tagged w/ Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
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Biology has replaced chemistry as the primary science behind drug discovery: how did this transformation begin, who was involved, and how did it get funded?Biology has replaced chemistry as the primary science behind drug discovery: how did... more
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What does cleantech look like from a strictly ‘risks and returns’ perspective? What new investment approaches will make the most promising government funded emerging technologies a realistic prospect for scalability and growth?
A panel of cleantech investment specialists including David H. Wells of Kleiner Perkins recently tackled some tough questions about markets, costs, opportunities and uncertainties at length in front of a live and well-informed audience in New YorkWhat does cleantech look like from a strictly ‘risks and returns’... more
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Google and Amazon: Making Theft and Price-Fixing the Legal Default
By Alex Green
For the first time in American history, a single corporation is attempting to gain full ownership of an extraordinary number of books printed during the last century, effectively controlling their dissemination by default without the consent of those who still hold valid copyrights. In early September authors and their representatives ran out of time to invoke ownership of their own writing and opt out of a legally questionable settlement. The settlement, which is pending in federal court, reveals Google Inc.'s unprecedented attempt to invert the United States copyright structure and monopolize control of a huge swath of intellectual property.
The current agreement, reached in 2008 between Google, The Authors Guild of America, and the Association of American Publishers has touched off the most vociferous public battle between technology companies since the inception of the Internet. At stake is supremacy in the coveted marketplace of content ownership and book digitization. The Justice Department filed strong objections to the settlement last week, registering concerns that Google has violated anti-trust laws by gaining such broad control without legal supervision. Those concerns resulted in a request by all three parties this week for a postponement of the court’s ruling while they rewrite the agreement.
Online book retailer Amazon.com, Google’s non-profit rival The Internet Archive, Yahoo, Microsoft, and other media companies have joined an umbrella organization called The Open Book Alliance to combat Google’s advance. In recent weeks they have filed a barrage of complaints to the court and Congress. Their appeals and public statements have exposed for the first time large areas of legal uncertainty in an industry known for widespread avoidance of public legal battles and legislative interference.
In their legal assault, Amazon appears to have suggested its own involvement in business practices that have widely been considered unethical and potentially illegal. An Amazon spokesperson told the Associated Press last month that if Google were to gain control of the marketplace his company would no longer be able to obtain low prices for customers by, “playing one publisher off against another." Their statement implies the use of manipulative negotiating practices to receive books at lower wholesale prices than competitors despite the existence of legal precedents that restrict large companies from receiving disproportionately favorable discounts.
The Author’s Guild has also come under fire, with critics questioning the right of an advocacy group to negotiate on behalf of authors who did not seek their support. If upheld, such a broad invocation of representative power by a guild would be unprecedented in American history.
Compounding the problem is the prevalence of conflicts of interest among board members of nearly every party involved in the litigation. One particularly disconcerting example involves the venture capital firm Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield, & Byers which currently has three partners serving as board members or advisers to Google or Amazon, including John Doerr who is a board member at all three companies.
The triumvirate of Kleiner board members also includes former Vice-President Al Gore who is a senior advisor to Google. Gore’s presence is a reminder of the close proximity between the political establishment that first gave rise to broad Internet use and the now-powerful companies that benefited from government encouraged non-regulation throughout the 1990’s and into this decade.
The rise of these companies has created an institutionalized imbalance predicated on the absence of basic legal strictures in the technology sector. Without regulation tech companies have fed a decade-long ascendancy on a margin of profit derived from their near universal exemption from state tax laws...Google and Amazon: Making Theft and Price-Fixing the Legal Default
By Alex Green... more
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In most cases, when a 17 year old girl wants to attempt to galvanize her generation against global warming, the end product tends to be basically nothing. Things change a bit when that girl’s father is Kleiner Perkins chief rainmaker, John Doerr.
The VC, who led early investments in Google, Intuit and Sun Microsystems and lured Al Gore to join the firm, credits his daughter, Mary, with pushing him to go green. Now, with backing from her father and guidance from his friends, the incoming high school senior and heiress has just launched a non-profit called Inconvenient Youth. The organization’s goal is to use an online social network built on Ning and combine it with occasional conferences and training sessions designed to teach teenagers to become effective activists and community leaders. The first of these training sessions, which brought together 80 teenagers from around the world, happened this weekend at Stanford.In most cases, when a 17 year old girl wants to attempt to galvanize her generation... more
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bshipp
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added this
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3 years ago
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Former US Vice President Al Gore wants to help entrepreneurs who have ideas to help save the planet. 13/11/2007
- "How much economic opportunity climate change is?"
- Al Gore: "..This is bigger than the industrial revolution.."
- "..What do you advice if a hungarian entrepreneurs listening to you thinking I've got an idea how to climate change, but I don't have the money how to do it?.."
- Al Gore: ".. Send it to us.., ... we promise to give you a fair hearing.. "
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) is a major Sand Hill Road venture capital firm, one of the most widely known in Silicon Valley. The name comes from the four senior partners: Eugene Kleiner (emeritus), Tom Perkins (emeritus), Frank J. Caufield (emeritus), John Doerr, and Brook Byers.
http://search.bbc.co.uk/cgi-bin/search/results.pl?tab=av&q=Al%20Gore&recipe=all&scope=all&edition=i
The Alliance for Climate ProtectionFormer US Vice President Al Gore wants to help entrepreneurs who have ideas to help... more
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It will collect more sun energy? Put mirrors to the Solar tower's wall ! More potential? More capacity? This is the PS10 solar power tower. Seville, Spain.
It will collect more sun energy, because the solar tower/sun tower's wall mirror (1) reflect sun energy to the other sun panels, which are in the ground (2) / floor, than they collect from the sun direct too? And efficient / stronger sun energy goes to the top? (3)
I reflect to Al Gore's BBC radio "Gore helping 'planet savers'" speech. 13.11.2007
(Former US Vice President Al Gore wants to help entrepreneurs who have ideas to help save the planet. )
http://search.bbc.co.uk/cgi-bin/search/results.pl?tab=av&q=Al%20Gore&recipe=all&scope=all&edition=i
This is an idea from Hungary to Alliens for Climate Protection to Mr. Al Gore and Parkins. (Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, John Doerr)It will collect more sun energy? Put mirrors to the Solar tower's wall ! More... more
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I reflect to Al Gore's BBC radio "Gore helping 'planet savers'" speech. 13.11.2007
(Former US Vice President Al Gore wants to help entrepreneurs who have ideas to help save the planet. )
It will collect more sun energy? Put mirrors to the Solar tower's wall ! More potential? More capacity? This is the PS10 solar power tower. Seville, Spain.
It will collect more sun energy, because the solar tower/sun tower's wall mirror (1) reflect sun energy to the other sun panels, which are in the ground (2) / floor, than they collect from the sun direct too? And efficient / stronger sun energy goes to the top? (3)
http://search.bbc.co.uk/cgi-bin/search/results.pl?tab=av&q=Al%20Gore&recipe=all&scope=all&edition=i
This is an idea from Hungary to Alliens for Climate Protection to Mr. Al Gore and Parkins. (Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, John Doerr)I reflect to Al Gore's BBC radio "Gore helping 'planet... more
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The recovering politician is teaming with a legendary venture capitalist and bigtime moneyman to make over the $6 trillion global energy business. A Fortune exclusive
(Fortune Magazine) -- It's lunchtime on Sand Hill Road, and Al Gore wants answers. "How does the efficiency decline with latitude?" he asks. "What size community could be served by one plant? If a manufacturer like GE wanted to make smaller turbines, would the technology support a smaller scale?"
We're sitting in the giant conference room at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, where the partners hold their weekly meetings. After loading his plate with Chinese food from a buffet, Gore is firing detailed questions at the management team of Ausra, a Kleiner-backed company in Palo Alto whose technology uses mirrors the width of a flatbed truck that focus the sun's energy to generate electricity. The recovering politician is teaming with a legendary venture capitalist and bigtime... more
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