You bet we do. It all began when I wrote something related to Brazilian patent law and received a comment asking me to take a look at a certain Brazilian resort that offered the heady triple cocktail of sun, sand and s…
So, what kind of comments will not pass muster?
i) Comments that have no bearing on the subject matter of the post: typically, the “spam” stuff, such as the incredibly tempting Brazilian offer above.
ii) Comments that amount to ad hominem attacks: any comment that attacks the “author” of a post or a comment without otherwise engaging in the substantive issues raised by the post. Sample this message that we received (and did not publish):
“Latha Jishnu’s writings are pure trash!!”
Well, I personally love Latha’s writings and think that she does an excellent job of researching intricate IP issues and presenting them in a lucid and potent manner. Even if some may argue that her writings reflect an ideological bias, that is not reason enough to mount ad-hominem attacks.
If you think any of the writings on this blog (either our very own authors’ or the writings of those that we link to) are biased, please test the bias on the anvil of “reason” in your comment. We simply will not tolerate ad-hominem attacks.
iii) Comments that are wrongly attributed to people who might not have had the faintest idea that they are the supposed “authors” of the comment in question. Sample this comment that I just received in relation to this post of ours highlighting this book that has just been published:
“I purchased this book 5 days back. While going through the book I noticed that the book has been reviewed by senior officials at the patent office which gives a clear indication that our patent office is equally concerned in preparing people to become sound IP professionals.
For those who are interested in purchasing the book may send a mail to senior Editor of Lexis Nexis at “[email protected]” mentioning your address and phone no. so that the book could be couriered to your address.
Shilpa Arora,
Professor at JNU”
Since I found it odd that a JNU professor who has nothing to do with this book would advertise this book in so brazen a fashion and even give links to the Lexis Nexis folks (publishers), I did a quick search and found no evidence of a “Shilpa Arora” who teaches at JNU. Does anyone know of any such entity? I figure that this comment was authored by someone who is clearly interested in promoting sales–but not in revealing their true identity. Again, these kind of comments that wrongly usurp others names will not pass muster.
I’m writing all of this since many of you have asked me from time to time as to what our policies in relation to moderation are. I hope the above categories make some sense to you. Of course, they are not exhaustive but merely illustrative of the kind of stuff that we may not let through–so that you (as readers) don’t waste your time wading through this kind of non sense and we don’t waste our time responding to it. Thank you for understanding.
I read with keen interest Spicy IP as the material is excellent for my own research in IPR.
However, when I requested Prof. Bashher to cite some European Cases on “efficacy” (as a comment to his post touching the topic about a year ago) there was no reply.
I respect his full liberty not to give a reply but wish to express my dismay and disappointment for ignoring my “academic” request.
My dear Mr Murti,
So Prof Basheer has to keep spoon feeding you, is it? Why don’t you research this query yourself? And contribute to the blog by making such information available here?
Your complaint reeks of crass selfishness. Folks like Basheer do so much for us by spending their valuable time highlighting key IP issues and raising the ante on IP awareness. You can’t expect them to keep spoon feeding you as well for information that you yourself can research and find out. So quit being lazy and go find this yourself! You must learn to give as well, without always “taking”…
Hi Shamnaad,
Another issue, though not related to this post at all.
The Google public services Ad (below the visitors location tab) appears across the text and refuses to shrink/hide on clicking. In effect it hides close to 4-5 lines of the text.
Please look into this!
Thanks!!!!
P.S.: This is a problem some friends have also come across. You could check this once at your end as well.. Just in case its a browser window prob or smthing!