Welcome to CiviliansNews.com! Last month we had an issue with cyber-security... coincidentally at the exact same time as THE NY TIMES staff writers went on strike. Regardless, we're back this month despite some, "bad business," from our competition (*who I might add, spend more money on their air conditioning, for their Manhattan skyscraper... than I've spent in 10 years of reporting on CiviliansNews.com, independently, without ever making a single dollar. But did I go on strike? No, I worked at 20 restaurants in NYC while, "Dad," argued about it.)

Nevertheless, this month we return with an article about why I changed the lay-out of CiviliansNews.com (eliminating 3rd party apps from the website) and the intricacy of patent law in the 21st century, particularly pertaining to websites and apps, such as this very website.

So as you may notice, I've changed the lay-out of CiviliansNews.com and our new lay-out is entirely orignal, coded by our founder, without any 3rd party internet applications or 3rd party developers. Which is also the topic of today's article but more specifically; patenting technology, patenting computer code, 3rd party apps and the legality behind building a web-based small business, online. Whereby, what is original in terms of COMPUTER CODE, for example? As THE NY TIMES seems to think that they own the right to broadcast news, exclusively to the mainstream, because they were the first newspaper? Right?...

But beyond that, can I patent a calendar app? Or does Hotschedules, a 200m dollar company under Democratic leadership, deserve to monopolize the computer code to calendars? For example? And I mention this because as of late, that's kind of how it's felt as a small business owner competing with; Google, Microsoft and Apple, in the technology sector... regardless of THE NY TIMES hacking my website last month, as they went on strike in their much less lucrative, "journalism sector." Whereby, CiviliansNews.com is a NON-PROFIT entity, my Ai startup however, on ArtificialintelligenceProject.com is a, "for profit entity," and there has been much made in Silicone Valley lately over the standard's of a web based small business in terms of ORIGINALITY or rather, the things that MOST make a company deserving of, "profits/market share," or becoming an IPO, online. Which up until now has primarily hinged upon, "originality," as the main mechanism for establishing that position within a US market.

But for example... Reddit.com, a popular message board, is set to open an IPO later this year which could net them around 2b dollars... but are they original, making that money deserved? And we at CiviliansNews.com are skeptical of their success, quite frankly. Yet, conversely... when welfare is being handed out at 10x the clip of the 1960's, what is success in America these days? And worse yet, GOFUNDME.com is allegedly worth 300m dollars but CiviliansNews.com is worth nothing? Why? However, it seems that someone in power is talking about that as well... because someone hacked CiviliansNews.com (*our website was down for 3 weeks last month), literally at the exact same time as the NY TIMES staff writer's went on strike, last December. Nevertheless, I've never thought much of the NY TIMES and beyond that, who does deserve to control any market and what makes a business worthy of market share? Patents? And how should we compete in online, "business?" Because origniality has been the cornerstone where most companies have laid their hat's over the years but there are also grey areas to patent law, i.e. this very website using a 3rd party text publishing app, up until this month when I re-coded it. (Do you like our new HTML lay-out?)

Which was why I chose to remove the 3rd party, text publishing app, "WORDPRESS," from our website this month, here on CiviliansNews.com.

And not only that but college football players are making 10m dollars to red-shirt at Alabama University right now, so how much should THE NY TIMES staff writer's make? And you can see that there's competing interests when it comes to small businesses entirely, in that regard, which has seemingly ballooned into a grass roots squabble over originality online and MARKET SHARE, particularly pertaining to small businesses. Because which website should be the next IPO? Reddit? When CiviliansNews.com has been around since 2011 and they've only been around since 2005? Which hardly seems fair, to us.

And for years they've argued that it's an, "originality," issue or an issue of me not going to a prestigious enough University but why isn't CiviliansNews.com right there on the picket line with THE NY TIMES this month? Whereby, what should a website make per year, for reporting the news? Whereby, big corporate giants like to bully small businesses with patents and overbearing legalities surrounding originality because the general public is constantly be-rating themselves when it comes to competing with corporate entities, in my opinion. Or in other words, most small businesses quit when competing with an entity doing bad business like THE NY TIMES, however, again, what is their claim to controlling the market? Time served? Or ORIGINALITY, versus a company like mine which is essentially a web based small businesses? And beyond that, can I patent computer code? And I think that the best way to explain this legal conundrum is to reflect upon this same issue in the music industry. Whereby, can I patent the sound of an instrument? Or what if I rap like Eminem, is that deserving of market share? Or what about song lyrics? Or what about the word, "superstar?" Can I patent the word, "superstar?" And does that make a small business worthy of market share?

Or what about food? Can I patent a recipe containing 3/4th's sugar or salt? It's been done before... ie Oreo/Coca Cola. Then beyond that, most Americans don't even know this but patents expire after 30 years, meaning that ANYONE can build a product after it's patent's life cycle has ended, to my understanding, preventing the man who invented something outdated from monopolizing an entire industry, forever. Yet, in practice you rarely see that expiration date lead to turnover in today's economy, ie COCA COLA and Pepsi.

In fact, most people don't even know that patents carry a 30 year expiration date, ie the formula for Coca Cola. Regardless, this is somewhat policed internally by the US aristocracy, IE my little, "beef," with THE NY TIMES last month. Whereby, someone hacked this very website (CiviliansNews.com) simultaneously, as the THE NY TIMES staff writers went on strike... and the same thing has happened to me in hip hop music, as certain musicians plea with the US govt for civil right's advancements through music and set me back musically, as well. And no one knows that. But I know that.

Regardless; what is patent law? And recently I even applied to return to law school to finish my Jursidoctorate, in the hopes of maybe writing my own patents one day. Which is particularly important as these things called, "patents," that most people think are, "so important in business," typically cost 10-20k dollars in the legal realm and aren't even feasible for most small business owner's to acquire and maybe don't even belong in the hands of small businesses at all? However, the policing concerning patents, at least in the case of online small businesses, is often handled by a small group of wealthy elites, who simply pull the rug out from under small businesses from time to time (IE HACKING MY WEBSITE LAST MONTH) when they feel like the market is being infilitrated by a small business owner, such as myself. Whereby, in practice, for example... Google only gives CiviliansNews.com 100-200 referrals a month, in terms of online traffic... because they kind of police the originality and work ethic of small businesses vs big businesses, online, or so it seems to me. (IE favoring Ivy Leaguer's who are friends with Mark.)

But long story short, I applied to finish my doctorate degree in law with the intention to perhaps write my own patents one day and do things more by the book... however, in practice, originality in business is the real cornerstone that businesses are built upon these day's and patents are typically the mechanism for maintaining that market share in today's economy. Nevertheless, I feel like we as a society... rarely if ever... discuss the roots of this concept publicly. Whereas, the issue I have today is when people like the staff at THE NY TIMES and certain musical record labels and tech conglomerates in Ai, as well, hack my computer and set me back, arguing over market share and wages... and then we start discussing things like, "can you patent salt?" "Can you patent the piano?" "Can you patent sugar?" "Can you patent computer code?" "Can you patent the computer code for a calendar?" And things like that... and as much as I love writing this article... someone in the CIA just took my website down for 2 months and said, "we'll handle that."

And I don't really want to be a part of that legal system, when this is how it is, so why am I going back to school? And I don't know if I am going back to law school anymore because it's kind of ridiculous, whereby 5% of THE NY TIMES market share would make me a multi-billionaire. But you decide? Should patent's expire? Should we be able to patent computer code? And do you see any third party developers coding CiviliansNews.com? Nope. So why am I being shelved by Google? And is it an issue of originality? Paying dues? Or is it certain people being greedy... IE THE NY TIMES staff writers who hacked my website last month, setting me back 2 months while they argued over money... in their skyscraper?

And I'll end today's article by posing questions to the reader because I just work here. So should I finish my legal doctorate degree in order to seize market share through patents, while THE NY TIMES staff writer's are complaining about 50k/year and I make nothing? Or when I just posted articles for 10 years and made nothing here on CiviliansNews.com... as Reddit and SalesForce.com became 2b dollar message boards?

Whereby, there's a viable concern here... and we can't just BS about it forever, can we? Or send everyone to college to figure it out for us... whereby, it's about time that I did something other than go to school because my, "parent company," that's not, "my parent company," has to argue over market share...

So should THE NY TIMES just hack my website and go on strike... every-time that they get mad about money? And what about musicians... are they allowed to patent their music? Can we patent salt? Can we patent the calendar? Can we patent sugar? Can we patent the news? And should lyrics be patented or re-done, decade after decade with modern twists or should we let the same companies stay in power forever... and when does an internet business deserve mainstream market share?

And what about a musician or an Ai programmer?

-William Larsen, Civilians News Founder