Honest Discoveries: Notable News in Brief

Fun Fact: The Chupa Chups logo was designed in 1969 by the surrealist artist Salvador Dalí. 

Founder Enric Bernat vented his frustrations concerning branding for the lollipop to a friend over coffee. That friend also happened to be Dalí, and an hour later, the logo was designed. 

Phaidon highlighted, "Acutely aware of presentation, Dalí insisted that his design be placed on top of the lolly, rather than the side, so that it could always be viewed intact. It's proved to be one of the most enduring pieces of branding ever and one that's still used today, four billion sales later. It's quite literally your chance to own a Dalí for chump change."

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) updated their Olympic Charter Rule 40, broadening how Olympic Athletes are allowed to profit from non-Olympic partner companies, brands, or other organizations during the Olympic Games’ “Blackout” period. 

Enacted in the early 1990s, Rule 40 stated Olympic athletes were subject to disciplinary action, including the potential of being stripped of their medals, if any non-Olympic sponsor mentioned the athlete’s name or showed their image during what is known as a “blackout period” – about ten days before the Opening Ceremony to two days after the Closing Ceremony. The Rule was intended to protect official Olympic sponsors and athletes from “ambush marketing.” 

Athletes have considered the Rule restricting and hindered their potential to profit off their image and success during the games. 

With the updated Rule, the IOC states, “All Participants are permitted to promote their sponsors, and all sponsors are permitted to use Participant Images during the Games Period….” 

The amended Rule 40 now includes five principles that expand on the restrictions regarding advertising by Olympic and Non-Olympic partners, generic advertising, congratulatory advertising, and online messages by participants.  

Walmart has filed an opposition with the USPTO over Kanye West’s proposed trademark, filed in January 2020, for his Yeezy brand. Walmart claims the symbol looks too similar to its "Spark Design," the sun-like symbol representing the world’s largest retailer.

West's mark consists of eight lines made up of three dots each that emerge from a circle to form “rays.” 

NTF Sneakers? Seemingly, already in the works.

In 2019, Nike was granted a patent (US 10,505,726 B1) for blockchain-compatible sneakers named “CrpytoKicks.” The patent is for a “system and method for providing cryptographically secured digital assets,” connect physical and digital shoes.

When a consumer buys a genuine pair of shoes, a digital representation of a shoe may be generated, linked with the consumer, and assigned a cryptographic token, where the digital shoe and cryptographic token collectively represent a ‘CryptoKick.'

Cryptokicks will also be able to “breed,” creating offspring that can be made into actual shoes.

Harry Houdini prevented people from copying his “Chinese water torture cell” trick by performing the illusion as a one-act play in front of a single person, allowing him to file for a copyright on the play. Patenting the trick would have required him to explain how it worked, divulging his secrets. This was not the only illusion he registered as a copyright, ultimately registering three illusions as “playlets.”

Houdini and the Water Torture Cell. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress

Hasbro, Inc registered the familiar smell of Play-Doh in 2018: "... a scent of a sweet, slightly musky, vanilla fragrance, with slight overtones of cherry, combined with the smell of a salted, wheat-based dough." 

This form of non-visual and nontraditional style of branding is not a new form of intellectual property. A scent can register as a trademark as long as it can prove it as nonfunctional and distinctive.

Microsoft developers were just granted a patent that describes a method of creating a chatbot modeled after a specific person: … “a past or present entity such as a friend, a relative, an acquaintance, a celebrity, a fictional character, a historical figure." The patent application was originally filed in 2017 but Microsoft's general manager of AI programs, Tim O’Brien, stated that there is “no actual plans for this,” and that the application was filed before the AI ethics reviews in place today.

The best thing boxing announcer Michael Buffer did was coin the catchphrase “Let’s Get Ready to Rumble!”

The smartest thing he ever did was trademarking it.

Buffer makes more money from the trademark than he ever did with actually announcing events and has sold the rights to use the phrase in everything from video games to merchandise.

Google is threatening to block Australian users from accessing its search engine if it does not block proposed legislation that will force them to pay local media for their new content or face millions of dollars in fines. Facebook is also threatening to remove news stories from its site in Australia and is in opposition of the law as well.

Stefan Thomas, a German programmer living in California, lost the paper where he wrote down the password that will allow him to unlock his IronKey, an encrypted hard drive that holds the keys to his digital wallet. Inside that digital wallet is 7,002 Bitcoin worth about $220 million. IronKey gives users 10 guesses before it seizes up and encrypts its content forever. So far, Mr. Thomas has tried eight times without success

In December, a copyright infringement case was settled between Tracy Chapman and Nicki Minaj when Minaj agreed to pay $450,000 to Chapman. Why this is such a prevalent issue is because the song was never officially released publicly, rather obtained by celebrity DJ Funkmaster Flex in New York and played over the airways. (Presumably, if the song would have never been heard over the airways, it would never have yield a lawsuit). Minaj used the “fair use” doctrine as a defense to the use of the song and a LA judge sided with her stating that, “uprooting the common practice of letting artists experiment privately would limit creativity and stifle innovation within the music industry.”

Have you seen the videos of celebrities or politicians saying obscure things and it looks and sounds like them? Deepfakes are fake images, videos, audio and other media altered by artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to make it appear as though someone has said or done something they have not using a library of what they’ve said in speeches and interviews and a library of their facial expressions on somebody else's face using green screens and digital effects. 

A patent filed in 2018, long before social distancing restriction recommendations, by Apple was granted June 2020 and could not be more relevant now. Names "Generation of Synthetic Group Selfies: the patent describes technology that will create a computer generated group picture by individuals whom are physically separated. 

A 2020 United Nations report estimated that more than a million species are in danger of extinction over the next few decades and most biologists agree that the world has entered its sixth mass extinction event. Insects are amongst the most vulnerable - disappearing, at a rate of 1% to 2% each year in some parts of the world. Climate change, insecticides and herbicides, human population growth, light pollution, invasive species, and deforestation are only six of the contributors to the decline.

The shift to working from home has come with some inventive new opportunities for some to create new businesses.  One of those is that of a Productivity Nanny. Yep, someone who checks in on you and keeps you on task. Staying focused while working from home had been challenging for most. With pets, sometimes kids, and always snacks it is easy to be distracted. With one of the several new startups to help keep one accountable like Caveday and Focusmate, they help you plan your day, ensure you are taking breaks, and check on your progress just to name a few.

GOOGLE has released its list of trending searches of 2020. Reflecting on what was the longest year ever, here are some of the more notable searches:

Coronavirus, Zoom, Election Results, Black Lives Matter, Kobe Bryant, WAP (lyrics), Contagion (movie), Joe Biden, Tiger King, and Sourdough Bread.

With one of the lowest rates per capita of COVID-19 infections in the country, Hawaii has launched “Movers & Shakas,” a campaign dedicated to attracting those who choose to work remotely. Enticing remote workers, amongst other things like the pristine and winter-less environment, are a free round trip ticket to Honolulu. 

After having an explosion of positive growth in value, a newly leaked Citibank Report indicated that Bitcoin can rise to $300,00 by the end of next year!

Paris 2024 Olympic Games will now include Breakdancing! Skateboarding, Sport Climbing, and Surfing were anticipated to make their Olympic debut at the Tokyo 2020 but have been postponed until July 2021's game.

Merriam-Webster announces "Pandemic" as Word of the Year. Runners-up included: "quarantine," "asymptomatic," " mamba," "kraken," "defund," "antebellum," "irregardless," "icon," "schadenfreude," and "malarkey."

California’s Employment Development Department paid unemployment benefits to at least 20,000 incarcerated people totaling over $140 million. In their effort to get through the growing backlog of nearly 10,000 cases a day, the department did not cross check unemployment claims with the list of prisoners. 

New rule would allow U.S. death row inmates to be executed by different methods other than lethal injection, including firing squad. So far, 2020 could be the deadliest since 1927 for those on death row.

Demand of disinfectants and sanitizers due to COVID-19 projected to grow 12% from 2020 to 2026 making it a $19 billion industry.