Quaequam Blog!

Tag: intellectual-property

  • Scrabulous and IP Wars

    When I twittered Rory Cellan-Jones to ask why he didn’t mention Wordscraper in his blog post about Scrabulous, he replied “cos i couldn’t be bothered!” Years from now, when British journalism has finally breathed its last, this phrase will be engraved on its tombstone. The thing is, the Wordscraper thing is about the most interesting…

  • The Alan Moore on a Train Meme

    I’ve been watching Jonathan Ross’ In Search of Steve Ditko this evening and as I do sometimes it got me thinking. If Alan Moore sat down on a train opposite me, what would I say? Simply not talking to him wouldn’t be an option – this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to receive wisdom directly from…

  • More from the IP Wars front line

    I wrote an article back in December about intellectual property becoming one of the big ideological political footballs in ther 21st century and it got a good reception. Time for an update of some recent trends methinks. First of all, numerous posters have recently gone up around Islington claiming that, as you can read in…

  • Doctorin’ the Asylum

    Interesting article here about the 1994 BBC serial Takin’ Over the Asylum starring David Tennant. Leaving aside the “before they were famous” anecdote and the interesting stuff about how mental health issues are portrayed in the media, what caught my attention was how the BBC is now cashing in on the fact that a bunch…

  • Evening Standard piece on JK Rowling

    This was published in the Evening Standard on Thursday, slightly edited: The Harry Potter series is one of the most derivative works of fiction ever devised, from its boarding school setting (The Four Marys, Billy Bunter), magical theme (too many to mention) and even its plot (drawing from the same well as Star Wars and…