Wednesday whimsies

The IPKat and Merpel: on the
scent of a technical solution
-- or on their way to Wordpress?

An open letter to Google. If anyone from Google is reading this, or has any influence with anyone who works for Google, can they please assist? This blogger has this to say:

Since Google has replaced the old Blogger software with a new blogging program, we have been beset by problems.  When trying to compose in "Compose" mode, we meet with what appear to be random enforced "save" procedures which freeze the blogging process for between a few seconds and half a minute [this has already happened to this Kat three times since he started composing this little letter]. The same happens when composing in html mode.  

In addition, the position of artwork has become more difficult since strange strings of html code have a habit of appearance unannounced and have to be removed manually. 

Aesthetically and functionally, the "back pages " of the new software are more difficult to work with, particularly for anyone who is working with a number of  blogs and has a small screen. Several of this Kat's colleagues have given up trying to use the new software and are sending him Word documents which he is posting for them as and when he can, but this is far from being an ideal arrangement. When working at home, he is working from two computers simultaneously so that, when the blogging software freezes on one, he can move across to the other and work on that one till it, too, freezes. This solution does not work when he is on the move and has only one computer at his disposal. 

We have sent feedback via the "Send feedback" button but have received no responses ourselves. Nor have we heard from anyone who has. Apart from suggesting that we bloggers depart en masse for Wordpress, is there anything constructive that Google can tell us? Are there any words of comfort? 

Apologies to the readers of this blog and its associated weblogs for delays in commenting on latest developments. We are really struggling [the final tally for screen freezes in composing and revising this letter was 21].



Message to IPKat readers. The IPKat, Merpel and others have a pile of unposted material and are trying out ways of getting it on the blog with less delay and frustration.  Please be patient, especially if you are one of those people who has sent us all sorts of interesting and/or topical news and are puzzled as to why we haven't posted it yet.

Bad news milestone -- if you're
running in the London
marathon, that is

Around the weblogs 1.  First, a few congratulations on recently-passed milestones.  Earlier this month, just after the International Trademark Association's Annual Meeting in Washington DC, the MARQUES Class 46 weblog -- which numbers Kats Jeremy and Birgit among its contributors -- welcomed its 2,700th email subscriber.  Further down the line, but with lots of momentum right now, the 1709 Blog, which specialises in copyright matters, has today gained email subscriber number 1,300, while the bilingual (English and Spanish) Latin America-focused IP Tango has notched up subscriber number 400.

Around the weblogs 2. “Homage or Humiliation? Moral Rights, Vertigo, and The Artist” is the title of the first guest post by Mira T. Sundara Rajan for the 1709 Blog on moral rights in copyright law. Judging by the level of early responses, this series is going to attract and retain a good deal of attention. Meanwhile, over on the IP Finance weblog, fellow Kat Neil Wilkof examines the Pareto Principle and contemplates its application to IP business scenarios [note to Katonomists: this topic is highly likely to be taken up by Nicola Searle on this weblog in the not-too-distant future].