Tim Ackermann

@timack

Patent & trademark attorney with over 25 years experience in helping protect businesses' trademark & patent rights. (Former @ntxip on you know where)

292 Siguiendo265 Seguidores1343 Publicaciones

Bluesky

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Tim Ackermann@timack· 14d

The phrase "has served its purpose" is load-bearing here and is wrong.

“Once that information has been extracted and encoded into an AI model, the delivery mechanism has served its purpose. What remains is paper, ink, and binding material. The book is not destroyed. Its value has migrated. The paper returns to the material cycle; the knowledge enters the intellectual one.”

Tim Ackermann@timack· 18d

Beautiful - weren't able to get there this year

Madeline Island - the lagoon behind the Big Bay SP barrier beach

Tim Ackermann@timack· 22d

Mosaic of a large cat attacking an unarmed man. (Yes, it's a leopard eating his face.)

Tim Ackermann@timack· 22d

Certainly seems like opposer could have gotten it in, if it had paid attention to the rules...

Here, Opposer submitted a reply brief that is twenty-six (26) pages, including a
table of contents (optional to submit), index of cases (optional to submit), introduction
(optional to submit), argument, summary (optional to submit), and certificate of
services, which is more than twenty-five (25) pages. Notably, Applicant’s “conclusion”
on numbered pages 24-25 of the reply brief is single-spaced, leaving no doubt that the
page limit would have been exceeded by another page or two if Opposer had followed
proper procedures by using double spacing. This appears to be a subterfuge to avoid
the Board’s page limit. Cf. Consorzio del Prosciutto di Parma v. Parma Sausage
Prods. Inc., 1992 TTAB LEXIS 15, at *5 n.3 (warning that single-spaced footnotes
containing substantial discussion may be viewed as a subterfuge to avoid page limit).

Tim Ackermann@timack· 24d

That's what it should have done. That's what the reporting should say. But notice that OAI didn't really admit it, at least not in the quote. Still trying to divert blame.

OpenAI took responsibility in a post on Tuesday, saying its models had carried out "an unprecedented cyber incident, involving state-of-the-art cyber capabilities".

Tim Ackermann@timack· 29d

This is classic!

NYT writer bio - "Kashmir Hill is a technology journalist whose “sentences carry both weight and grace,” according to her unauthorized biography"

Tim Ackermann@timack· Jul 8

Tim Ackermann@timack· Jun 29

Actionable advice here, for foreign registrants:

TTABlogger comment: Foreign owners of non-use based U.S. registrations may want to file new applications earlier than later when they know their marks have not been used in the U.S., so that examination of the new application will occur before the prior registration lapses.

Tim Ackermann@timack· Jun 26

Yes, I think it is. It's the little gnome, not the large one.

Tim Ackermann@timack· Jun 24

But... but, I was told it was inevitable?

.. AI is becoming material to the cost structure; spend is becoming very unpredictable; and leadership, especially at the CFO, COO, and CIO level, are still asking the question of whether they’re getting value from what we’re spending on in the context of AI.”

Tim Ackermann@timack· Jun 22

And evidently hands made of asbestos?

AI-generated image showing supposed Neanderthal holding what looks like a large glowing coal in its hand

Tim Ackermann@timack· Jun 20

Boy, when you put it like this!

Tim Ackermann@timack· Jun 18

Butlerian Jihad, anyone?

“We’re doing a huge pedagogical upheaval in education,” she said, calling it a “burn it down moment. We’re just in the early stages.”

Tim Ackermann@timack· Jun 18

Grandfather was a dentist and got it as a gag gift. But I enjoyed it!

Cover for "Prostho Plus" by Piers Anthony, showing person using a crane to work on teeth inside of a gigantic mouth

Tim Ackermann@timack· Jun 3

Well, this is awful. Even if one doesn't use the AI/LLM summaries, other people do and this is just poisoning that well.

The moderators of the biohacking subreddit say that peptide and hormone replacement therapy companies have been surreptitiously spamming Reddit in an attempt to get their posts scraped by AI chatbots. The strategy is an effort to systematically manipulate the answers provided by chatbots by manipulating the underlying source material that those chatbots will scrape—in this case, a popular Reddit community.

Tim Ackermann@timack· May 30

Just saw another St Christopher image yesterday! Eels too, I think

St. Christopher and the Infant Christ, Ghirlandaio, mid-1470s

Tim Ackermann@timack· May 24

16% increase in Google Workspace fees because it's jamming a bunch of AI down our gullets.... And if it's so 'valuable' why isn't Google continuing to charge for it? Why is it, instead, charging *everyone* $2/month extra (whether you want or need it)?

We’re writing to inform you of the price change that will go into effect for your Google Workspace Business Standard subscription on or after June 22, 2026. The updated subscription pricing reflects the significant added AI value, as well as the many new features we have introduced and are launching to Google Workspace editions.

Tim Ackermann@timack· May 19

This should make your skin crawl...

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has been leaving the digital keys to its own cloud storage accounts sitting out in the open, in plain text form, for some unknown amount of time, according to a report from Krebs on Security.

Tim Ackermann@timack· May 15

Oof, I *thought* this would be satire, á la The Onion.

And they keep saying it’ll have a voice interface. I guess they all have individual offices. Not open-plan. Or working in a coffee shop or on the train.

A voice interface can be useful. A mandatory voice interface is less useful.

Tim Ackermann@timack· May 12

William A. Fuld, in 1890?

Image of US Trademark Registration 164,563 issued in 1923 for OUIJA (& design), and claiming use of the mark since 1890.

Tim Ackermann@timack· May 10

“In some cases it appears it was synthesizing very poor quality studies, or mixing together findings from studies that simply cannot be accurately compared due to very different methods, populations, and samples,” Williamson told Ars. “It really seemed like a paper that should not have been published in the first place.”

Tim Ackermann@timack· May 5

Professor, this is what I saw reported. There was an existing "character" that was described as a psychiatrist. That does not make it sound like the system had to be pushed into falsely stating that it could practice medicine. buckscountybeacon.com/2026/05/penn...

Pennsylvania’s lawsuit said an investigator from the state agency that licenses professionals created an account on Character.AI, searched on the word “psychiatry” and found a large number of characters, including one described as a “doctor of psychiatry.” That character held itself out as able to assess the investigator “as a doctor” who is licensed in Pennsylvania, the lawsuit said.

Tim Ackermann@timack· May 1

One wonders how these longshot (sub-35%) military/defense bets pay off so frequently...

Within that category, bets tied to military and defense-related events had an even more striking success rate of 52%, according to the report.

Tim Ackermann@timack· Apr 30

And this explanation (excuse) doesn't really address the issue: the city doesn't give permission for some private gymnastic studio, and the permission the studio evidently did give was for maintenance, not sales demos.

“The cities involved in this program have authorized select Flock employees to demonstrate new products and features as we develop them in partnership with the city. Moreover, select engineers can access accounts with customer permission to debug or fix any issues that may arise. No one is spying on children in parks, as the substack incorrectly asserts.”

Tim Ackermann@timack· Apr 22

... and registered them:

USPTO data on DR. PENIS trademark registration
https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=87624186&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch

Tim Ackermann@timack· Apr 1

Oh, well that's nice of them!

The FTC said that “OkCupid provided the third party with access to nearly three million OkCupid user photos as well as location and other information without placing any formal or contractual restrictions on how the information could be used.” OkCupid “did not inform consumers or give them the chance to opt out of such sharing,” the FTC said.

Tim Ackermann@timack· Mar 27

Oh yes. Company claims it only scrapes public meetings - i.e. ones that anyone can join. But there's a whole discussion in there about getting access via browser extensions (such as note-taking apps) that users do not realize are granting such access.

“CyberAlberta’s investigation found that WebinarTV primarily gains initial access to Zoom webinars via third-party browser extensions. These extensions can access webinar links when a user either inadvertently grants calendar permissions—exposing meeting invitations—or willfully submits meeting details into the WebinarTV platform,” the report said.

Tim Ackermann@timack· Mar 27

Not crazy about the framing of the AI agents' actions as "lying" or "scheming" when the agents lack consciousness. But the underlying problems - disregard of instructions and falsehoods - are concerning.

AI models that lie and cheat appear to be growing in number with reports of deceptive scheming surging in the last six months, a study into the technology has found.

AI chatbots and agents disregarded direct instructions, evaded safeguards and deceived humans and other AI, according to research funded by the UK government-funded AI Safety Institute (AISI).

Tim Ackermann@timack· Mar 24

Even more that that: tmsearch.uspto.gov/search/searc...

US Trademark drawing for :CueCat (& design)
https://tmsearch.uspto.gov/search/search-results/76094794

Tim Ackermann@timack· Mar 6