) ep 3 of 6 - It is good. Every week I like this show a little more. I'm enjoying a reunion romance explored in Japan's quintessentially contemplative yet slightly surreal way. The juxtaposition of the tenderness of the sex scene with this Japanese brand of authenticity was oddly elegant - for lack of a better way of putting it. All in all, this is a good show. Thought provoking. Stylish.

AntiReset (Taiwan Fri Viki/Gaga) ep 9 of 10 - It remains lovely but they sure are reusing a lot of footage. Also, this was a classic penultimate doom episode. I do wonder how they are going to resolve this show ethically.

My Strawberry Film (Japan Thurs Gaga) ep 6 of 8 - It is what it is, and it isn’t my style of show no matter what country of origin. Oddly that's one of the reasons I don't like it. Anyone could have made this, it's not as Japanese as I want it to be, it's just indie film club high school angst. Yawn.

I watched it, finally

The Servant and the Young Master (Vietnam YouTube) 7 eps - I dislike vertical filming, but I kind of enjoyed this show as a BL. I like class conflict romances. For me the rich kid is a bit too dictatorial (edges into bulling), but it’s kinda works. It’s sparse and underdeveloped and a bit plotless, but mildly entertaining. If you're missing Vietnamese BL you might give it a try. 6/10 

Began Beginning (Myanmar YouTube) 8eps - A Burmese BL that I had thoughts about but actually ended up recommending. Read the saga here:

It's done, ready to binge, but I suck

What Did You Eat Yesterday Season 2 AKA Kinou Nani Tabeta? Season 2 (Japan Gaga) 10 eps

It's airing but...

Graduation Countdown (Taiwan YouTube) ep 1 of ? - on one hand it's micro-installment vertical, on the other it's adorable and from Taiwan. I blame @heretherebedork entirely for my conundrum. As indeed, I did for My Type back in the day. (That was Nat Chen's first BL, yes of Kiseki: Dear To Me fame.) So I think I will also simply lean on Here to let me know when it's done and binge all at once. It's just too much to ask me to keep up with 2 minute pieces, I don't have that kind of endurance training, not even for BL.

Time the series (Tue Gaga/YT) 10 eps - it's finished now, I dropped it at ep 4. Should I bother?

A Secretly Love (Thai Sat WeTV grey) 10 eps - I watched the first ep but grey is too much work for this inferior of a show. I may pick up and binge if it gets distribution but for now, it gets a DNF from me. KimCop might have held this crap together but Kim without Cop? No thank you.

Lady Boy Friends (Thai WeTV grey) 16 eps - reminds me a bit too much of Diary of Tootsies only high school. Not my thing. DNF unless it turns a corner and is truly amazing for some reason.

Man Suang that MileApo vehicle from last year is coming to Netflix in the USA. I haven't heard much about it and since the KP stans would have lost their tiny minds if it was any good at all, I'm assuming it's not good at all.

Gossip

Thai BL actor Yoon breaks with his former company and talks about some very very VERY shady goings on in the Thai BL industry. Including not being paid.

And whacha know, same thing happening in Korean BL.

Have I mentioned recently how much I hate the film industry?

Next Week Looks Like This:

Starting Soon

3/31 Only Boo! (Thai GMMTV YouTube) 12 eps - New main couple for GMMTV in an idol romance about a boy who dances good and a food stand vendor. Other side of the tracks grumpy/sunshine pair who fall deeply in love but, of course, baby boy idol can't date. Boyband but from GMMTV? Control your singing and I'm game.

4/1 Love is like a Cat (Korea ????) 12 eps - This completed filming Aug 2022(!) which means there have been serious problems with post-production. This is another of Silkwood's Korean+Thai colab projects. Mew Suppasit plays a rookie film star, called the Cat Prince (for his cold arrogance) who goes up against a charismatic puppyish animal daycare director (JM of JUST B). There is also a side romance (love triangle?) with a veterinarian. Geonu of JUST B is also in the cast.

I wonder if this was part of the hold up, with Geonu on Build Up right now, they might have tried to muffle this one. Or maybe it's just that bad...

4/3 We Are (Thai GMMTV YouTube) 12 eps - University ensemble BL featuring PondPhuwin, WinnySatang, AouBoom, MarcPawinPoon - basically the good kind of messy gay friendship group (so more My Engineer and less Only Friends). Looks a bit like the Kiss series but everyone is queer. I'm IN!

Knock-Knock Boys (Thai WeTV?) - 4 college friends conspire to help their friend lose his virginity. Familiar faces like Seng (yes, Billy's previous partner), Best and frest face, news here.

Upcoming BLs for 2024 are listed here. This list is not kept updated, so please leave a comment if you know something new or RP with additions.

NOTE: It looks like one of my personal favorites of last year Unintentional Love Story is getting a spin off!

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

Without ghost girl.

With ghost girl.

I think she may be my favorite part of 1000 Years.

CLASSIC tsundere seme description of a sunshine uke. Like classic'est of classic. (Two Worlds)

Is there such a thing as a tired trope in a BL? Since it is a genre that is made up entirely of tropes quilted together? Your philosophical question for today brought to you by Deep Night's kabedon (Japanese trope) + punishment threat (Thai trope).

Love me a lap sit moment. (City of Stars)

(Last week)

Streaming services are listed by how I (usually) watch, which is with a USA based IP, and often offset by a day because time zones are too much work.

The tag BLigade: @doorajar @solitaryandwandering @my-rose-tinted-glasses @babymbbatinygirl @babymbbatinygirl @isisanna-blog @mmastertheone

If ya wanna be tagged each week leave a comment and I will add you to the template. Easy peesy.

[sgiandubh]

Lallybroch: copyright vs. trademark

An excellent question was asked by our friend @rosfrank in the comments thread to 'The door faces North' post and given the cosmic amount of uninformed bullshit being ventilated for almost ten years in this fandom, I think it's time to answer it once and for all:

Whenever we are informally talking about 'owning the rights to something', I think it's very important to bear in mind a fundamental distinction between two different categories of ownership rights: copyright and trademark.

The copyright is the most familiar one to many of you. It is what you usually find on those annoying and apparently useless first or last pages of all the printed or digital editions on this planet. Something like this:

In the US, copyright issues are regulated by the Copyright Act of 1976, as included in Title 17 of the US Code. The US public authority competent for registering and managing copyright is, as predictable, the US Copyright Office.

Perhaps the most seminal US Supreme Court decision, as far as copyright is concerned, is the 1991 Feist Publications, Inc., v. Rural Telephone Service Co. In it, the Court ruled that mere compilations of information or facts (such as, for example, telephone books) are not protected by copyright, according to US law. In other words, the ancient legal concept of 'sweat of the brow' (which simply means the amount of work required to gather and compile those facts/information) is not enough to qualify a work for copyright protection, if no creative effort is added to enhance its content. This is why I have always considered absolutely ridiculous Marple's efforts to watermark public information screenshots: it is useless (to the extent that it legally protects her from nothing) and, as her timelines, a mere compilation of facts (legally ditto). A similar approach is preferred by the UK and also by many Roman law legal systems, such as the French one - just making things clearer, here, by the way.

See how 'Erself is roughly doing, right now, in this department:

But I am rambling. In my view, Lallybroch, as a pivotal concept used in Diana Gabaldon's books, is protected by the copyright granted to each and every of her books mentioning it, according to the Roman law principle 'accessorium sequitur principale' (the accessory follows the principal). So it will remain protected for at least 70 years since the last of her books mentioning it would have been published under copyright. Unless she chooses to separately protect the entire finished cycle as a whole, once Book Ten (fingers crossed) is published, preferably during our foreseeable lifetimes.

That being said, that goes only for one copyright category: (published) text - you cannot copyright that secret diary in your drawer, LOL. This is why, the current US Copyright Office records concerning Lallybroch look like this:

Sony Pictures Television Inc owns the copyright to the fictional name Lallybroch in the motion pictures category, as it is the title of the Episode 12, in Season 1 - DG has been handsomely compensated for this, no worries. And someone I have no idea about owns the rights to an original musical score she has written and titled Lallybroch in the music category, since October 2013.

Onwards to the trademark. This is something different and this is all about making your name/concept/idea profitable. It is all about branding it, putting it on a product and selling it under that brand. It includes all the graphic elements and the logo of the brand (accessorium...) - in short, its visual identity to the consumers. In the US, trademark issues are regulated by the 1946 Lanham Act and the public competent authority is the good old US Patent and Trade Office (USPTO).

Right now, the situation for the Lallybroch trademark is as follows:

So, we see three different trademarks: two of them, owned by Diana Gabaldon, are classified as 'dead' (cancelled and/or abandoned) and the third, Lallybroch Spirits, owned by S's Great Glen Company is pending approval - he will not be able to label any booze bottle Lallybroch Drink Me before permission is granted by the USPTO.

Let's unpack:

Both Lallybroch trademarks formerly owned by Diana Gabaldon were filed at the USPTO on February 21, 2000 and granted on December 12, 2000. The first was aimed at producing 'tartan fabrics for the manufacturer of clothing' and it was abandoned in December 2003:

The reason is that the owner did not file in any Statement of Use after the trademark was granted. She had three years to do so, and since she chose not to do anything about it, the trademark was deemed abandoned (Stacy K. Smith is the attorney hired by Herself, btw). That means she specifically implied not to intend using it in the future. As such, she may claim NO rights on a now free to use mark:

The second trademark was aimed at producing 'clothing, namely, t-shirts, dresses and headwear' and also 'jewelry, namely, rings, pins and necklaces'- to cut the story short: OL merchandise - and it was cancelled on March 1st, 2013:

The reason is that the owner did not file the Section 8 declaration (of continuous use for five years) within the allowed legal timeframe (6 months after the fifth anniversary of the trademark granting renewal). Her trademark federal rights are now deemed canceled (but not her state law and/or common law rights!) and if she wants to ever use that name again, she would have to start the whole process over, bearing in mind the trademark could have been granted to someone else, in the meanwhile (not her case).

And for anyone who might ask, 'Erself does not own any other trademarks whatsoever:

The other (Doll Lab - LOL for ages) Diana Gabaldon is a pharmacist from Albuquerque, NM. Chill. 🤣🤣🤣

The owner of the copyright to the fictional toponym Lallybroch, as far as published text is concerned, is Diana Galabdon.

The owner of the copyright to the fictional toponym Lallybroch, as far as motion pictures are concerned, is Sony Pictures Television Inc.

The owner of the copyright to the fictional toponym Lallybroch, as a personal work of music, is Mrs. Kelly Ruth Davis, of Pennsylvania, USA.

The owner of the Lallybroch Spirits trademark will be Sam Roland Heughan, when that trademark is granted by the USPTO.

I hope this answers your question, @rosfrank. Thank you for asking.

[christian-oc-tournament]

Please vote based on the picture AND the description!

Crispin O'Callner [Fallen Breath @larissa-the-scribe]

So committed to his ideals that he continues to shoot any business opportunity he has in the foot. A Tired Noir Detective who works with both the natural and supernatural, and is physically incapable of asking money from any old lady who wants his help. Just wants one nice weekend where he doesn't have to worry about anything and can go read at the public library until he falls asleep.

Cusick Weisflog [Magic and Cannons @thedailyvio]

Cusick is a disease mage, and the first of his kind in his world. Through sheer determination and years of work, he developed a staff capable of creating diseases from nothing. Rather than patent and sell the technology for a profit, he decided to sell his services to his country and employ it for the purposes of war. Despite his desire to be the envy of the world, he tends towards isolation. He lives in a hut in a swamp to ensure nobody can contact him or disturb his work. Despite his staff being his most impressive piece of work, his real pride lies in the rats he’s been breeding and modifying since he was in his early teens. He has a horde of them, each the size of cat, carefully training them and seeing to their health. Cusick is easily described as narcissistic, motivated mostly by the hope of recognition and enduring spite. He believes people mostly ignore him out of jealousy or stubborn refusal to admit they were wrong. He considers humanity to be of little value, but he is clearly the best of them, so it would only be right for him to be acknowledged! He doggedly spends years of his life in the pursuit of this alone. He is well into adulthood by the time he makes his first real friend who challenges much of his worldview by being the exception to every rule he’s constructed in his own mind.

[butts-bouncing-on-the-beltway]

My uncle was a pillar in his community so even though he just died this morning, the city has already published a memorial to him and his life and now I'm sobbing over this shitty powerpoint some public servant made of photos of my uncle through the years and remembering what a goofball he was, how many people loved him, how much he MATTERED to the world in ways people will never know.

He revolutionized archival medium transfers to and from microfiche, and for three generations in that town he ran a shop that would restore and replicate lost media for anyone who needed it. He saved people's memories from entropy and remade them for modern record keeping tech. My uncle's inventions never made him any money because even when they made a big splash he'd hand over his patents without a second thought or a penny exchanged if someone told him they would make sure the inventions he made would help people [hey fun fact, a USA car manufacturing company that shall go unnamed has been sitting on the blueprints for a truck engine with chronilogically equivalent power output that runs on amonia and produces nothing but water as a byproduct since the 1970s, and when you grow up on stories like that across a dozen different industries, you become anti-capitalist real fuckin fast]. Once the secret service showed up at his mother's house when he was a middle schooler and Marion's first response was "Ronald what the FUCK did you do" and according to the very stern looking men at her front door, what he had done was use her gelatine recipe and baking trays to rig up an improvised photocopy machine AND STARTED PRINTING HIS OWN FUCKING MONEY and they would really appreciate it if he did not keep doing this.

This was not the last time federal law enforcement called upon my great grandmother because of her son's shenanigans, but it IS one of the funnier ones.

This was a man who could make a story out of anything, who could make a stranger feel seen and loved, and who always had a smile and a laugh for you no matter what he was going through.

And on top of it all the man was a stone cold hottie, look at this snazzy lookin motherfucker

Ron was the only man in the family for a long time (and now he has two sons, so they're around and they're clones of him the same way all the women in my family are clones of their fucking moms) so when I started T I downloaded a shitload of photos of him and brought them to my HRT prescriber and was like "yeah no you have to understand the this man is the family model for testosterone dominant systems and then on the other hand this man's sister's (my grandma) nickname was Jackie O because she was apparently "maybe even prettier than the First Lady" and these two stone cold prohibition era hotties spawned my entirely family line, so I **know** I'm gonna like how this turns out but I need to you tell me WILL I BE ABLE TO TO GROW THE FUCKING MOUSTACHE????????"

Yesterday was the last day of my Uncle Ron's life and it was also his birthday. He spent it surrounded by loved ones and reminiscing with his friends.

It was also the first day I looked in the mirror and saw the man's glorious moustache starting to grow in on my lip. It was gorgeous, and I can see his face looking back at me in the mirror more and more every day, more even than my own father.

Happy Birthday Uncle Ron. We're all gonna miss you so goddamn much.

[dissertationthesis]

How Patent Filing Services Supports Innovation and Technological Advancements?

Innovation is essential to advancing society and advancing progress in today's environment of fast change. It is the catalyst for technical improvements and the force that stretches the bounds of what is conceivable. It is crucial to protect these creative concepts in order to promote further innovation and make sure that businesses and inventors may profit from their labor of love. When it comes to protecting intellectual property and fostering the innovation ecosystem, patent filing services play a crucial role.

Understanding the significance of patent filing.

A patent is a form of governmental legal protection that grants an assignee or an inventor temporary exclusivity over their innovation. With the help of this protection, innovators can stop unauthorized production, use, sale, or import of their patented innovation. Patent application services help firms and inventors navigate the difficult process of getting a patent, protecting their intellectual property, and allowing them to capitalize on their discoveries commercially.

Encouragement of Research and Development Investment

Encouragement of R&D spending is one of the main ways that Patent Applications in India foster innovation. The promise of exclusive ownership of an idea encourages corporations and inventors to invest in the development of novel products and technology. They are more willing to take chances and investigate novel concepts that may result in technological improvements when they are confident that their efforts will be safeguarded.

Protecting the rights of inventors

To safeguard their intellectual property rights, innovators must obtain a patent via patent filing services. Without patent protection, rivals may readily copy and profit from their discoveries, deterring them from investing in or doing more research. Patent Filing Services India gives innovators a sense of security by offering legal protection, which motivates them to share their discoveries with the public and exchange information that could progress the field further.

Facilitating collaboration and knowledge exchange

The patent system encourages industry collaboration and knowledge exchange. When an innovation is patented, its specifics are made available to the general public, enabling others to research the technology and expand upon it. Although it may seem paradoxical to some, doing so actually promotes a collaborative environment where researchers and inventors can benefit from one another's discoveries, advancing the field and inspiring new discoveries.

Increasing Technological Progress

A robust patent system that is supported by effective patent filing services encourages healthy market competition. In order to stay competitive, businesses must constantly innovate, which fuels a cycle of ongoing technical breakthroughs. Consumers profit as a result because they can get cutting-edge goods and services that enhance their quality of life.

Increasing Market Size and Attracting Investments

Online patent filing services significantly increase the value of a company's assets and can be leveraged to draw in investors. A company with a strong patent portfolio has a higher chance of attracting investors because it demonstrates its dedication to innovation and ability to defend its technology from rivals. Furthermore, patents give companies the freedom to enter new markets without worrying about intellectual property theft, which promotes economic growth and diversity.

Services for filing patents are essential for fostering creativity and technical growth. The patent system promotes investment in R&D, information exchange, collaboration, and constant advancement by giving firms and innovators the protection they require for their intellectual property. Patent filing services will remain a pillar in fostering innovation and moving society towards a more developed and wealthy future as technology continues to shape it.

If you are looking for a professional patent filing and writing service, Leave a query right now to United Innovators. 

Visit Now - https://www.unitedinnovator.com/patent-filing.php

[mariacallous]

Everyone, it seems, wants a piece of Moo Deng. The baby pygmy hippo is barely two months old and already famous. So beloved on TikTok, Instagram, and X is Moo Deng that workers at Khao Kheow Open Zoo, the place in Thailand where she was born, are doing all they can to keep up with her fans’ appetite for more. They post videos, photos, updates. They also welcome thousands of visitors a day and find themselves having to defend Moo Deng when tourists throw shells at her while she’s just trying to chill.

Moo Deng, a name that means “bouncy pig,” has probably been all over your timeline lately—on Sephora makeup tutorials, on X’s main feed. She was born in July and in the past few weeks has become the Internet’s New Favorite Animal. A tradition almost as old as the internet itself, Favorite Animals—Maru, any of the dogs on the shiba inu puppy cam, those two llamas who just happened to run free the same day everyone was trying to decide what color The Dress was—come into the public consciousness seemingly out of nowhere. Some, like Doge, stick around; others disappear, or simply outgrow their cuteness, within a matter of weeks.

All of which makes capitalizing on their fame a matter of some urgency. It seems heartless to think of animals this way, but if their owners don’t, someone else will. Perhaps that’s why zoo director Narongwit Chodchoi told the Associated Press this week that the zoo has begun the process of trying to trademark and patent the hippo to avoid her likeness getting used by anyone else—a smart move considering Moo Deng mugs, T-shirts, and other merch are already popping up online. Income from these efforts, Chodcho told the wire service, could “support activities that will make the animals’ lives better.”

Moo Deng might need it. Fandom is getting a bit out of control these days. As pop stars like Chappell Roan have amassed online and offline fame, they’ve also had to use their platforms to ask for space from boundary-less fans and stalkers. Social media celebs like Drew Afualo, on whose podcast Roan appeared to talk about the subject, also tell stories of being approached in public by people who simply know them from the internet.

It may seem odd to compare them to Favorite Animals, but the ways in which people feel entitled to their time aren’t that far apart. Everyone wants something for the ’gram, even if that something is a living being with its own sense of agency. One of Moo Deng’s most popular TikToks has 34 million views, and zoo staff have had to limit her visiting time to five minutes on Saturdays and Sundays to keep too many people from trying to get content of their own.

Trademark protections may be the best way for Moo Deng’s caretakers to ensure others don’t cash in on her viral fame. When Jools Lebron made efforts to trademark her “very demure, very mindful” meme, one of the hurdles that emerged was that it’s hard to claim ownership of a phrase. As Kate Miltner, a lecturer in data, AI, and society at the University of Sheffield’s Information School, told me at the time, memes with audiovisual elements, like Nyan Cat or Grumpy Cat, are easier to register. “People will invariably try to make money off of viral or memetic content, as we've seen time and again,” Miltner says when asked about trademarking the baby hippo, adding that the Cincinnati Zoo has already done this with Fiona the Hippo. “It's smart of the Khao Kheow Open Zoo to (at least try to) ensure that they’re the ones that do so.”

Lebron seems to be figuring out how to market her moment, and Moo Deng’s keepers seem to be doing the same. Being online in 2024 means living in a state of near-constant vulnerability. You could get hacked or turned into a humiliating deepfake. Having a public opinion on a video game or The Acolyte could turn your mentions into a hellscape. And that’s what happens to filthy casuals. When you’re an ascending pop star or a baby hippo the weak spots multiply, because the world always seems hungry for more of you. It’s possible to protect yourself, even monetize yourself, but you can lose yourself, too.

Like Boaty McBoatface, Moo Deng was named by the internet. The zoo held a poll on social media. Unlike McBoatface, Moo Deng is a living thing; she’s a member of an endangered species and needs protecting. Moo Deng is more than a meme.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Anne Lutz Fernandez at The UnPopulist:

Kamala Harris’ entry into the 2024 presidential race has thrown Donald Trump for a loop. For a brief period after Biden stepped aside, Trump seemed to be in a daze: either focusing too much on the person who had just taken himself out of electoral play, or criticizing Harris in less incendiary ways than is typical for him. In the first five days after Biden’s withdrawal announcement—in which Biden exhorted the party to consolidate behind Harris—Trump mentioned Biden and Harris more or less the same number of times on his Truth Social account, the closest thing we have to a live feed of the unadulterated Trumpian id. And when he did mention Harris, it was in reference to immigration and the border, or to tie her to “Bidenomics.” It took Trump a week and a half after Biden had already dropped out to start going, well … full Trump and attacking Harris’ racial identity.

Keeping Out Kamala

The transition from attacking Biden’s policies to Harris’ identity should have been easy for Trump. After all, a major through line of his politics, going all the way back to his avid promotion of the “birther” conspiracy theory alleging that Barack Obama was actually born in another country, has been about who belongs where. Moving from a rival whose characteristics overlap with his own—he and Biden are both are old, white men—to facing a mixed-race, multi-ethnic woman should’ve put Trump in his element. The MAGA movement, after all, is predicated on vilifying identities outside of its racial, ethnic, and cultural ideal. 

[Trump’s support stems from his ability to tap into an “ethno-nationalist” tradition of American identity in his campaign rhetoric. This tradition … is based on a set of criteria (including being white, Christian, native-born, and English-speaking) to define who is a “real” American, and who is not. Trump uses this vision of American identity to garner support from white Americans by campaigning on the idea that he will defend them from the threat posed by people who are not perceived as real Americans—particularly the ostensible threat posed by undocumented migrants.]

Given that Trump couldn’t take on Biden’s identity markers since they both shared them, Trump’s tack was to accuse Biden of allowing entry to “hordes” and “caravans” of foreigners with different identity markers who would not just take American jobs and votes but change American culture and country in their image. This was an obvious line of attack against Harris, too, since Biden had tasked her with some border duties, and Trump didn’t waste any time linking her to the border situation. But it was surprising how long it took Trump to really let loose on Harris’ identity. Finally, at the convention for the National Association of Black Journalists at the end of July, Trump insinuated that Harris is a shape-shifter, an ever-migrating other—once Asian, now Black, next Who-Knows-What. His running mate JD Vance—who has bi-racial children of his own—followed up, claiming “phony” Harris “grew up in Canada” and that she is “a fundamentally fake person.” At a Pennsylvania rally last week, Trump offered his patented nativist fear-mongering—falsely claiming that we have no idea where she “came from.” There is nothing subtle here: Harris is multiracial, so not a “real” American. Moreover, she is a “DEI candidate” who is using her racial identity to make a bid for America’s top job, the kind of advantage that apparently a “real” American like Trump would never seek, never mind that he has made his whiteness his core appeal to voters. She doesn’t belong in the White House as president of the United States but he, a white guy, does.

Harris’ intersectionality presents the Trump/Vance campaign a quiver of identity-based arrows to pierce her qualifications. Vance, who brings to the campaign a finer articulation of Trump’s grabbling misogyny, has previously suggested that women like Harris are ineligible for political power because they’ve failed to fulfill their Woman Job of reproducing and therefore have less of a stake in the future of the country. In other words, childless women aren’t “real” Americans, at least not “real” enough to serve in any position of power.

Trump’s Ever-Shrinking “Real America”

The problem for the GOP is that with these various lines of attack they keep expanding its criteria of who does not count as a “real” American beyond even its crude and crabbed ethnonationalism. Immigrants are inherently unAmerican. But, also, naturalized Americans, children of immigrants, people of color, anyone who has lived abroad, people from the coasts, and childless women can’t be true Americans worthy of holding office—showing that, despite its populist pretensions, Trump’s MAGA movement does not seek to represent a majority.

[...]

MAGA Is A Social Vision Predicated On Exclusion

These attacks do more than insult a growing list of voting groups though. They offer a window into the GOP’s proffered fantasy, namely, that if people would just stay in their place—refugees and immigrants in their home countries, women in their homes, people of color in menial jobs while rich, white men hold powerful political positions and set the rules for everyone—“real” Americans would feel that the country was great again. But this is not a vision that has widespread appeal outside the MAGAverse.

While the exuberant Democratic National Convention was going on last week, Trump—who actually incited a coup—upped his rhetoric, describing Harris’ legal, official, smooth, and peaceful Democratic Party nomination as a “vicious, violent overthrow.” Harris, in Trump’s eyes, is not a political candidate who has earned her position as his rival. By virtue not of process but of her many-faceted identity, she is an infiltrator, imposter, thief. Fearful of losing the election, Trump is presenting to his followers a Harris who is an existential threat to the natural and national order. “Anti-Trump Burnout: The Resistance Says It’s Exhausted,” announced a New York Times headline from February that hasn’t worn well. The response to the Harris/Walz ticket that has Trump so spooked shows that the people were indeed exhausted—but not from resisting Trump. They were exhausted from his constant fear-mongering and threats, his endless efforts to exclude and otherize, and, above all, his ever-growing list of Americans who don’t belong. However, now that they are being led by two figures who also apparently don’t belong, they suddenly feel that they do—and that’s a perfect cure for exhaustion.

Anne Lutz Fernandez writes in The UnPopulist on how MAGA is shrinking the definition of “real American.” “Real American” in their world is someone who supports the Trump cult.

[adventuressclubamericas]

Adventuresses We Love – Bertha Benz Adventuress Bertha Benz was a woman with a vision, one she shared with her husband, Carl – to invent a practical “horseless carriage.” She believed in this vision so much that two years before their wedding, she used her dowry to bail out his failing company and invest in its future. The two of them would collaborate on the design and engineering of the car’s components, including its two-stroke engine, throughout the vehicle’s development. Progress was slow, but steady, and on New Year’s Eve1879 they finally got their engine to work. They continued to make improvements to the vehicle, until finally, in early 1886, Carl obtained a patent for their “motor car with gas engine operation.” The car made its public debut in Mannheim that summer, where… …nobody wanted it. There had been a few cars built before the Benz’s, enough to make everyone really, really nervous about them. Even the Vatican had spoken out against them, declaring the automobile to be a devil’s or witch’s carriage. Some localities in Germany had already outlawed the use of such vehicles, threatening to fine anyone operating them. Now, Carl was an engineering marvel, but a complete dunce at marketing. It would fall to Bertha to win people’s hearts and minds, and change the view of the automobile in their eyes. To accomplish this, she knew exactly what she had to do. She had to go visit her mom. At dawn on August 5, 1888, Bertha and her sons, Robert and Eugen, left Mannheim and headed towards Pforzheim, about 60 miles away. Today, we might not think of that as any big deal – that’s not much more than my commute to work – but in 1888, it was an Epic Road Trip. The first of its kind! The trip was fraught with challenges, not the least of which was that the car got 25mpg – but only carried about 1.3 gallons of fuel. To resolve this, Bertha bought the entire supply of ligroin – a petroleum-based cleaner – from a chemist in Wiesloch and used that to power the car. (The chemist’s in Wiesloch is still today recognized as the world’s first service station.) Bertha also found innovative solutions for some of the mechanical failures the car ran into on the way. For example, she used her hat pin to clear a clogged fuel line, and her garter to insulate a frayed spark plug wire. When the wooden blocks used in the brakes started to wear out, she stopped at a cobbler’s shop and had leather added to them – thereby inventing the world’s first brake pads. Another challenge – hills. The car had two gears – not quite enough to summit some of the hills on the route. Robert and Eugen got out and pushed it up a couple of them. Finally, after 13 hours on the road, Bertha and her boys arrived in Pforzheim. She telegraphed Carl to let him know, then enjoyed a few days with her mom before driving home. Bertha’s road trip started to change public opinion about the car, and led to her and Carl’s company being the automotive giant we know today. She also showed the importance of test drives – innovations were added to the design to overcome the issues she’d found on this trip (including adding a third gear which made hills much easier). Test drives are standard, essential practice for automobile manufacturers today, but had never been done before Bertha’s trip in 1888. Adventuress Bertha Benz died on May 5, 1944, two days after her 95th birthday. On May 3, 2024, Bertha’s 175th birthday, the German government issued a postage stamp honoring her and her contributions to automotive history.