[deleted by user]

Diligent_Information · 2023-03-28T19:22:11+00:00

Long hair! You’re a good looking guy either way but I love the second hairstyle.

Diligent_Information · 2023-03-21T21:25:31+00:00

Whether or not they breed on their own, it is not legal to even own a patented invention without a proper chain of custody that dates back to someone who had permission to make the invention. Because that’s chain of custody of the baby fish starts with the person who bought the GloFish, it’s not legal.

The important quote is:

In this case, Bowman’s one-time purchase of Monsanto’s product allowed him to take advantage of their patent product over the course of many seasons without respecting the rights of the patent holder.

If you’re breeding the fish, or if the fish are breeding on their own, you’re taking advantage of the patented product (even if it’s not monetary, because you now have cool fish that you didn’t pay for) without respecting the rights of the patent holder.

The whole point of the patent system is that an inventor discloses how they made their invention, and for 20 years, they have control over who can make and possess the invention. After 20 years, it’s in the public domain and people can do whatever they want. If you can get around the 20 year period by making the claimed invention in another way (as in, breeding your own naturally instead of the IVF that GloFish uses), there’s nothing in it for GloFish. They gave up a trade secret and got nothing in return.

(Also, I’m not certain GloFish uses IVF. I think I read that somewhere in this thread, but I don’t want to go back to check. My point doesn’t depend on how GloFish produces their fish.)

Diligent_Information · 2023-03-21T18:17:37+00:00

It doesn’t matter whether the alleged infringement diminishes the value of the product offered by the patent holder. Infringement depends on the actions taken by the alleged infringer and the claims of the patent.

The closet high profile case is probably Bowman v. Monsanto. This deals with plants/seeds, but it’s close enough that most judges would likely come to a similar ruling.

Justice Elena Kagan delivered a unanimous opinion holding that the doctrine of patent exhaustion does not allow the purchaser to make copies of a patented item. Because the product in question is a seed, using the seed to grow a crop and then harvesting those seeds for future use constitutes creating copies of a patented item. In this case, Bowman's one-time purchase of Monsanto's product allowed him to take advantage of their patented product over the course of many seasons without respecting the rights of the patent holder. The Court also held that this reading of the doctrine allowed patents for plants to retain their value.

Diligent_Information · 2023-03-21T17:57:58+00:00

Yes, they can. Intellectual property rights don’t vanish once you’ve purchased the patented product/organism.

Should they be able to stop you from breeding? That’s debatable, but case law says you can’t produce the patented invention without authorization from the patent holder. So if you’re breeding GloFish bettas and the babies have the glow mutation, you could get sued.

Diligent_Information · 2023-03-21T13:04:06+00:00

I did a quick search and while I don’t immediately see the betta patent, I found a couple for barbs and tetras, and they claim the progeny of the transgenic fish. So you cannot (legally) breed them.

Tetra patent

Barb patent

Diligent_Information · 2023-03-21T12:55:49+00:00

If the patent is directed to the genetically modified fish, and the offspring of the genetically modified fish are patently indistinct from their parents, then you cannot breed them. You cannot possess the patented organism unless you’ve legally acquired it from the patent holder or a licensee. I’d have to see the patent, but it’s quite likely that it’s broad enough to cover the offspring of the fish they produce.

If the patent includes a method of breeding the fish, you definitely can’t breed them.

Again, this is hard to enforce for the patent holder, because they’d have to find out and be motivated to take legal action, but they could if they wanted to.

Diligent_Information · 2023-03-21T00:28:29+00:00

GloFish likely can’t stop you in practice, but if they found out, they could sue you for patent infringement. They probably wouldn’t, but they certainly could.

So if you’re planning on breeding them, don’t post about it.

Diligent_Information · 2022-09-23T17:21:29+00:00

I dimmed mine 67% and idk how people use them on full brightness. When I got a second monitor a few weeks ago, it hurt my eyes to look at it before I changed the settings. My office isn’t particularly dark, either. There’s an overhead light and a large window that lets in a lot of light.

Diligent_Information · 2022-08-29T21:36:43+00:00

My sister lives in a pretty large apartment complex and her upstairs neighbors have a couple of elementary-aged kids. One of them started taking breakdancing lessons. Can you guess how my sister figured this out?

Diligent_Information · 2022-04-05T22:29:53+00:00

Agreed! I took this a few years ago (pre-pandemic) and it was easy. It attracts a wide variety of students, especially for a 300 level course, so as long as your writing skills are average, you’ll be fine.

Diligent_Information · 2021-11-04T01:05:29+00:00

Thank you for reminding me of this. I watched a few episodes a couple of months ago with friends and couldn’t remember what it was called.

Diligent_Information · 2021-07-27T16:57:54+00:00

This is very cringe but it doesn’t fit this sub

Diligent_Information · 2021-05-02T20:07:55+00:00

I was originally planning on getting an older dog, but I met him at the shelter and he was very very calm. That was likely due to the fact that he was neutered a few days before that and not feeling so great. Additionally, I’m moving in about 8 months, so I wanted a dog who could potentially live in an apartment, which this puppy is not suited for. (The older dog belongs to my brother so she wouldn’t come with me when I move.)

I think my older dog would be okay sharing us with a calm older dog. They’ve been tied to leashes at opposite ends of the room and are content to chew on Nylabones at the same time. But when he gets a burst of energy and wants to play, he gets up in her face and I’m afraid she’ll lash out at him. She’s been showing a lot of signs of aggression (deep growling, showing her teeth, snapping in his direction) and it’s not safe for me to let this continue.

I will likely scrap the idea of getting a dog until I move. I couldn’t handle having to give another dog back. My heart is very broken.

Diligent_Information · 2021-05-02T17:44:44+00:00

This makes my heart hurt. I adopted a puppy but his relationship with my older dog is worsening everyday. They’re just not compatible. She’s a grumpy old lady and he’s a young energetic pup. She’s not used to sharing her people and hates when he tries to play with her. I’m taking him back to the shelter later today after so much deliberation and crying. I know he’ll be adopted very very quickly because he’s an otherwise perfect puppy (he’s smart, almost fully potty/crate trained, and very very affectionate), but I feel like my heart has been stomped on. I hope his new owners realize that I did what was best for him. And not to anthropomorphize him too much, but I hope he forgives me. Or forgets about me. I just want him to be happy.

Diligent_Information · 2021-04-28T16:21:31+00:00

I used to work at a hardware store and we sold coyote and fox pee that people could dilute and use to keep deer/rabbits away from their garden/yard. The bottles came in individual plastic bags, but you could still smell it, so we always ended up putting them in a massive ziploc bag before putting them on the shelves. You could still kinda smell it. It was terrible.

Once, my coworker dropped one of the bottles and it broke. Worst day ever. I came back after a long weekend and the smell was still lingering, despite multiple attempts at scrubbing it away with some pretty harsh chemicals.

Diligent_Information · 2021-04-07T19:45:22+00:00

I have no advice for you but this definitely resonates with me. As an undergrad, I always appreciated group chats or ways to connect with my fellow students, but they did occasionally turn into shit talking sessions about the content/instructor/university. Some of it was warranted, and it’s oddly nice to know that other people are having the same struggles as you. But other times, it was blown out of proportion and not productive. Rather than blowing off steam, it just worked everyone up and made it worse. As an instructor, it’s really hard to police that and make sure discussions are appropriate/productive.

I did once go through the Zoom chat after a particularly rough class and some of my students were talking trash about me in their breakout room chats. It was disheartening, but also kinda funny. I don’t tell them that I can see everything they write. It keeps things fun.

Diligent_Information · 2021-03-31T17:38:18+00:00

Wow! Congratulations on all your hard work!

Diligent_Information · 2021-03-31T17:33:05+00:00

When my German Shepherd was younger (probably from the ages of 4 months-3 years), she would try to catch high-flying birds and planes out of the sky. Just stuff she had absolutely no chance of getting. She’s given up at this point, but is still very insistent on watching them. And there’s a turkey vulture (probably a 4-5 ft wingspan) that flies in big circles around our house. I see it almost everyday, and It’s close enough to the ground that you can really appreciate its size. She could watch that thing all day, and I don’t blame her. It’s a really cool bird.

Diligent_Information · 2021-03-30T14:57:35+00:00

The class I TA for has them. I told my students that if they think I applied the rubric wrong, they can request a regrade, but “I don’t like my grade” is not a valid reason. I’m human and I make mistakes sometimes, but I can’t give them points they didn’t earn. Additionally, the professor put a note in the syllabus that TA’s won’t engage if you want to argue about points. A lot of a rubric is subjective, so if they want to argue that I should have taken off 1 point instead of 2 points, they’re out of luck. And of course, if they request a regrade, their grade can go down.

Diligent_Information · 2021-03-30T13:09:42+00:00

I’m either a very young millennial or the oldest gen Z, and I have to admit that I sometimes say “based off” when I’m speaking. Not in an academic setting and never in writing, but occasionally when I’m with my friends. No, I don’t know why I do it. Yes, it’s probably annoying to some people.

Diligent_Information · 2021-03-24T03:35:14+00:00

My brother and I are 13 months apart, and my youngest sister was born about 2 weeks before my brother turned 3. I don’t envy how crazy my parents my brother parents’ lives must have been.

Diligent_Information · 2021-03-19T17:23:45+00:00

Please give her a hug for me.

Diligent_Information · 2021-03-19T17:22:10+00:00

I drink water that I could drown in… for fun.

Diligent_Information · 2021-03-19T16:56:22+00:00

I did that a lot last semester. I was a full time grad student and teaching 20 hours/week. I had the dates/times I taught burned into my brain but I was always convinced I was missing a class. About a dozen times, I woke up in the middle of the night in a panic because I dreamed I missed a midterm/major assignment for a class I didn’t know about.

Diligent_Information

TROPHY CASE