Andrew Raff at the IPTAblog [1] reports on news, analysis and commentary about issues in IP, technology and privacy law and related topics. This week, he brings you an excellent round-up of law blogs for Blawg Review #31 [2]. In Act III: Internet and IP, Raff describes this past weeks highlights in IP including a post by the Patent Prospector [3] on Coffee Beer [4]. Yes, these two words that should never be uttered together in the same sentence are the description of a product that Nestec, a subsidiary of Swiss-based Nestlé, has filed patents on.
There is also a note on Opinionistas [5] – a blog on lawyer life that was in an opinion piece in the Sunday Times (Blogging the Firm [6]). This is yet another anonymous blog written ostensibly by an associate at a big, prestigious law firm in Manhattan billing some outrageous number of hours – if we are to believe it. Excuse me if I yawn but these seem to be a dime-a-dozen lately.
I want to give her (him?) the benefit of the doubt but, as the Times notes, she plans to write a fictional novel based on the characters in Opinionistas. Coincidentally. This seems a little too familiar after the Anonymous Lawyer [7] was discovered to be a law student making everything up and not a Big Firm Hiring Partner. Like the Hot Abercrombie Chick hoax [8], people often have a desire to post a fictional life.
If true, I feel sorry for her but I have to wonder why anyone would willing put up with such a poor work environment. Life’s too short.