Page 4 - Mid Valley Times 3-3-22 E-Edition

Serving the Readers of the Reedley Exponent, Dimuba Sentinel and Sanger Herald.
A Mid Valley Publishing Newspaper
Founded March 26, 1891, in a two-story building on the corner of 11th and F streets, by A.S. Jones
In my OPINION A prescient 'one man's opinion'
Fred Hall fought the good fight to continue smalltown journalism
Fred Hall — Publisher
Jon Earnest — Editor
Dick Sheppard — Editor Emeritus
Thursday, March 3, 2022 | A4 | Mid Valley TiMes Editorial & Opinions
Editor's Note: As we remember our late publisher, Fred Hall, we are again running one of his final columns. This timely bit of prescient commentary is from Jan. 6, 2022.
There is an age-old adage that pro- claims, “Red sky in the night, sailor's delight. Red sky in the morning, sailor take warning.”
My plan for a column this week was to review my weird winter trip to visit family in Nebraska, where the tempera- ture at night dipped to below zero during a sudden late Feb- ruary freeze. It still was a great family gathering that returned home from on Sunday. I also planned to share my thoughts on the thrilling Central Section soccer final between longtime east county rivals Reedley High and Sanger High.
That all shockingly changed when I came into the office on Monday morning. I saw that the office across my desk was dark, and quickly learned that our longtime publisher and my boss of 10 years, Fred Hall, had died over the weekend.
Since then, I've been under- standably numbed a bit with shock from Fred's passing as I've put together this week's is- sue. Fred has been dealing with some medical issues during the past couple of years, but it's still a jolt to realize that I'll no lon- ger see him cross paths with my work area and share many conversations — be it smalltalk,
work issues or our shared love of college sports and baseball.
Fred was your classic "old school" journalist. When you're out on the beat covering city is- sues, community events, sports and general activities, you're representing the newspaper (in my case, Reedley Exponent, Sanger Herald and Mid Valley Times) and supposed to report it down the middle. Since I'm out covering the three cities, even my columns continue to have a non-partisan bent.
As publisher and regular colonist, Fred was able to have a partisan lean and he never pulled any punches. You defi- nitely knew where he stood (whether you agreed or not), and he was well-known for his credo "but that's just one man's opinion."
Fred had to deal with some tough business decisions in re- cent years, as the three news- papers consolidated into one weekly publication. Eventu- ally, the struggling newspaper industry and the crushing busi- ness blow of COVID-19 forced multiple layoffs and the closing
or our Dinuba office. These were events that under- standably pain- ful and difficult for him.
On a per-
sonal level, I'm
grateful to Fred for providing me the opportunity to continue my news-sports reporting ca- reer after I had been laid off after 22 years-plus with The Sentinel in Hanford. First as a temporary features editor in Reedley, then three years do- ing news and sports in Sanger before returning to Reedley as editor for The Exponent and The Times.
Fred showed faith and trust in me, and I hoped I've been able to return that in my work with Mid Valley Publishing.
We pledge to forge ahead and continue Fred's work in providing a news outlet for the east Valley region. A toast and a cigar to you, Fred. We will miss you.
Jon Earnest is news-sports editor for The Times.
Fred Hall
QUOTE
“Liberty without learning is always in peril; learning without liberty is always in vain.”
— John F. Kennedy (1917-1963)
Jon Earnest
Although Jan. 1, 2022 showed no
threatening signs there were, nevertheless, plenty of indication that, because of a lack of leadership, there are dangerous situations all over the world. Our failure to deal with China, their growing influence all over the globe and the coveting of Taiwan is indeed problematic because of our promises to help defend that small is- land nation.
Russia and Putin felt the time was right to amass troops on the Ukraine border and lay down a set of guidelines they want followed by the United States and NATO.
Thanks to poor (or no) planning, Afghanistan is now a threat in the Middle East. Besides us leaving hardened military bases and $85 billion in weaponry for their use, the country is becoming a hotbed of ter- rorism. Many of those terrorists are now crossing our Southern border which was intentionally flung wide open by the Biden administration.
North Korea and Iran are not very veiled in their expectations. They want to kill Americans! Democrat politicians and their ally, the corporate media, have joined forces to divide this great nation along racial and political lines.
We've allowed a handful of bureaucrats to destroy our economy and educational system while further di- viding us over a Chinese generated virus which seems to have mitigated all common sense.
Great economic damage is being inflicted upon the American citizen through profligate government spendingandwaste. Inflationisdestroyingwagegains and driving prices on everything. We fear that the fact that so many have removed themselves from the la- bor pool is indicative of inroads toward socialism. One begins by having subjects rely on government for all forms of sustenance— that's beginning to be delivered — and accepted by us in a slow, deliberate movement.
Along with problems associated with uncontrolled illegal immigration — providing America with an un- sustainable situation of drugs, terrorists and poorly trained and educated inflow of humanity — we have encountered the perfect storm of existential survival of this country as we know it. Know the worst part of it? We brought it upon ourselves by electing the least qualified leadership perhaps we've ever known. Work- ing systems existing within government have been dis- assembled simply for the sake of change.
Our fear is that conditions exist worldwide for the potential for military conflict. Certainly antagonists worldwide see the same weaknesses and deficiencies in our leadership of which we've become aware. Cer- tainly, with nationwide elections coming, this would not be the first time that military conflict might be seen as a rallying point for national unity. With neo-cons like Liz Cheney there are Republicans as well as Democrats who are willing, one might even say anxious, to send our children to war.
Any prospect of conflict should be a worry to ev- eryone, particularly since our military is currently be- ing degraded into a social experiment by this admin- istration. We're currently throwing some of our most qualified fighters out of service because they have ob- jections to a government mandated vaccination. With current leadership of people like Lloyd Austin and Mark Milley promoting political correctness instead of combat readiness, we have real cause to be concerned. The military has become political, which was never the intent of our forefathers.
The beginning of a new year would be the ideal time to resolve to get ourselves more involved. Politics im- pact all of us, and things we do today will affect our descendants.
But, as always, that's only one man's opinion.
Google legal loss to Sonos confirms Big Tech's IP piracy problem
By Adam Mossoff
Guest columnist
In January, the U.S. Interna- tional Trade Commission ruled that Google infringed Sonos' patented innovations in wire- less speaker technology. This may sound like an obscure le- gal ruling. But it confirms a problem that threatens Amer- ica's innovation economy.
The problem? Intellectual property theft.
Years ago, Big Tech com- panies decided that they prof- it more by stealing smaller companies' intellectual prop- erty than to buy or license it. Google, Apple, Samsung, and others do not sweat legal fees, court costs, or even damages they might have to pay for this theft.
Big Tech thus takes what it wants. It uses scorched-earth tactics to beat up on IP own- ers. It drags out litigation over years, and imposes massive costs on IP owners seeking justice. Many IP owners don't even file a lawsuit. They know it is ruinous and self-defeating to try to protect what is right- fully theirs.
A few companies have fought back. The story of Google's abuse of Sonos is one
of the more telling ones. Sonos is a classic American success story. Sonos began as a startup in 2005 with its ground- breaking patented innovation in wireless speakers. It secured a licensing deal with Google in 2013, when Google agreed to make its music service work
with Sonos speakers.
But Google merely used
this deal to gain access to So- nos' technology. It began mak- ing its own devices with Sonos' technology, including speakers that competed directly with Sonos' products. Google could subsidize its new products with massive profits from its search engine. Thus, Google undercut Sonos' prices — a common practice by patent pirates.
Sonos attempted to negoti- ate a deal, asking Google to simply pay for a license for the technologies it pirated. Google held out, dragging out negotia- tions while its profits ballooned and Sonos lost more and more money. Seven years later, So- nos was left with no choice but to defend its rights in court, su- ing Google.
The International Trade Commission ruled that Google had indeed infringed five of So- nos' patents.
Big Tech's illicit use of oth-
er people's patented technolo- gies is so common it now has a name: predatory infringement. In plain English, this is piracy.
Unfortunately, Google and other companies have spent millions lobbying Congress and regulators to weaken patents, rigging the system against in- novators.
Washington must act to pro- tect the creators who rely on patents as a key driver of the U.S. innovation economy. Con- gress should reintroduce and enact the bipartisan STRON- GER Patents Act. This law would bring balance to the pat- ent system by reforming the le- gal rules that Big Tech lobbied to create and that are key to its predatory tactics.
Sonos' victory over Google confirms what lawyers have been talking about for years: Big Tech's predatory infringe- ment is 21st-century piracy. Sonos is just one of many vic- tims. Washington can help end this piracy, and it should do so.
Adam Mossoff is a patent law expert at George Mason University who has testified before Congress on the STRON- GER Patent Act. He is a Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute. This piece originally ran in TechCrunch.