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The Fight for the Right to Repair
Posted by John Bethune | May 19, 2014 | Right to Repair | 6
To ensure adequate access to the equipment they are charged to maintain, biomeds across the nation are looking for ways to take action
By Michael Bassett
It's no fun for biomedical engineers when they can't fix a piece of equipment. And it's even less so when they know they could do it if they only had the right part or the right instructions, but neither is available.
So, if you want to start a serious discussion with a biomedical engineer or a third-party service provider, start talking about the right-to-repair.
This issue has been simmering for years, says Gay Gordon-Byrne, executive director of the Digital Right to Repair Coalition, which was formed last year to support the rights of digital equipment owners to repair their hardware purchases. But it really took off in the 1990s, she maintains, when original equipment manufacturers began following the lead of Oracle. According to Gordon-Byrne, Oracle aimed to dominate the marketplace for repair by controlling what it referred to as the intellectual property within devices rather than the hardware itself.
Gay Gordon-Byrne
"There has been a cascade of vendors that have gone forward since then and made the same claims," she says. And it's a strategy that has been pursued across diverse industries, she adds, whether it's medical devices, automobiles, or ATM machines.
Like many industries, the medical device industry is facing revenue and profitability challenges. According to Dave Harrington, PhD, a healthcare consultant based in Medway, Mass, while the field service area of these companies has traditionally been a cost center geared toward supporting sales, it's increasingly being viewed as a profit center, and a substantial one at that.
Medical device manufacturers can make a substantial amount of money servicing capital equipment, Harrington says. In order to protect that market, he asserts, they are putting barriers in the way of biomeds or third-party service providers to make it difficult for them to repair equipment.
"I can see [a company] being reluctant to give out a lot of information, but in a large percentage of cases, what we are doing in hospitals isn't proprietary because much of the equipment we're talking about is old and has already been replaced by newer models," he says. "When there's new technology, there is something proprietary." But even in that case, he continues, competitors will quickly reverse engineer that technology and put it to their own use. "So how much proprietary information can there actually be?"
Access Curtailed
J. Scot Mackeil, a CBET from Quincy, Mass, who works as a senior biomedical engineer at a major academic medical center in Boston, began his career as a biomed more than 30 years ago when he worked for a laboratory equipment company building wiring and cable assemblies.
Scot Mackeil
"In those days, when you got a technical manual from a company like Beckman Coulter [a company that makes biomedical laboratory instruments], it was so well written that you could literally read it from cover to cover—it was descriptively, completely, and comprehensively written," Mackeil says. "And then you got into the parts diagrams, and the board layout diagrams and everything in that manual had a part number where you could call the company, open an account, and give them a purchase number for the part you needed to repair. They would ship you the part, and if you got stuck on a repair, you could call up technical support and have an engineer walk you through it, and that would be the end of it."
That began to change in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Mackeil says, when some of the large manufacturers began pushing back against self-repair by doing things like adding passwords to service software or refusing to sell parts.
One of the most "egregious" ways of curtailing access to critical information needed to repair, Mackeil says, was to create what he calls "fake" service manuals. "They might say service manual on the cover, and have enough technical information to somewhat qualify as a service manual," he explains. "But as an actual document, it leaves out a lot of the information you need to repair and maintain the device."
The NFPA 99 Health Care Facilities Code contains requirements relating to the need for manufacturers to provide service manuals and specifies the kinds of information needed in these manuals. Yet, Mackeil says, manufacturers are failing to comply with the spirit of NFPA 99.
He recalls one major supplier that, while aware of the requirements, focused on the term "if applicable" in the language of the requirements to avoid handing out a service manual. "They told us they didn't want us to repair their equipment, so they weren't going to give us the information in the service manual," he says. "And the reason was that they believed that 'if applicable' meant that because they didn't intend for us to service the device ourselves, then we didn't need any of the information."
The fact that NFPA 99 urges manufacturers to provide manuals is commendable, says Matthew Baretich of Baretich Engineering, Fort Collins, Colo. The bad news, he says, is that compliance is strictly voluntary.
Matt Baretich
To date, he explains, "neither CMS nor The Joint Commission have adopted the 2012 edition, although CMS has indicated that it intends to do so and The Joint Commmission has said it will follow suit. If that happens, it will not be until well into 2015. It's not clear if CMS (or The Joint Commission) will adopt the entire code. CMS sometimes makes changes (as it proposes to do with the 2012 edition of NFPA 101 Life Safety Code)."
Even so, he adds, because NFPA codes and standards are voluntary, "consensus documents have no force unless adopted and enforced by an Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ). Even if CMS and TJC adopt NFPA 99 (2012) it's not likely that they will enforce the provisions relative to device manufacturers." The bottom line, he concludes, is that CMS and The Joint Commission "have no authority over manufacturers.|
The hurdles to in-house repair, of course, are not limited to service manuals. The life cycle costs of essential medical technologies are bound to be higher, Mackeil adds, when biomeds also can't access service documents or diagnostic software, or can't buy reasonably priced repair parts.
Impact on Care
It's pretty simple, Gordon-Byrne says. "If a device owner has no competitive options, then he's stuck and is going to have to pay whatever the manufacturer charges for that repair."
And that "represents one of my key concerns when it comes to right-of-repair in today's healthcare environment," Mackeil says. "We have so many healthcare institutions that are living right on the edge financially because of cutbacks in reimbursements, rising labor and health insurance costs, and the rising cost of doing business under the Affordable Care Act. Then you add in the fact there are no checks and balances on medical electronic companies when it comes to the repair of their medical equipment."
G. Wayne Moore
G. Wayne Moore is president and CEO of Acertara Acoustic Laboratories and the medical device industry representative to the Digital Right to Repair coalition. He says that beyond the cost issues associated with right-to-repair, there's the question of downtime. "How long will the equipment be down?" he asks. "We know that a clinical engineering staff with the right equipment and the right access to information has the ability to [repair these devices] in a safe manner, and that the downtime on the machine will be cut dramatically."
But, Mackeil says, roadblocks to in-house repair can drastically increase the amount of time a piece of equipment is down. "Let's say I have an energy device on my workbench and the front panel connector is worn out," he says. "It's a vital piece of equipment and has been used so much that when handpieces are plugged into it, we get handpiece identifications errors."
The repairs, theoretically, should be quite simple, he says. They should involve opening the case, unbolting the handpiece connector from the front panel, unplugging the plugs, and installing a new handpiece connector.
"But [the manufacturer] tells us they're not going to sell us the part because they only let their own people repair this device, so you'll have to box it up and send it to us," Mackeil explains. "So it will take me a lot longer to box it up and generate the return paperwork than it would to have that part sent to me overnight. It could have taken me 30 minutes to install it, and [the device] would have been out of service for less than 72 hours. Instead, it's in the factory for 2 weeks, and we'll get a couple of thousand dollars in repair bills."
AAMI is taking steps to bring the healthcare technology management community and manufacturers together to find some common ground on the issue.
"The availability of service manuals has been a major concern of the healthcare technology management (HTM) community for years," said Steve Campbell, AAMI's chief operating officer. "But the issue is much bigger than that—it's about the supportability of technology. That includes the literature provided, the training, and the technical support. AAMI is in a unique position to help on this issue, and that's why we've been tackling it."
Two years ago, AAMI's Technology Management Council (TMC) created the Supportability Task Force to help address these issues by providing new resources and encouraging greater communication among stakeholders. For example, the task force recently released a leading practice document called "Flexible Solutions for Device Supportability: A Guide for Manufacturers and HTM Professionals," that provides guidelines, a sample checklist for medical technology supportability, a comprehensive list of information that should be covered in service manuals, and tips for both manufacturers and healthcare technology management professionals.
"AAMI will continue to facilitate greater understanding by both groups. We've started the conversation, which has been needed for a long time. And we've made good progress but we still have a long way to go," said Campbell. "I'm grateful to folks on both sides willing to have a conversation, to find some common ground, to ease up the tension and meet one another half way."
The Digital Right to Repair Coalition believes the most expeditious way to deal with the issue broadly is legislatively—specifically, a state-by-state legislative approach—according to Gordon-Byrne.
Gordon-Byrne says the coalition is trying to build legislative support in several states and will probably end up trying to get something accomplished in two states in 2015—one "red" state and one "blue" state to make sure that right-to-repair isn't presented as a partisan issue.
Prospective legislation would deal with several factors that make self-repair possible. "Primarily, it's access to the documentation, to the firmware patches, and to the diagnostics," she says. "And, if possible, to parts, although manufacturers don't want to have to sell parts to competitors, and that's something we have to respect. But the rest of it is reasonable to expect the owner to want."
Fortunately, she says, model legislation exists in a law that came out in Massachusetts and that has since formed the basis for a compromise between automobile manufacturers and independent automobile garages and retailers. The automakers have agreed that, starting in 2018, they will make available to independent repair shops just about all of the data provided to their own franchised dealerships.
"We looked at the [Massachusetts bill] and found that the only thing wrong with it is that only mentions cars," Gordon-Byrne says. "It's an effective bill."
Moore believes that at some point, we could see a legal challenge that could clarify things. He points out that some non-medical third-party providers are pretty "large and aggressive" and haven't been afraid of litigating this area in the past.
"It could either be an OEM suing a third party or a third party taking on an OEM, just like they have in the non-medical space," Moore speculates. "That could put a lot of focus on the issue and establish a precedent—and I think that could come sooner than later, considering that service revenue right now is a huge component of the bottom-line health of OEMs. Given all the pressure on the sales of new capital equipment to hospitals and the price pressure on the systems that they do sell, the post-sale revenue from services is an important component of their financial health.
"Right now, I don't know if it makes that big a difference," he adds. "But if someone started making significant inroads into that revenue stream, then that might be the tipping point for them to get more aggressive from a legal standpoint."
Healthcare providers "just don't stand together" when it comes to this issue, Harrington says. He would like to see the "big players in the medical field"—he gives the Department of Veterans Affairs or Kaiser Permanente as examples—take the lead on this issue. He suggests, for instance, refusing to buy from manufacturers if they don't open right-to-repair access.
Mackeil would like to see some action on a number of different levels. For example, he believes it makes perfect sense for the federal government to involve itself in this issue, considering the urgency of containing healthcare costs. "Consider a healthcare institution that receives public funding," he points out. "The government wants it to hold down costs and be as cost accountable as possible. And one of the ways in which we can be cost accountable is if we can repair and maintain our own medical devices as economically as possible."
Jim Carr is director of service and international operations for Advanced Ultrasound Electronics, a Tulsa, Okla-based company that specializes in ultrasound service and repair. He says that one of the real problems with ultrasound is the fact that manufacturers have removed access to diagnostics that helps test the equipment.
He believes that there are people at the FDA who are monitoring the issue. "While they can't necessarily dictate to the manufacturers that they do this, there have been complaints filed by clinical engineering managers and clinical engineers regarding a lack of diagnostics and a lack of access to the diagnostics that they need, because it causes excess downtime at their hospitals," Carr says. "I hope that's getting the attention of the manufacturers and that they look at putting some of these tools back in."
There there are OEMs that "are excellent partners for biomeds, have great service manuals they share freely, sell parts, and collaborate fully to help reduce repair and maintenance costs," Mackeil says. "Such companies should serve as models for the industry.
Start with Manuals
Finally, Mackeil says, biomeds really do have the ability to effect change if they are determined to do so—particularly when it comes to the issue of service manuals.
"If you spend any time reading blogs or online journals, you'll see countless requests for service manuals," he says. But, a biomed could get his hands on these manuals if he put his foot down at the beginning of the life cycle of that device—when it comes into the hospital for a demo inspection sticker."
Baretich seconds this strategy. "It doesn't work perfectly because some manufacturers won't budge and facilities may have to give in," he says. "But it works reasonably well."
When a salesman comes in asking for the sticker, Mackeil says, what he's really doing is looking for an opportunity to get that device into the hands of the clinicians so he can make a sale.
It's at that point in the process, he asserts, that a biomed should make it clear that before that device gets into the hospital, it will have to undergo a complete and comprehensive performance and electrical safety test. "And before I do anything with that device, I'm going to have to [receive] a full factory service manual so I can read it and see what the device [entails]," Mackeil continues. "And then I'll use my testing and measuring equipment to verify that this device—which has been probably been bouncing around in the trunk of a car—is functioning correctly and that what it's doing is per the specifications listed in the factory service manual."
The chances are, Mackeil says, that the salesman is going to look at him like he "has two heads" and argue that the manual is confidential and proprietary. "But my answer to that will be, 'If I can't see the manual, you don't get the sale.'?"
The vast majority of the time, he'll get the manual, he says. "One of the reasons we have a problem with service information for medical equipment is that far too many biomeds basically give vendors a pass. We could solve this whole problem of service manuals if any time a biomed was presented with a device to check into the hospital, he said, 'I'm sorry, I can't check the device in until I see the full factory service manual.' "
Baretich adds that in his experience, the problem is usally that healthcare facilities don't try to require manuals. In such cases, he says "best practice for us in the HTM profession is to work with administration, purchasing, safety committees, or whoever, to make manuals a standard condition of purchase (and to refuse to pay the purchase invoice until the manuals are received)."
For Mackeil, success at obtaining manuals is practically a job requirement. "For every biomed that doesn't have a service manual that they need," he says, "another biomed has failed in his job at a critical juncture in the life cycle of that device."
Michael Bassett is a contributing writer for 24×7. For more information, contact editorial director John Bethune at jbethune@allied360.com.
PreviousBiomeds Going Global
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J Scot Mackeil CBET	on June 16, 2014 at 6:08 pm
Fellow Biomeds, Biomed and CE is a support service that needs to provide value and service to patients, caregivers and the healthcare system. One of the key things we do is fix things for less money. If we can't demonstrate to the C-suite this CORE function, what other cards do we have left in our hand?
Every dollar we don't send out the door for repair and maintenance is one more dollar we can use to serve our patient population. Every dollar we save in back-end costs results in ($3-4) less cost to payers and in turn, lower insurance costs for working families. IMHO, the parasitic costs of technology ownership are huge profit centers for OEMs that they have unilaterally declared "immune" from the belt tightening the rest of the healthcare industry has been subjected to. They do this by hijacking our "right to repair" our equipment and making hospitals pay for repairs and parts at whatever costs they want to charge. Healthcare providers are accountable for costs to CMMS, insurance payers, working families and patients who have to pay the bills. IMHO, Right to Repair is something every responsible hardworking Biomed should drive forward. Yes we can make a difference and that difference starts at your work bench.
Richard Gustman	on June 23, 2014 at 1:08 pm
Great article! It pretty much captures all the issues many of us in the repair side of this industry experience. I have heard every excuse the OEM's have for not allowing others to work on the equipment and as the article points out a quick repair costs us thousands. I have seen nothing more than plastic posts on a device broken and the OEM would not replace unless we purchased the whole device for $12K. Fortunately we were able to have the part fabricated off our drawings and saved over $11.8K in the process.
There are many similar stories out there and it amazes me that even with the OEM's reluctance to assist the biomed community, the job of repairing/maintaining the equipment is still being professionally accomplished.
Good luck to AAMI, there needs to be some enforceable legal measures in place that allow the owners/3rd party ISO to help reduce the cost of healthcare and OEM documentation is right at the top of that list.
James A. Davis	on June 24, 2014 at 8:54 am
Great article; only thing I can add that access to service manuals will save cost given that many manufacturers are charging for phone or online support and the difficulty repairing equipment manufactured out of the U.S. And we have to get clinical and purchasing staff on board with not clearing a new device for use when a service manual is not made available given the pressure a favorite sale person can exert via none bmet personnel.
Joe Lovett	on July 3, 2014 at 12:41 pm
Given the CMS requirements for following manufacturer PM procedures on medical imaging equipment I see a conflict with the ability to accomplish this. With some of the equipment I service it is impossible or near impossible to access certain areas of the service software to perform required tests. In this case, I am not able to follow the manufacturers procedure and am thus in violation of the CMS rule.
Justin Schwing	on July 23, 2017 at 1:32 am
I repair lab equipment and ultralow freezers for a living. What i can tell you is these companys are not facing any profit challanges… and you should thank them for protecting your expensive but important equipment from these engineers at these facilitys. I have fixed countless ultralowes condemed by a engineer who doesnt have any idea what hes even looking at with a $100 relay. Ive seen a dozen or so autoclaves worth $10,000+ chopped to bits with a sawzall because a engineer got there hands on a manual online and still failed to fix it… one most recent was a 15,000 autoclave that was about to be dismantled and disposed. All because there team of engineers couldnt figure out that the air supplying the pnumatics was off… if you want your right to repair thats great… more money for me when i have to fix a house engineers trainwreck… if you want to fix equipment and your able to.. get a job with a company that does that.. if you want to sit on your ass and fix a door handle once in a while. Be a house engineer. That simple.
Snoglydox	on May 17, 2018 at 9:31 am
It appears that these companies have more confidence in third party repairs, than what your post is implying.


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The Life of Houses
Giramondo
The Life of Houses explores, with a poet's eye for detail, the hidden tensions in one of Australia's establishment families. These tensions come to the surface during a week in summer when Anna sends her daughter Kit to stay with her parents, and the unmarried sister who cares for them, in their old and decaying house by the sea. Kit barely knows her grandparents; her mother is estranged from the family and hasn't taken her to visit them. Recently separated from her husband, Anna sends Kit to them now so she can pursue a new love affair.
Lisa Gorton
Lisa Gorton wrote a PhD on the poetry of John Donne from the University of Oxford. She is a poet and novelist, essayist and reviewer. Her first poetry collection Press Release won the Victorian Premier's Award for Poetry; her second, Hotel Hyperion was awarded the Philip Hodgins Memorial Medal. She is the author of Cloudland, a novel for children.
Judges' comments
Lisa Gorton, in The Life of Houses, has written a highly original novel in which she has made the background of her narrative the foreground. She has taken a common place and made it mysterious and profound. Over a century ago the French novelist Gustave Flaubert said that he would like to write a book with no content, a book that was nothing but style. Lisa Gorton has gone some considerable way toward realising this essentially modernist ambition. She avoids all sensation, and the high points of her narrative all occur off stage, or are spoken of in the most low-key manner. These moments include a mother's consideration of beginning an affair, a young girl's failure to make a connection with a gay painter who is interested in her as a person, a ghost that never appears and the death of the girl's grandfather. All these incidents, and others, typify what might be called the author's contribution to the "a car went by" school of writing (walking to the beach one day it is noted that "a car went by" without any import or symbolism to this phrase).
While this is not a novel for every reader, those who enjoy observation will find it a book of exquisite precision. It is a work of realism taken to the point where that immemorial style is renewed for the modern reader. Some may remember the French novelist who caused a stir in the 1950s, Alain Robbe-Grillet, who concentrated on the physical objects informing his work. Like him, Lisa Gorton has written a book whose virtues are all in its details, but she has an unpretentious, clean and warm style which makes her remote from her similar predecessor.
Back to winners and shortlist
PM's Literary Awards home
More books from the 2016 Fiction shortlist
The Natural Way of Things
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Q: AppCode to Web Service C# I have an appcode with many classes that contain the business logic and Data access layer. I am trying to port over classes to a web service but I have to create an asmx for each class. Are there ways around this ? Please help

A: You could use a single ASPX page and pass along a Request["mode"] variable from the client that will switch which business object you serialize back(hopefully in JSON).  This will break your WSDL though.

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Expo City Phase 5, now known as the CG Tower, will be a part of Expo City by the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre. Quickly being nicknamed "downtown north", Vaughan is becoming a major part of the GTA. The subway will run on the extended York-Spadina line. Jane St is just eastward, Highway 400 is westward and Highway 7 is southward. You can easily get from Vaughan to downtown in under an hour!
Located along Highway 7 in Vaughan, the CG Tower will be situated at the north position of the development site, with a view of Black Creek. It will stand 61 storeys tall with a striking design by Quadrangle Architects. Units will come in a variety of sizes and layouts, anywhere from 700 sq. ft. to over 2000!
Condos in the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre will give residents an opportunity to be a part of a special development that will shape Vaughan. Vaughan has undergone a major transformation in recent years, with loads of new condos along Highway 7, this will be a highly populated and quickly coveted area to live in. Several new condos are also planned in the area, so expect to live of energy at CG Tower. You will have easy access to Highway 7, Highway 400 and the 407. Getting downtown will never be easier, with access to Vaughan's newest subway station.


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The Daily Princetonian elects its next editor-in-chief
By Ivy Truong | Dec 10, 2017
After almost four hours of discussion, The Daily Princetonian elected head news editor Marcia Brown '19 as editor-in-chief for the 142nd Managing Board.
Candidates also included chief copy editor Isabel Hsu '19 and managing editor Sam Garfinkle '19.
"I feel really honored and gratified that there was a lot of kind support, warm support for me," Brown said. "Working with so many people on the 'Prince' has really been a very unique and special part of my Princeton experience."
A candidate must receive a two-thirds majority of votes to win the election in the first round.
The election officially began at 11 a.m. with discussions on the role of the editor-in-chief of the 'Prince' and the ideal qualities of an editor-in-chief. A question-and-answer period with each candidate immediately followed. The first and only round of voting began shortly after 2 p.m.
An amendment passed with a two-thirds majority gave seniors the right to vote. Previously, eligible voters had included those who have three bylines or who have worked on the 'Prince' for at least a semester with the exception of seniors.
A candidates' forum on Dec. 2 allowed candidates to present their speeches and participate in a debate.
Brown ran on a platform that emphasized hard-hitting coverage and becoming a digital-first organization. As part of her vision, she also focused on the concept of editorial leadership, which emphasizes holistic coverage of issues from every section of the paper.
Brown will succeed outgoing editor-in-chief Sarah Sakha '18.


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Tag: USPTO
Expungement and Reexamination: A Mid-Year Check-In
This time last year, we introduced a series of blog posts in which we provided an overview of the new ex parte examination and expungement proceedings introduced by the Trademark Modernization Act ("TMA") and pondered a question sure to be on the minds of many a practitioner – will these proceedings truly be a faster and more efficient vehicle for removing improper trademark registrations from the registrar? While the answer to this question is yet to be seen, the first six months of proceedings have provided some insights to consider when assessing whether an expungement or reexamination proceeding is the right option for you.
Continue reading "Expungement and Reexamination: A Mid-Year Check-In"
Written by: Katlyn M. Moseley
Topics: Ex Parte, Expungement, Reexamination, Trademark Modernization Act, USPTO
The Ohio State University's Federal Trademark Registration for "THE" – Can They Do That?
Graduates of The Ohio State University ("Ohio State") are familiar with fans and supporters (and sometimes, Michigan fans) placing an emphasis on the "THE" when saying the school's name. But the United States Patent and Trademark Office's ("USPTO") recent decision1 to grant federal trademark registration No. 6,763,118 to Ohio State for the most popular word in the English language2 has garnered much mainstream media attention and confusion. This blog post provides a brief overview of the background and potential implications of this registration.
How did Ohio State register such a common word?
Ohio State first applied to register the word THE in 2019 in connection with Clothing, namely, t-shirts, baseball caps and hats3. The application was initially refused4 by the USPTO because: (1) a third-party clothing company had already filed an application for the word THE beforehand; and (2) because the mark was "merely ornamental" (in other words, the USPTO believed that THE did not function to indicate the source of Ohio State's clothing goods). Ohio State eventually overcame those issues by submitting evidence and images to demonstrate that THE had source-indicating function, and by entering into a consent agreement with the third-party clothing company5. With these issues both resolved, and no additional refusals or challenges being raised, the USPTO granted a federal registration to Ohio State for THE on June 21, 2022, to many commentators' surprise.
Continue reading "The Ohio State University's Federal Trademark Registration for "THE" – Can They Do That?"
Written by: Joe Carrafiello
Category: Branding, Trademark
Topics: Brand Protection, Branding Trends, Trademark Prosecution, USPTO
Trademark Modernization Act: Final Rules
The USPTO recently issued its final rules to implement the Trademark Modernization Act, whose goal is to clear away unused registered marks and make the trademark registration process more efficient. Below, we highlight public comments regarding the implementation of the Act, as well as the final details regarding the implementation of the Act.
Continue reading "Trademark Modernization Act: Final Rules"
Topics: Ex Parte, Expungement, Madrid, Trademark Modernization Act, USPTO
Trademark Modernization Act of 2020: Part 4
The fourth blog post in our continuing series on The Trademark Modernization Act of 2020 (TMA) comes on the heels of the July 19, 2021, deadline for the public to submit comments on the proposed rules. As discussed by our TCAM blog here, here, and here, the majority of the TMA is to take effect on December 27, 2021, with the flexible response period provisions following in 2022. This blog post highlights some of the proposed rules relating to attorney recognition, revocation, and withdrawal.
Continue reading "Trademark Modernization Act of 2020: Part 4"
Topics: Ex Parte, Trademark Modernization Act, Trademark Portfolio Management, Trademark Prosecution, USPTO
The new ex parte expungement and reexamination proceedings, introduced by the Trademark Modernization Act, are intended to be efficient ways of removing improper trademark registrations from the register.
But will expungement or reexamination always be the best strategy for challenging a trademark registration?
Written by: Kelly Horein and Katlyn M. Moseley
Topics: Ex Parte, Madrid, Paris Convention, Trademark Modernization Act, Trademark Portfolio Management, Trademark Prosecution, USPTO
Before a mark can become registered in the United States, a trademark applicant must usually provide evidence that its mark is in use. Furthermore, to maintain the trademark registration the registrant must periodically show it is still using the mark in commerce. Unfortunately, the federal trademark registers are cluttered with marks that are not actually in use, and which potentially block legitimate trademarks from becoming registered. To address these issues, Congress enacted The Trademark Modernization Act of 2020 (TMA) as part of the coronavirus relief bill. See our discussion here. The TMA is to take effect on December 27, 2021, and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published its proposed rules to implement provisions of the TMA on May 18, 2021. The USPTO is accepting comments about the proposed rules until July 19, 2021.
Some of the proposed new procedures to streamline the removal of unused trademarks from the register are discussed here. The TMA also provides for flexible office action response periods during the prosecution of a trademark application, which the USPTO expects to go into effect on June 27, 2022. Currently, if an office action issues during the examination of a trademark application, an applicant must file a response within six months. The TMA, however, allows the Examiner to set a response period between 60 days and 6 months, with extensions available. For example, an Examiner may set a shortened period to respond to formalities such as amendments to identifications of goods and services or mark descriptions. To respond, however, to a more complex issue such as a likelihood of confusion refusal, an Examiner may set a longer response period to allow an applicant to investigate and gather evidence.
Topics: Trademark Modernization Act, USPTO
The Nuts and Bolts of Expungement and Reexamination
You may remember our blog post here, discussing the Trademark Modernization Act of 2020, which became law at the end of last year. To implement the Trademark Modernization Act, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has proposed changes to the trademark rules of practice, which we begin to explore in the following post. Over the coming weeks and months, stay tuned for further commentary, insights and practice tips on these proposed changes!
According to Commissioner for Trademarks David Gooder, during a recent USPTO virtual roundtable event, "protecting the integrity of the US trademark register is, and will remain for some time, one of our top priorities." Keeping the register clear of improperly obtained trademark registrations helps ensure that legitimate businesses can register their marks with the USPTO, and enforce those rights against infringers.
USPTO Embracing New Possibilities with AI
While the legal industry is typically not known as being cutting edge when it comes to adopting innovative technologies, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is taking big steps forward on seeing whether artificial intelligence (AI) may be used during patent and trademark examination to create greater efficiency and consistency with respect to certain routine, high-volume tasks. AI, a technology that refers to "smart" machines that simulate human intelligence, is being examined in many industries to potentially eliminate redundant and routine tasks, and the USPTO is trying to determine whether AI is right for it. Does this mean that future USPTO examiners will be more like C3PO? No. But AI could handle more-routine tasks, which would allow examiners to focus on more-substantive matters related to the examination of trademark and patent filings.
Continue reading "USPTO Embracing New Possibilities with AI"
Written by: Stephanie A. Gumm
Topics: Artificial Intelligence, Patents, USPTO
Oops! Now What? Corrective Assignments and Fixing Inadvertent Chain of Title Errors
We've all been there. Maybe we find it in reviewing the chain of title for trademarks during due diligence. Maybe it's something that another company filed that has nothing to do with us. Or maybe someone on your team made a typo (yup, no one is perfect!). But, however it happened, it's there, in the USPTO records: an assignment inadvertently recorded against a registration that was not actually part of the assignment; a security interest recorded against the wrong application number; or a name change was erroneously recorded as a merger. Regardless of why or what, the bottom line is the same: there is an error in the chain of title for the application or registration. Oops! Now what? How do we get that error fixed and removed from the USPTO trademark records?
Continue reading "Oops! Now What? Corrective Assignments and Fixing Inadvertent Chain of Title Errors"
Topics: Assignments, Chain of Title, Corrective Assignments, Due Diligence, Security Interests, Trademark Prosecution, USPTO
Celebrating One Year of TCAM Today!
In February 2020, Faegre Baker Daniels and Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP combined to form one of the nation's 50 largest law firms. Soon after the combination, Faegre Drinker shifted to a virtual work environment to protect our clients, colleagues and loved ones during the global COVID-19 pandemic. We nevertheless remained committed to the success of our clients in a challenging year, and focused on serving clients with our new firm's combined capabilities.
This month marks not only the first year of Faegre Drinker, but also the inaugural year of TCAM Today – Faegre Drinker's blog covering all things trademark, copyright, advertising and media. In 2020, Faegre Drinker's team of more than 30 T-CAM professionals shared their insight on topics ranging from social media influencers to trademark trolls.
Continue reading "Celebrating One Year of TCAM Today!"
Written by: Kelly Horein
Category: Advertising & Media, Branding, Copyright, Trademark
Topics: CASE Act, Consumer Products, Counterfeit, COVID-19, Customs, Global Trademark Portfolio, Lanham Act, Licensing, Patents, Retail, Trademark Modernization Act, Trademark Portfolio Management, Trademark Prosecution, Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, USPTO


The sciences have tended to investigate music as though it were an autonomous aesthetic domain, a conceptualisation of music that emerges from the nineteenth century and that, though problematized throughout the intervening century within the humanities and social sciences, is still pervasive within science. Cross adopts an alternative perspective that derives from ethnomusicological and sociological research, suggesting that music is better understood as an interactive, communicative medium, shows how this reconceptualization helps resolve several paradoxes for conventional scientific approaches to music, and presents some evidence that indicates that music and speech share cognitive and neural resources to the extent that they are best thought of as two overlapping and culturally reconfigurable manifestations of an underlying human communicative repertoire.
The ways in which nineteenth-century ideas of music as an aesthetic domain, and notions of music as a commodity that have historical roots in the contestation of those ideas, infuse contemporary political discourse about music and inflect cultural policy in the neoliberal order, introducing a strong element of incoherence into public policy as it concerns music. Cross argues that it is crucial to identify value in music that is grounded in contemporary understandings of music's biological and cultural embeddings; and suggests that doing so can lead to new approaches to conserving and developing music as social practice and as cultural heritage that afford it defensible value beyond the purely economic.


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CHICAGO, Feb. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Children are grossly underdiagnosed for sleep disordered breathing (SDB), which includes obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), and the symptoms may be wrongly attributed to behavior issues, according to research in the Journal of the American Osteopathic Association.
Sleep apnea and related conditions can cause lasting damage to brain development during crucial years. As a result, children with undiagnosed SDB have been reported to use health care 226% more than the general population.
"Children who have behavior problems or are suspected to have ADHD might actually be suffering from a chronic lack of restorative sleep," says John White, DDS, coauthor on this study.
Researchers explain that neurocognitive development, cellular regeneration, and tissue and bone growth all occur during the deep sleep stage. However, when breathing is obstructed in the upper airway, the brain switches back from deep to light sleep in order to resume normal breathing-barring the mind and body from critical restorative processes.
"A lot of airway problems come from poor jaw structure," says White. "And the tongue is crucial in shaping the mouth, jaw and nasal cavity."
For children who are diagnosed with SDB or OSA, the first line of treatment is usually removing the child's tonsils and adenoids, according to White. If SDB persists following surgery, dentists might employ an orthodontic maxillary expander.
"Once we identify sleep apnea, treatment is usually very effective. The challenge is catching it early enough," says White. "The early years are critical for brain development, so it's essential that this condition is on our radar."


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A Boy And His Favorite Stuffed Frog
By Tammi Landry-Gilder
Just days after my second son was born, my best friend of more than thirty years sent him a package in the mail. Inside the box was a sweet, soft, light green stuffed frog with a head and arms, and a body that was a sort of blanket-type material. One side of the blanket body was satin-like, and slick, the other side was soft and a little bit fuzzy.
The frog had big, bright eyes, and a sweet little grin on his face. He was adorable, and my son loved him the minute he held that frog in his arms.
From day one, the little frog would sit outside my son's crib and watch over him while he slept. The cuddly frog sat by and watched us change diapers, watched me breastfeed, listened while my son cried, heard me sing to my baby, and waited patiently as my son grew from a newborn into a toddler.
One day, my son decided to name his favorite stuffed animal, "Froggy," and he would carry Froggy around under one arm while sucking on a pacifier (his other favorite possession). Froggy went everywhere we did. If my son ate breakfast in his high chair, Froggy sat beside him. If my son watched cartoons, Froggy watched, too. If Froggy somehow got misplaced, my son would walk around repeating, "My Froggy, my paci" (his word for "pacifier"), until Froggy was found and placed under the arm, and the "paci" was rinsed and popped back into my child's mouth.
At night, my son would curl up next to Froggy, holding him with one arm around his little froggy neck, and with his other hand, my son would rub the satin side of Froggy's blanket body between his thumb and fingers. He had to perform this routine at bedtime every night or there would be no sleep for anyone in our house. If there was no Froggy to be found at bedtime, every single member of our family would run around the house searching for the animal as if our life depended on finding it. And our lives sort of did depend on finding Froggy.
We were smart parents, though, so we bought two Froggies, just in case Original Froggy was misplaced and we could substitute in Backup Froggy. We were always thankful that although Backup Froggy wasn't quite as loved and cherished, he would do in a pinch.
We've had birthday parties for Froggy. Froggy has been given baths and been combed (even though he has no hair). Froggy has eaten the discarded vegetables off my son's plate during dinner (with help from the dog, of course). Froggy has forgotten to pick up Legos, left a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on top of the washing machine, and once drew a smiley face, with permanent marker, on a brand new couch.
Last summer we did a complete overhaul of all our "stuff," sorting through it and making piles of what we would choose to keep, to give away, and to maybe sell at a garage sale. My son and I were looking through all the toys and stuffed animals in his bedroom, when I came upon Froggy. His formerly green coat was faded to almost white. His soft material was matted and dirty. The satin side of his blanket body was ripped and stained.
"Oh!" I said to my son, as I hugged Froggy close, "Look! It's Froggy! You loved this little guy when you were a baby. You never went anywhere without him."
My son asked me to tell him as many Froggy stories I could remember. He asked me to tell him about the birthday parties we had for Froggy, and how he would cry and cry if he lost Froggy or left him at a friend's house after a playdate.
We talked about Froggy and how much my son loved him. We laughed as I patted sweet, little Froggy on his almost bald head. Even my son held Froggy and rubbed his stained, satin, blanket body just like he used to do when he was a baby and trying to fall asleep.
"Mom," my son held Froggy in his arms, "Are we going to give Froggy away?"
"What do you think?" I asked my son. There was no way on God's green Earth that we were going to get rid of that frog.
"I think it's not a good idea to give him away. I think Froggy needs to stay here. Maybe when I get older and have my own kids, I can give Froggy to them." My son smiled.
I told my son that I thought he was right, that it wouldn't be a good thing to give Froggy away, and that Froggy would stay with us forever.
My son is now in middle school, and Froggy still sits beside his bed at night and watches over him while he sleeps, waiting patiently for my son to grow, become a man, and have his own children. When that happens, I'm pretty sure there will be many more birthday parties in Froggy's future, and I plan to attend every single one of them.
kids growing upkids toysnoadsstuffed animals
Tammi Landry-Gilder
Tammi is an author, wife, mother and blogger who lives in West Bloomfield, Michigan, with her husband, two sons, three dogs, and too many fish in a tank to count.
Penises and PMS: Why I Want My Kids To Talk To Me About Everything
Choosing To Forgive
I'm Not Afraid to Discipline Your Child. Here's Why.
Teacher Responds To Viral "Parents Are The Problem" Letter
How To Get Past The Stay At Home Mom Blues
My Little Boys Will Be Black Men
I Don't Love Every Moment of Motherhood, But I Love Being Their Mom
Kids, Motherhood, School
Dream Big, My Darling Kindergartener—I'm Cheering You on as I Let You Go
Kids, Pinspiration
Pinspiration: Stained Glass For a Day and Homemade Modge Podge
Thanks to You, Friend, For Cheering for My Kid When I Can't Be There


The erection of the 150 EC-B 6 Litronic Flat-Top crane from Liebherr on Germany's highest peak, the Zugspitze, went perfectly. A team of experts from Liebherr together with Swiss airline Heliswiss and the planners from Bayerische Zugspitzbahn Bergbahn AG ensured that the erection work ran completely smoothly.
The 150 EC-B 6 Litronic Flat-Top crane from Liebherr is being used to build the new Eibsee cable car. At an altitude of 2,975m the crane is now the highest building site in Germany. The 150 EC-B is operated with a radius of 50m and a hook height of 18.6m. The crane was specially configured for this job to enable it to withstand the enormously high wind speeds of up to 280km/h and the low temperatures. Liebherr tower cranes are designed as standard to withstand temperatures down to -25°C.
The new Eibsee cable car is designed to transport visitors from the Sonnalpin midway station to the summit of the Zugspitze. The cable car will have the highest steel support in the world, measuring 127m. Another record is that no other cable car in the world manages to overcome a greater distance than the 3,207m from the support to the summit station.
With such a challenging site location, the erection of the crane required perfect teamwork because the whole situation meant that the erection work had to involve a helicopter. As a result of its modular design, dismantling the crane into components weighing no more than 3.4 tonnes was an easy job. This meant that they were tailored to the maximum load capacity of the helicopter.
The cooperation between and professional preparation of the various teams meant that the helicopter erection process of the Flat-Top crane went extremely smoothly. The crane was prepared for the special erection process when it arrived at the site. It was transported to the Sonnalpin midway station in components on the rack railway. From there the Heliswiss pilots flew the components up to the summit station where the crane was then erected from the air with the help of Liebherr erection specialists.
Geo-Alpinbau GmbH based in Mils in Tirol deliberately chooses to use Liebherr's many years of experience for complicated jobs of this nature. The planning work for the crane erection was carried out in close collaboration with Martin Hurm, Project Manager for the construction of the new Eibsee cable car, Bayerische Zugspitzbahn Bergbahn AG and Michael Weißschädel, Project Manager at the Tower Crane Solutions Department in Biberach.


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1981 Porsche 924 GTP: The 944 prototype debuted at Le Mans in 1981
PATRICK C. PATERNIE
Two decades ago Porsche practiced a strategy of racing only production-based models, a move that spawned the development of one of the rarest race cars in Porsche history, the 1981 924 GTP Le Mans.
Porsche's top executive during the 1970s, Ernst Fuhrmann, summed up his marketing philosophy when he stated that "Racing is good advertising for every car."
In 1980, that meant even the 924. By then, Fuhrmann felt the 911 had run its course and that Porsche's future, in the showroom and at the track, was in frontengine, water-cooled models.
Eschewing the 936 that had won in 1976 and 1977, Fuhrmann's plan for the 1980 Le Mans race focused on three race-prepped 924 Turbos, dubbed 924 Carrera GT-Le Mans (Porsche produced a customer version called 924 GTR). They were powered by the 924's 2.0-liter Audi four-cylinder, with a repositioned turbocharger, hyped to give 320 hp. Other modifications included a chassis-stiffening roll cage, titanium springs in place of torsion bars and 917-style brakes. Capable of only 178 mph, the 924s were to make up in fuel economy what they lacked in top speed. At one point in the 1980 race, the cars were running sixth, seventh and eighth overall until burned exhaust valves hampered two of the cars and the third, driven by Jurgen Barth, was slowed down as a precaution. Barth still finished sixth.
Fuhrmann was replaced at the end of 1980 by an American, Peter Schutz. Unlike Fuhrmann, Schutz agreed with Ferry Porsche that if Porsche raced at Le Mans, it should race for the overall win, which is what Schutz accomplished in the 1981 race with a revised 936.
But finishing seventh to the 936 was the 924 GTP piloted by Barth and Walter Rohrl. Fuhrmann deserved the credit for this. In reality, the 924 GTP was a prototype 944, the production version of which Porsche debuted a few days later. The chassis of the 924 GTP was basically the same as the 1980 924 Le Mans racers with larger brake discs all around and huge 14x16-inch rear wheels. Under the hood, instead of the Audi four-banger, however, was a unique version of the 944 2.5-liter four-cylinder mounted at a 45-degree angle to the right.
Besides its tilted positioning in the chassis, the engine featured dual overhead cams and four valves per cylinder. Unusual for a racing engine, the big four made use of counter-rotating balance shafts to smooth out inherent vibrations that were well worth the 5 horsepower they consumed to avoid the engine shaking itself to death before 24 hours passed.
A single KKK turbocharger and air-to-air intercooler used 15.5 pounds of boost to pump out 420 horsepower at 6800 rpm. A significant first was the prototype Bosch Motronic engine management system to control fuel injection, ignition timing and boost pressure.
Fuel economy was again the secret weapon. Thanks to the engine management system, the 924 GTP stopped only 21 times in 24 hours for fuel and only spent an amazing 56 minutes on pit lane.
The 924 GTP (chassis 924 006) raced once more in 1981 before retiring to the Porsche museum. Porsche sold the running gear of its test mule sibling (924 005) to Australian Porsche distributor Allan Ham-ilton, who installed it in his 924 GTR, the Spirit of Australia. The rest of 924 005 ended up in the United States as a parts car.
In 1998, Jim Edwards of Paradise Val-ley, Arizona, was able-thanks to the detective skills of Porsche expert Kerry Morse-to restore 924 005 to its original form.
"All the pieces we took off the Spirit of Australia fell right into place on the 005 chassis," says Edwards of the restoration process. "There was no question that it was the original."
Barth was eager to drive the car at the 1998 Monterey Historics, but computer problems kept it from starting. Unfortu-nately, the 924 GTP is so rare that the only existing replacement part is on its sister car.


Menschen, die im Land der Nudisten leben, Urlauber ohne Kleidung.
People living in the country of the nudists, having a rest without clothes.
Liked the news The nudism country - Purenudism photo ? click I like!!


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Home Tax Law Virginia Franklin County
Franklin County Tax Lawyers
Find Franklin County Tax Attorneys by City
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Glade Hill
Penhook
Joel Bron Miller
Roanoke (Independent City) County, VA Tax Law Attorney
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Glen E. Frost
Fairfax (Independent City) County, VA Tax Law Attorney
University of Baltimore, University of Baltimore and University of BaltimoreVilla Julie College and Villa Julie CollegeDistrict of Columbia, Florida, Virginia and MarylandSuper Lawyers and Martindale HubbellAmerican Citizens Abroad, International Bar Association - Business Crime Section...MSBA Taxation Section comments and recommendations relating to the temporary regulations on Passive Foreign Investment Corporations and The New 1099-K: No Longer to be Ignored, Inc, Maryland State Bar Association
Rhonda Ann Miller
Fairfax County, VA Tax Law Attorney
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Frederick County, VA Tax Law Attorney
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Russell J. Haynes
George Mason University School of LawUniversity of Texas - Austin, University of Cincinnati and University of Illinois - Urbana-ChampaignU.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, U.S. Tax Court and VirginiaAmerican Bar Association and Virginia State Bar
Andrew Ray McRoberts
Richmond (Independent City) County, VA Tax Law Attorney
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Ryan A Brown
Arlington County, VA Tax Law Attorney
George Mason UniversityJohns Hopkins University, Johns Hopkins University and Johns Hopkins UniversityVirginia and District of ColumbiaMt. Olivet United Methodist Church, Salvation Army, Arlington, Virginia...
Mr Thomas Mansfield Dunlap
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4th Circuit, Federal Circuit and North CarolinaIRS: Cage the Kraken and Land Rich, Money Poor: OIC Quick Sale Values in a COVID-19 World
Eugene Sim
Georgetown University Law CenterColumbia UniversityVirginia and District of ColumbiaLaw & Politics Magazine, Law & Politics Magazine, Taxes, Estate and Trusts and Law & Politics MagazineDistrict of Columbia Bar, Virginia State Bar...
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Alexandria (Independent City) County, VA Tax Law Attorney
Georgetown University Law CenterFrancis Marion UniversityDistrict of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia
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Virginia Beach (Independent City) County, VA Tax Law Attorney
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The George Washington University Law School and University of Miami School of LawGeorgetown UniversityVirginia and FloridaWills & Revocable Trusts: Functional Equivalents, Construed Differently and Maximizing the Basis of Difficult-to-Value Assets in Non-Taxable Estates without Getting into Trouble
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The George Washington University Law School and William & Mary Marshall-Wythe School of LawCollege of William and MaryVirginia, District of Columbia and MarylandVirginia State Bar
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University of Alabama School of Law and Western New England University School of LawWestern New England CollegeMassachusetts and Virginia
The LII Lawyer Directory contains lawyers who have claimed their profiles and are actively seeking clients. Find more Franklin County Tax Lawyers in the Justia Legal Services and Lawyers Directory which includes profiles of more than one million lawyers licensed to practice in the United States, in addition to profiles of legal aid, pro bono and legal service organizations.


DuPont today announced the creation of an advisory committee on agricultural innovation and productivity, chaired by Tom Daschle, former U.S. senator from South Dakota. Building upon existing research, The advisory committee will examine public policy mechanisms to ensure that the world's farmers have the tools to meet growing global food and fuel needs.
Daschle, who served as senate majority leader, said the committee will focus on scientific and technological advances, a competitive marketplace and collaboration among agricultural stakeholders to meet the needs of a world population that is expected to grow to 9 billion in 2050.


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Ex-Cheswold mayor: Water system upgrade needed to fight fires in 'Old Town'
Jul 14th, 2017 · by Craig Anderson · Comments:
Donald Tinari
CHESWOLD — The third severe fire in the "Old Town" area in 15 months on June 26 rattled former Mayor Donald Tinari.
While in office the now-retired 90-year-old lobbied unsuccessfully to establish municipal water lines in an area besieged by residential blazes.
"I've been yakking about it off and on forever," he said recently. "It's obvious that when you have a dangerous area that size and no water to suppress a fire, that's a problem."
So when Mr. Tinari read about a woman's death during last month's fire at 179 Commerce St., recollections of failed attempts to establish infrastructure resurfaced.
The three fires occurred within roughly 400 feet of each other in the southwest part of town.
For years, according to Mr. Tinari, every potential avenue for potentially funding the quest met a dead end.
The Commerce Street area in Cheswold has seen three significant fires – one fatal – in the past 15 months. (Delaware State News/Craig Anderson)
"We kept looking for somebody who could do something about it," he said. "I just got discouraged about all the petty stuff that seemed to surface."
Businesses and homes in the area draw their water suppy from private groundwater wells, which don't facilitate fighting fires.
According to Cheswold Volunteer Fire Company, however, the $100,000 spent two years ago to run a line to the station from Tidewater Utilities provides an adequate water source to protect the nearby area.
Installation of hydrants throughout the growing town has assured coverage everywhere, Chief Josh Dempsey said recently.
"I'm comfortable that we've progressed to the point of reaching any spot in town in the past couple years," Chief Dempsey said. "The fire companies are normally very good at adapting and coming up with ways to address the problems they face."
With a hose stretched from the station to the recent blaze roughly a quarter mile away, Chief Dempsey said firefighters never lost water pressure when discharging roughly 2,000 to 3,000 gallons of water during a 20 to 25 minute response. No water tankers were required, which was the previous source before the station hydrant was installed.
The Cheswold Volunteer Fire Company invested $100,000 to install a waterline and hydrant to the station. (Delaware State News/Craig Anderson)
"We were literally heading out of the station before the alarm blew after someone pulled in to alert us," Chief Dempsey said.
The chief danger to the homes in the area is their close proximity. That can potentially accelerate a fire's spread, especially if the wind blows a certain way, officials said. Shutting down the railway next to the row of Commerce Street homes and nearby New Street is also a must.
$1 million or more
Mr. Tinari said in a 2013 letter to then-Cheswold Fire Chief Jeffrey Brown that the estimated cost for a water system would be $1,000,000 and "probably more than that."
Acknowledging Mr. Tinari's prior attempts for a water system, Chief Dempsey said "[i]t's been proposed before but people don't want to pay for it."
Also in 2013, Mr. Tinari appealed to Cheswold's state legislators extolling the possibilities of improved infrastructure benefiting community growth.
"This potential can only be exploited by bring needed infrastructure to the Town and improving the general welfare of the residents," Mr. Tinari wrote in a letter to the legislators. "A reliable and safe water system, Public Water, is a major component of successful community growth and is cited as such in the Town's Comprehensive Plan whicch was approved by the State."
At that point, Mr. Tinari was researching the possibility of obtaining grant money for a project. He said more than 50 percent of residences in Cheswold were rental units and "the living standard of many of the residents is the lowest in the state." He described the project as "stalled."
"Everyone was nice and seemed interested, but it never went anywhere," he recalled. "My point was then and still is, do you really want to wait until someone dies?
"That still really bothers me."
In August and September 2012, three meetiings were held to discuss bringing public water to Old Town.
A 33-year-old woman suffered critical smoke inhalation during a June 2016 blaze in the 200 block of Commerce Street. On April 1, 2015, an abandoned building was totally destroyed by a fire on New Street.
In a February 2015 report prepared by Remington, Vernick and Beach Engineers for the town, construction of 8-, 10- and 12-inch water mains were proposed for the Old Town area, along with four fire hydrants. It noted the Fox Pointe development and new subdivisions were served by Tidewater and a private water system.
"In the past, fire companies have had to bring water into the area in the event of a fire, which has not always been successful," the report said.
Other streets considered part of the area were Main, McKee, Kent, West and Fulton, and School Lane.
Reach staff writer Craig Anderson at canderson@newszap.com
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text:
package com.mozz.htmlnative;

/**
 * @author Yang Tao, 17/3/1.
 */

public final class HNEnvironment {

    private HNEnvironment() {
    }

    public static final int versionCode = 1;
    public static final String versionName = "v0.1.0";

    public static final String PERFORMANCE_TAG = "HNPerformanceRecord";

    public static final String v = "HtmlNative " + HNEnvironment.versionName + "(" +
            HNEnvironment.versionCode + ")";
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


TUL Corporation, a leading manufacturer of AMD graphics cards, today announced the latest in DirectX 11 mainstream graphics: the PowerColor HD5670. The PowerColor HD5670 features low power consumption, supports the latest DirectX 11 technology and enables immersive HD gaming without an external power connection.
PowerColor's HD5670 clocks at 775MHz core speed and 1000 MHz of memory speed. The card is equipped with GDDR5 memory; delivering more speed and higher bandwidth up to 4.0 Gbps. Award winning cooling provider, Arctic Cooling, aims to provide superior cooling performance to all gamers. The 92mm cooling fan increases air flow at a lower fan speed to reduce the noise efficiently and is optimized for air flow to dissipate the heat from the PWM and memory. All this adds up to the ultimate gaming performance in a low-noise and cool operating environment.
"The PowerColor HD5670 will be the best-in-class performance leader," says Ted Chen, CEO of TUL Corporation. "With a customized board design and partnership with Arctic Cooling, the PowerColor HD5670 will provide the ultimate gaming performance at an affordable price. Next gen HD gaming starts from here."
PowerColor HD5670 supports Microsoft DirectX 11 and CrossFireX technologies, tackling the most demanding game titles. With compatibility of ATI stream technology, it offloads data parallel compute tasks from the CPU to GPU, accelerates the daily application and brings the best of productivity and gaming under the same roof.


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Willamette Furniture office furniture manufacturer business plan management summary. Willamette Furniture is an ongoing manufacturing company specializing in furniture for computer-related office designs.
Willamette Furniture
Office Furniture Manufacturer Business Plan
Management Summary
We are a small company owned and operated by Jim and Susan Graham, husband and wife, as a Subchapter S corporation. Jim is the developer and designer of the products, and Susan manages the company as president.
Management style reflects the participation of the owners. The company respects its community of co-workers and treats all workers well. We attempt to develop and nurture the company as community. We are not very hierarchical.
6.1 Organizational Structure
Susan Graham, President, is responsible for overall business management. Our managers of finance, marketing, and sales report directly to Susan.
Jim Graham, designer, is responsible for product design and development, assembly, and manufacturing. Our workshop manager reports directly to Jim.
As co-owners, Jim and Susan jointly develop business strategy and long-term plans. Jim is strong on product know-how and technology, and Susan is strong on management and business know-how.
6.2 Management Team
Susan Graham, 43, president, had a successful career in retail before becoming half owner of Willamette Furniture Mfr. She was an area manager of Ross Stores, a buyer for Macy's, and merchandising assistant for Sears and Roebuck. She has a degree in Literature from the University of Notre Dame.
Jim Graham, 44, workshop manager, designed furniture for Haines Manufacturing before becoming half owner of Willamette Furniture Mfr. He was responsible for one of the first executive desks designed to include customized fittings for personal computers, and was one of the first to design the monitor inside the desk under glass. He has an B.S. and M.S. in industrial design, from Stanford University and the University of Oregon, respectively.
Terry Hatcher, 34, is marketing manager. Terry joined Willamette Furniture Mfr. from the marketing department of the Thomasville Furniture chain, having been in charge of national catalog production and catalog advertising. Terry also managed direct sales at one of the furniture distributors that has since died to industry consolidation. Terry has a B.A. degree in literature from the University of Washington.
6.3 Management Team Gaps
We depend on our professionals, our CPA and our attorney, for some key management help. We don't have a strong background in finance or business management.
As we grow we will need to develop more manufacturing technique, more mass production. Leslie grew up with the hand-made and custom furniture business, knows fine woodworking well, but admits a weakness in establishing standardized assembly.
6.4 Personnel Plan
The personnel table assumes slow growth in employees, and 10% per annum pay raises. We already have a strong benefits policy (with fully-paid medical, dental, and life insurance, plus a profit sharing and 401K plan) and very low turnover.
Salaries are generally in line with market pay for the Eugene area, although our benefits are above standard market level, so we ultimately pay a bit more for our people than what might be considered standard in our market. Eugene, however, is on average a lower wage location than most of the more developed industry areas.
As we grow, we expect to see steady increases in our personnel to match the increases in sales.
Personnel Plan
Production Personnel
Workshop manager $30,000 $50,000 $75,000
Assembly $21,600 $30,000 $60,000
Name or Title or Group $0 $0 $50,000
Subtotal $51,600 $80,000 $185,000
Sales and Marketing Personnel
Marketing manager $37,000 $65,000 $72,000
Other $0 $0 $0
Subtotal $37,000 $65,000 $72,000
General and Administrative Personnel
President $48,000 $75,000 $100,000
Other Personnel
Design $3,000 $15,000 $25,000
Subtotal $3,000 $15,000 $25,000
Total People 0 0 0
Total Payroll $139,600 $235,000 $382,000
Management Team Gaps


The central London housing market is set to maintain current high activity levels throughout the summer, rather than follow the traditional pattern of a quiet July and August, according to property consultancy Cluttons.
In its London View: Summer 2011 report it says that strong demand has driven average central London house values over £1.6 million for the first time since the third quarter of 2008. Buyer demand remains close to record highs, while stock levels are currently over 50% lower than the same period in 2010.
This strong demand looks set to fuel the market over the summer, traditionally a very quiet period for the housing market, with buyers continuing their search over the holidays in fear of missing out on a suitable property, it adds.
The late Easter holiday this year has also meant that many house hunters who only returned from Easter breaks in May have delayed their summer holiday until the latter part of August, and will continue to house hunt through the summer.
'There is so much pent up demand in the market that competition for good property is as fierce as ever. Buyers are telling us they are wary of postponing their search over the holidays in case they miss out and will instead continue to actively look throughout July and most of August,' said James Hyman, partner for residential sales.
'Domestic buyers also face growing competition from Middle Eastern buyers who have overcome complications in liquidising their assets since the unrest in the Middle East began, and are now actively securing their funds in the Central London property market,' he added.
Meanwhile, the latest research from the Worldwide Property Group confidence tracker survey carried out in May, reveals a 20% drop in respondents expecting interest rates to rise, a figure which has previously trended upwards in the monthly survey since the start of the year.
Even more significant was the result that, of those respondents who believe rates could rise, nearly 70% thought this would only be a moderate rise by a maximum of 0.5%. By comparison, at the start of the year, 40% of respondents believed an increase could be anything from 0.75% to 3% or more.
Other results from the survey revealed that only 16% of respondents believe that house prices will fall over the next 12 months, the lowest figure since the survey began. This could indicate that the public are of the impression that prices have levelled off and thus explains why 70% of respondents believe property is the best investment, with the same number of the opinion that now is a good time to invest in UK property.
Of the 58% of respondents who said they would consider making a foreign property investment, many appear to be focusing their attention on the America's, with the USA holding number one spot, followed by the Caribbean and Brazil.
'By maintaining the base rate at 0.5% in May, the month that many had marked as the changing point, the Bank of England has offered renewed confidence to those expecting a rise and highlighted that the fragile state of the economy makes this an unlikely event for some time to come,' said Kevin Wilkes, the managing director of the Worldwide Property Group.
'Whilst homeowners continue to the reap the benefits, savers are undoubtedly suffering and are being forced to consider alternatives such as property in order to see a long term return on their investment. I am not surprised the US is popular for those looking to make a foreign investment. The decline in US house prices has been as high as 60% in some areas since the market peaked in June 2006. It is hard to see how the market can drop much further,' he added.
Let's hope that stimulates action in Spain soon….
Its not just Central london which we predict serious growth in over the next three months. Property is rising across West and South West London at a strong rate and property is selling qicker than any point over the last two years. The future of London estate agents looks good.
Are foreign investors supporting the French real estate market?


If you're anything like me then by this point in the Half Term holiday you've spent all your available budget and are still in need of a few things to keep the kids quiet with until they go back to school on Monday. Ideally stuff that doesn't cost any money! So I was quite grateful to Nintendo for the press release that dropped into my inbox earlier this week, reminding me that there are more than 100 demos and games to start free of charge (that may have optional in-game purchases) available to owners of the 3DS family of systems via the Nintendo eShop, the online app store built into those systems.
The Nintendo eShop is accessed via the orange shopping bag icon on your 2DS/3DS device's home screen. The device will need to be connected to the Internet, and may need a system update to enable the eShop. You also need to have a Nintendo network ID set up, and will need to accept the network related terms and privacy policies.
The demos can be found in two different ways. First of all, sometimes when browsing or searching the shop you will see items clearly identified as a demo. Or when looking at a full game you might see a "download demo" button on the screen, which indicates a free demo is available.
Once the demo has downloaded you will notice that it shows you there are a limited number of plays available. Many of the demos come with 30 plays, but some games have fewer (Nintendogs + cats comes with just 10, for example). Each time you launch the demo it will confirm via a popup how many plays are left.
The number of uses is only decreased once the software is closed, so you can continue playing the demo as long as you like, even through putting the device into sleep mode without losing any plays. So there is quite a lot of playtime available with these demos if you're prepared to play them exclusively for a while!
Once the number of plays reaches 0, you'll receive a message to confirm, which also gives the option to go to the eStore and find out more about the full version of the game. If you choose to not do that you will then be given the option to delete the demo from your system. So be warned that encouraging your kids to try out new games in this way might lead to an increased number of requests to purchase the full versions for them!
If you'd like some ideas of demos to choose from then Nintendo have two YouTube playlists that you'll find useful, where you can check out a selection of free demos or free-to-start games. More information about these demos and free-to-start games can be found over on the Nintendo website.
Disclosure: I am a Nintendo UK Family Blogger, and as such they send me press releases that they think might be of interest to my audience. I am under no obligation to write about any of them, and I don't receive payment for writing about them. I just write about the stuff that interests me.


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$299,460 in Focus Area Grants Awarded
(June 2016) The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina (CFWNC) recently approved eight focus area grants to support regional projects in Early Childhood Development and Natural and Cultural Resources and to combat poverty through Matched Savings Programs at three nonprofits serving low-income people.
Three matched-savings grants were awarded through the People in Need focus area to Blue Ridge Community Action (Burke County), Mountain Projects (Haywood and Jackson counties) and OnTrack Financial Education & Counseling (Buncombe and surrounding counties), totaling $113,460.
"Our fall People in Need grant cycle awards grants totaling more than $1 million to human service programs of all types across the region," said CFWNC President Elizabeth Brazas. "These matched-savings grants are a proactive investment in asset building specifically intended to help people exit the cycle of poverty. Matched savings accounts are intended to enhance economic stability for low-income households and deliver financial literacy training. Money saved and matched can be spent on a variety of expenses, including housing, home repair, post-secondary education, transportation, debt reduction and more. We are pleased to work with our nonprofit partners to support this effort." The Foundation's dollars will be used to match participants' savings, provide financial literacy and fund operational costs.
The Foundation's focus areas were identified to benefit the region and enable the Foundation to work strategically and deeply in specified areas. Grants are made through significant staff collaboration with regional nonprofits to identify funding opportunities. The following grants were also approved by the Foundation's Board on May 11.
The Blue Ridge Partnership for Children was awarded $96,000 over two years to implement the Yancey Early Childhood Initiative (YECI), a collective impact model for addressing early childhood issues in Yancey County. YECI will engage multiple sectors of the community in a process that views those challenges, often seen as intractable barriers to high-quality early childhood experiences, as opportunities for innovation and change. CFWNC funds will support salary, benefits and related program costs for a program manager. The Crutchfield Charitable Fund partnered with CFWNC to fund this grant.
The YWCA of Asheville and WNC received $35,000 to develop and implement a parent-led childcare partnership for Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College students. Student parents will be offered three shifts per week of free childcare in exchange for working one four-hour shift once a week. Parent volunteers will be screened, receive basic childcare training and be exposed to positive parenting and community resiliency techniques. CFWNC funds will help the YWCA with renovation costs, supplies and initial research, marketing and documentation necessary to create a toolkit for replication in other areas of Western North Carolina. The Brown Family Fund and the Oliver Family Fund co-invested in this grant.
Natural and Cultural Resources - $55,000
Asheville Downtown Association Foundation was awarded $25,000, contingent upon the receipt of other funds and the acceptance of projected costs, for the second phase of its Urban Trail marketing project. The Urban Trail is a walking tour of downtown Asheville highlighting architecture, people and historic events unique to the city. Phase II will develop a mobile-enabled website and a self-guided tour via smartphone. Traditional collateral (maps, brochures, posters) and curricula for elementary school field trips will be developed and distributed throughout the Downtown community and local school systems.
Mainspring Conservation Trust received $30,000 to support continued facilitation for the next phase of Mountain Partners, a collaborative founded during a reconciliation process focused on the Nikwasi Mound in Macon County. Building on success, Mountain Partners expanded its mission to include development, stewardship and building partnerships in the historic corridor from Cherokee to Franklin. The development of the corridor will bring cultural understanding to Town of Franklin and Macon County residents, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and heritage tourists, as well as improve the economy of the region.
The Dogwood Charitable Endowment Fund partnered with CFWNC to fund both Natural and Cultural Resources grants.


Cross-curricular activities all about plants!
Three pocket projects help your students learn all about fruits, vegetables, flowers, and the parts of a plant. Enhance your science curriculum with hands-on projects and writing activities.
Where Do They Grow—Above or Below?