Category: Business

Categories
Business

Australian Leather-based Loses Ugg Trademark Battle

Australian Leather Loses Ugg Trademark Battle

MELBOURNE, Australia – A long-term offer by an Australian company to scrap a US brand bearing the word “Ugg” has suffered another blow after an American appeals court dismissed its case in Sheepskin Boots.

This is the final step in a five-year legal battle between US trademark owner Deckers Outdoor Corporation and a company called Australian Leather. They argued over ownership of the name of a shoe that has been derided as unfashionable and downright ugly, but which has still found its way onto the feet of celebrities like Oprah Winfrey and Tom Brady.

The Australian news media called the lawsuit a battle between David and Goliath, and the case hit many Australians who consider footwear a national, if out-of-fashion, symbol. The case also showed how global access to products on the Internet can lead to conflicts between local legal systems.

Australian Leather owner Eddie Oygur said following the court ruling on Friday that he would take the case to the US Supreme Court.

“This is not just about me; It’s about Australia taking ugg back, ”said Oygur. “The brand should never have been given to the US in the first place.”

In Australia, the word is used as a collective term for sheepskin boots that have been lined with fleece since the 1930s. They were popularized by surfers in the 1960s. The term is not registered as a trademark there and anyone can sell Ugg boots. It was registered as a trademark in the United States in the 1980s by Australian entrepreneur Brian Smith.

Deckers said it bought the name fairly from Mr. Smith, that it was branded “UGG Australia” in the US in 1995, and that American consumers knew it as a brand name rather than a generic term. Deckers holds the trademark in more than 130 countries, which means that Australians are largely prevented from selling their boots internationally.

Deckers sued Australian Leather in 2016, alleging trademark infringement for selling 13 pairs of Ugg boots in the United States through its website. Mr. Oygur did not deny the sale of boots, but argued that Deckers should not have used the term “ugg” at all.

Recognition…Deckers outdoors via PR Newswire

“We should be able to sell our Ugg boots worldwide,” said Oygur. “It’s generic here and it’s an Australian product.”

He also argued that Uggs were generic in the US, being sold by numerous entrepreneurs across the country before being registered as trademarks, and that the term warranted similar protection in Australia to French “Champagne” and Greek “Feta” .

In business today

Updated

May 7, 2021 at 1:12 p.m. ET

In 2019 the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois ruled in favor of Deckers that, while ugg was an umbrella term in Australia, it had no such meaning in the U.S. It was also determined that the term was not subject to the “Foreign Equivalents Doctrine,” a legal guideline in the United States that foreign words for categories of items cannot be trademarked and that Mr. Oygur willfully violated the trademark of Deckers has violated. Mr. Oygur was fined $ 450,000.

Mr. Oygur appealed the decision in the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. In court documents filed prior to the appeal, his attorneys argued that the U.S. District Court used the wrong standards to judge whether something was generic. In his own documents, Deckers countered that the judge used the correct test, citing survey results that most US consumers recognize Ugg as a brand.

On Friday, the court upheld the court’s original decision. There were no reasons.

Tom Garcia, Deckers’ chief administrative officer, said in a statement prior to the verdict that the company believes the appeal has no merit.

“Deckers welcomes fair competition,” he said. “This case, however, was about protecting American consumers from being deceived into buying counterfeit products that were on sale and sold online in the US.”

Dean Wilkie, Lecturer in Branding and Marketing at the University of Adelaide, said, “In the Australian market there is a normal person on the street if you go up to them and say you think it’s right for this American brand to stop folks, who use ‘ugg’ for sheepskin boots, most of us would be outraged because it doesn’t feel right. It doesn’t feel moral. “

On the other hand, he admitted, Decker’s years spent building Uggs into a sophisticated lifestyle brand – a far cry from the situation in Australia where they are relegated to souvenir shop windows and people use them for grocery stores and they carry around the house.

“The internet has given us access to a global market. We can distribute products all over the world. But the legal systems are not global. They are in countries, ”said Dr. Wilkie.

In its heyday, Australian Leather produced around 50,000 to 60,000 pairs of boots a year and had a few dozen employees. Last year, Deckers had sales of $ 2 billion, three quarters of which came from the Ugg brand, according to the 2020 annual report.

The stakes for both companies were high. Prior to the ruling, Nicole Murdoch, an intellectual property attorney with Eaglegate Lawyers in Brisbane, Australia, said that legal success for Mr. Oygur would have “a disastrous effect for Deckers” that would cost the company the trademark on which it was branded had built up.

Mr Oygur said before the verdict, “All ugg boot manufacturers in Australia will turn to imports because of prices and Australia will lose what has been Australian since the 1930s.”

Personally, he’d gotten to the heart of the matter: the business he’d run for nearly 40 years and a house he’d mortgaged to pay for his legal fees. He said he spent over a million dollars on the case, lost the majority of his employees, and saw the legal challenge put off many of his clients.

“God help me, I won’t back down,” he said. “You didn’t give me a choice. Absolutely no choice. “

Categories
Business

Suggestions for asking for a month of distant work

Tips for asking for a month of remote work

In addition to on-site yoga classes and ergonomic desks, companies may have a new wellness initiative in store that gives workers annual remote working hours.

Remote working has proven popular with many workers. According to a survey by the Pew Research Center, 54% of employees say they want to continue working from home after the pandemic has ended.

But that probably won’t happen. Far more companies are expected to switch to hybrid work arrangements this year to get the best of both work environments – flexibility with an office environment focus, less loneliness and less commuting.

However, a hybrid schedule of three days in the office and two days out of the office does not allow for any of the greatest benefits of the work-from-home program: the extended workcation.

Workcations – and their lesser-known cousin, the wellness sabbatical – are blurring the lines between work and vacation. You are sure to work, but with a better view. Research shows that it can be a therapeutic change that complements the regular vacation time rather than replaces it.

Is annual remote working the norm?

“A block of time is an interesting concept,” said Lynne Cazaly, a workplace specialist and author of “Agile-ish: How to Create a Culture of Agility.”

She said the idea might be attractive during certain times of the year (summer, yes, but also during snowy winters), school holidays, and other “difficult times of the year”.

If you don’t offer these evolving advantages, there is a competitive disadvantage.

Lynne Cazaly

Workplace specialist and speaker

Short duration of remote working would also allow employers to compete with companies that are introducing perpetual flexible working arrangements, Cazaly said.

“Many leading indicator companies – like Spotify, Twitter, Square, Unilever and Atlassian – have declared that their employees can work from home forever,” she told CNBC. “Corporations … know that there is a growing war for talent … if you don’t offer these evolving perks, there is a competitive disadvantage.”

Just take a look at google. In an email to employees last week, CEO Sundar Pichai announced that employees would now have four “work-from-anywhere” weeks (of two) to give “everyone more flexibility on summer and vacation travel.” to offer.

Less pandemic-style problems

The problems many employees have had while working from home over the past year – such as isolation and lack of social interaction with coworkers – are less likely to be encountered with short-term stays away from the office.

In fact, workers who use time to travel can improve their mental well-being instead of harming it, said Susie Ellis, CEO of the Global Wellness Institute.

“Academics have actually studied the wellbeing effects of sabbaticals, whether it’s the traditional one-year academic variant or a sabbatical lasting a month or more,” she said. “Research shows [they] Decrease people’s stress, increase general well-being, and help people be more creative. “

Google announced last week that 60% of its workforce will be working in the office three days a week, 20% in new office locations and 20% from home.

David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Employers’ concerns can also be manageable. According to a survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers, 68% of executives said that employees should be in the office at least three days a week to maintain the corporate culture once the pandemic has subsided. For employees following this schedule, one month of remote work equals the requirement of 12 additional external days per year.

Additionally, moving to hybrid schedules could make the old way of working (with everyone in the office) and pandemic-style work (with everyone online) a thing of the past, said Cazaly, adding that a mix of “people here”, there and everywhere it is where it is “now”.

Will it work for your industry?

While some industries cannot simply work from home – retail, construction, entertainment, and healthcare to name a few – Pew’s research has shown that the majority of workers in these industries:

  • Information and technology: 84%
  • Banking, finance, accounting, real estate, or insurance: 84%
  • Education: 59%
  • professional, scientific and technical services: 59%

Yet another obstacle awaits you in these sectors – the buy-in of corporate governance. From Facebook to Google, tech industries are embracing the flexible work trend, while the titans of banking have begun publicly rejecting it.

JPMorgan Chase Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon said last week he wasn’t a fan of the work-from-home trend, while Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon described it as “a divergence we’re as soon as possible to correct “.

Jaya Dass, managing director of the Randstad recruitment agency in Singapore and Malaysia, warns employees to perform a “reality check” before requesting remote work opportunities.

“It is not that easy to collaborate and discover work results in a remote environment as it sounds,” she said. “If your manager has not performed as expected over the past year, he may be waiting for you to return to the office to assess whether remote work is the variable factor affecting your work.”

At the same time, Dass noted that it would be inadvisable for companies to unnecessarily reject annual employee remote work requests, as otherwise “they could run the risk of losing their trust and loyalty to the company”.

Tips for annual remote work

1. Don’t wait

When is the right time to ask about annual remote work? “Now, now, now,” Cazaly said, adding that some companies may resort to pre-Covid labor practices over time.

2. Do your research

Check your employee handbook or speak to someone in human resources to see if your company already has a remote working policy, said Amanda Augustine, career coach with resume writing service TopResume.

“If there is no such directive, don’t let that stop you,” she said. “Instead, look online for messages from other organizations – ideally competitors, companies with similar traits, or that your CEO admires – that have indicated that at least some of their employees will be allowed to continue teleworking after the pandemic.”

3. Be strategic

Take your manager’s personality into account when deciding how to start the conversation.

“If your boss prefers direct people, schedule a meeting with a clear goal: ‘I want to schedule a time with you to discuss extending my remote work,'” Augustine said.

Use video chat to request annual remote work hours to assess your employer’s body language, advises career coach Amanda Augustine.

Alistair Berg | DigitalVision | Getty Images

If your manager is less direct, bring up the topic in your next one-on-one interview. Either way, make sure the conversation is over video and not over the phone, Augustine said.

“That way, you can observe your manager’s body language and assess whether your proposal is well received,” she said.

4. Equip yourself with data

Through research, explain how remote working can be a win-win situation for you and your employer.

“Studies have shown that companies offering work flexibility options can reduce employee burnout, increase retention rates, decrease absenteeism, improve productivity, and improve overall work morale,” said Augustine.

Cazaly agrees, “Organizations know that happier employees stay more engaged, productive, and longer.”

5. Show that you are a hard worker

Although remote working has shown productivity gains over the past year, companies can decline short-term remote requests if they fear employees will not be working efficiently away from the office, Cazaly said. To combat this, show that you have a great work ethic and are committed to your role, she said.

Augustine calls this sharing “Your Professional Profits”. Remind your boss of the goals you’ve met or exceeded since working from home, she said.

6. Prepare for objections

Eliminate possible objections from your employer before bringing your case forward. Upgrade your WiFi, buy a new router, fix lights for video calls, and buy noise-canceling headphones, advised Augustine.

Then reassure your managers that you will be available during your absence and that you will not compromise on quality work, said Dass of Randstad.

If companies don’t move, try another option

If employers decline a one-month request, ask to combine two weeks of remote work with two weeks of vacation time.

Kristen Graff, a Singapore-based sales and marketing director, negotiated with her employer to spend a month in Hawaii this summer, with time evenly split between vacation and remote work.

“I know I’m probably the exception, but I didn’t want a four-week vacation,” Graff said, adding that one of the things she wanted most was “a change in the environment … from a productivity standpoint Inspiration “was. “”

Graff said she would be interested in an annual period of remote work, but she believes the idea “really depends on the person”.

“It takes a lot of self-motivation,” she said. “You have to work or you will ruin it for everyone.”

Categories
Business

What to Do If Your Automotive is Recalled

What to Do If Your Car is Recalled

Millions of cars are recalled every year, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, up from around eight million by 2021. Notifying the automaker that your vehicle is one of them and has a security flaw is not only alarming, it can lead to a barrage of questions.

What do i do next? How can I take care of it? Will it cost me anything?

Even more urgent is how urgent it is to fix the problem. The answer is that while minor maintenance can easily slip without causing major problems, the safety concerns a recall applies to are not a footnote to the “Maybe Someday” section of your to-do list. Recalls vary in urgency and sometimes repairs cannot be done immediately by the dealer because spare parts are not available. It can be months before they are. But, as a recent case in South Carolina shows, procrastination can be fatal.

In January, the driver of a 2002 Honda Accord died of an accident in which the car’s airbag was deployed. When the 19th death in the United States was caused by splinters from a broken Takata airbag inflator, it was hardly unprecedented. But there was a twist this time around: Honda, which recalled the car in 2011, said it had attempted more than 100 times to reach the owner of the car via mail, phone, and through personal visits. The faulty inflators were never replaced.

The Takata recall, the largest in history, affects 100 million inflaters, including 67 million in the United States. And these recalls aren’t all a decade old. As recently as March, Ford recalled 2.6 million cars, trucks and sport utility vehicles to replace the Takata driver-side airbag components.

Measures can be taken against security threats that occur even when the vehicles are parked. In March, several Hyundai and Genesis models were recalled to correct electrical shorts that created a fire risk. In this case, the Road Safety Agency advised owners to “park their cars outside and outside of houses, other structures and other combustible materials” to prevent loss of property.

Recalls aren’t about customer complaints like air conditioning or a rusty fender. They are specifically security problems, even if the danger is sometimes not readily apparent. Fixing the problem should be done ASAP, and the automaker will pay for it.

You need to contact the owners via email. However, if you weren’t home during the pandemic, chances are you missed the notification. And if you’ve bought a used car, the recall notification may not have caught you.

You can easily check if a vehicle has been recalled by entering the 17-digit vehicle identification number (or chassis number) on the security agency’s website – nhtsa.gov/recalls. You can find the chassis number in the license plate and often on the insurance card. It can also be seen through the glass at the bottom of the driver’s side windshield.

Checking for recalls is a must, especially if you are buying a used car. This search will tell you whether the vehicle has been recalled in the last 15 calendar years and whether the problem has been resolved. The report covers major automakers, motorcycle manufacturers, and some medium / heavy truck manufacturers.

If the vehicle has not been recalled or if the defect has been rectified, the following message is displayed: 0 Unrepaired recalls related to this VIN. Recently announced callbacks may not appear due to the time it takes for the VINs to be identified. Therefore, you may have to look again.

Recalls are carried out by the car manufacturer, but can be ordered by the security agency. The process can begin when an automaker discovers a Problems with regular quality checks or defects occur through the dealer network. According to the law, if a car manufacturer learns of a security deficiency, it must notify the security authorities immediately.

The process can also start with consumer complaints filed in the agency database. These complaints will be examined and if further action is required after an analysis, an investigation will be carried out is opened. If this is a problem, a callback will be initiated. In practice, automakers usually start recalls themselves before the agency intervenes. The security agency oversees the process to ensure that customer notifications are properly issued and repairs are tracked.

The automaker can repair the defect, replace the vehicle with an identical or similar specification, or refund the full purchase price (adjusted for depreciation). If you’ve already paid for repairs that would have been made as part of the recall, the automaker will often have to reimburse you.

Categories
Business

Medina Spirit Kentucky Derby win will likely be invalidated if failed drug take a look at is upheld

Medina Spirit Kentucky Derby win will be invalidated if failed drug test is upheld

Medina Spirit # 8, ridden by jockey John Velazquez (R), crosses the finish line and wins the 147th round of the Kentucky Derby ahead of Mandaloun # 7, ridden by Florent Geroux, and Hot Rod Charlie # 9, ridden by Flavien Prat, at Churchill Downs on May 1, 2021 in Louisville, Kentucky.

Jamie Squire | Getty Images Sports | Getty Images

Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit’s win will be voided if the winning horse is confirmed to have failed a drug test, Churchill Downs said on Sunday.

Medina Spirit’s trainer, Bob Baffert, will be immediately banned from participating in horses on the Churchill Downs track, “given the gravity of the alleged crime,” said the company operating the derby in a statement.

“Failure to follow rules and medication protocols endangers the safety of horses and jockeys, the integrity of our sport, and the reputation of the Kentucky Derby and everyone involved. Churchill Downs will not tolerate this,” the press release said.

If the finding is confirmed, runner-up Mandaloun will be declared the race winner, Churchill Downs said.

Baffert denied any wrongdoing on Sunday morning. At a press conference, he revealed that in a post-race test, Medina Spirit had 21 picograms of the steroid betamethasone, twice the legal threshold, in its system.

“I got the biggest punch in the race for something I didn’t do,” said Baffert.

Only two other horses in the 147-year history of the Kentucky Derby have been disqualified, according to the Associated Press.

“We understand that a post-race blood test from Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit indicated a violation of medication protocols for Commonwealth of Kentucky horses,” said Churchill Downs’ press release.

“The Medina Spirit compounds have the right to request a split sample test and we understand that they intend to do so,” the company said.

“We will wait for the Kentucky Horse Racing Commissions investigation to complete before taking any further action.”

With coverage from the Associated Press.

Categories
Business

When Covid Hit, China Was Able to Inform Its Model of the Story

When Covid Hit, China Was Ready to Tell Its Version of the Story

But Mr Rigoni, whose company is owned by former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, said he didn’t think China’s mix of media and state power was unique. “It is not the only country where major television and radio programs are controlled by the government or parliament,” he said.

And the Secretary General of the International Federation of Journalists, Anthony Bellanger, said in an email that his view on the report is: “While China is a growing force in information warfare, it is also important to respond to US pressure resist Russia and other governments around the world. “

However, there is no question which government is currently more involved in this campaign. A report by Sarah Cook last year for Freedom House, an American nonprofit advocating political freedom, found that Beijing “spends hundreds of millions of dollars a year getting its message across to audiences around the world.” .

The United States may have pioneered covert and overt influence during the Cold War, but the official channels of government have withered. The boastful CIA influence operations of the early Cold War, in which the agency secretly funded influential magazines like Encounter, gave way to American branches like Voice of America and Radio Liberty, which sought to expand American influence by broadcasting uncensored local news to authoritarian countries. After the Cold War, these became softer tools of American power.

More recently, President Donald J. Trump tried to turn these outlets into blunt propaganda tools and Democrats and their own journalists resisted. The lack of American consensus domestically about using its own media has resulted in the American government being unable to project much of anything. Instead, the cultural power of companies like Netflix and Disney – far more powerful and better funded than any government effort – has done the job.

And journalists around the world have voiced skepticism about the effectiveness of the propaganda from the often ham-handed Chinese government, a skepticism I no doubt shared when last week I recycled unread issues of China Daily that were sent to my home last week . The kind of propaganda that can work in China without a real journalistic response can barely compete in the intense open market for people’s attention.

“China is trying to get its content out in the Kenyan media, but it’s not that influential yet,” said Eric Oduor, secretary general of the Kenya Union of Journalists.

Categories
Business

Gasoline futures bounce as a lot of significant pipeline stays shutdown following cyberattack

Ransomware attack forces shutdown of largest fuel pipeline in the U.S.

Signage will be displayed on a fence at the Colonial Pipeline Co. Pelham intersection and terminal in Pelham, Alabama, USA on Monday, September 19, 2016.

Luke Sharrett | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Fuel prices rose in stores on Sunday evening as one of the largest pipelines in the US remains closed after a cybersecurity attack.

West Texas Intermediate’s crude oil futures, the US oil benchmark, rose 47 cents to $ 65.37 a barrel. The international benchmark Brent crude was trading at $ 68.76 a barrel, which translates into a profit of 48 cents. Natural gas futures were trading at $ 2.96 per million British thermal units, while gasoline futures rose 3% to $ 2.193 per gallon.

Colonial Pipeline announced Sunday evening that some of its smaller side lines between terminals and delivery points are back online, but the main lines are still down.

“We are in the process of restoring service to other side panels, and will only bring our entire system back online if we believe it is safe and fully comply with all federal regulations,” the company said in a statement.

How quickly service is restored in the pipeline remains the deciding factor. While fuel depots are usually stored for a few days in tank farms, a prolonged outage can lead to an increase in fuel prices.

The Colonial Pipeline, which operates the largest pipeline transporting fuel from the Gulf Coast to the northeast, “suspended all pipeline operations” on Friday evening as a proactive measure following a ransomware cyberattack.

The pipeline is an essential part of the US petroleum infrastructure and transports around 2.5 million barrels of gasoline, diesel fuel, heating oil and jet fuel every day. The pipeline is more than 5,500 miles and carries nearly half of the east coast’s fuel supply. The system also supplies fuel to airports, including in Atlanta and Baltimore.

“Without this there is no transport in the region, so it is important that the pipeline is back on stream as soon as possible,” said Patrick De Haan, Head of Petroleum Analysis at GasBuddy. “The effects will potentially increase exponentially after about day 5,” he added.

President Joe Biden was notified of the pipeline’s closure Saturday morning, and the Department of Homeland Security’s cybersecurity and infrastructure security agency is coordinating with the Colonial Pipeline.

US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said on Sunday that “everything is on deck at the moment”.

“We are working closely with the company, state and local authorities to ensure that they are back to normal operations as soon as possible and that there are no disruptions in supply,” she told CBS ‘Face the Nation.

The pipeline failure comes as Americans start traveling again as restrictions are lifted and Covid vaccination rollout accelerates. On Friday, the TSA checked more than 1.7 million passengers, the highest figure in more than a year.

“The colonial outage comes at a critical time for the recovering US economy: the start of the summer driving season,” said ClearView Energy Partners. “Persistent disruption that causes pump prices to rise significantly could increase the prospect of domestic policy intervention,” the company added.

The national average for a gallon of gasoline was $ 2,962 on Sunday, up 60% year over year, according to AAA.

Become a smarter investor with CNBC Pro.
Get stock picks, analyst calls, exclusive interviews and access to CNBC TV.
Sign in to start a free trial today

– CNBC’s Emma Newburger contributed to the coverage.

Categories
Business

Pipeline Shutdown Has Had Little Influence on Provides So Far

Pipeline Shutdown Has Had Little Impact on Supplies So Far

HOUSTON – The shutdown of the largest oil pipeline between Texas and New York on Friday after a ransomware attack had little immediate impact on gasoline, diesel or jet fuel supplies. However, some energy analysts warned that prolonged exposure could raise prices at the pump along the east coast.

Nationwide, the AAA Motor Club reported that the average price for regular gasoline did not move from $ 2.96 per gallon from Saturday to Sunday. New York state prices remained stable at $ 3, and prices rose a fraction of a penny per gallon in some southeastern states like Georgia, which are considered particularly vulnerable if the pipeline does not reopen quickly.

There is no evidence that motorists are panicking or that gas stations are undermining their customers at the start of the summer driving season, when gasoline prices traditionally rise.

But gasoline shortages could arise if the pipeline operated by Colonial Pipeline closes later this week, some analysts said.

“Even a temporary shutdown will likely cause national retail gas prices to rise above $ 3 per gallon for the first time since 2014,” said Jay Hatfield, chief executive of Infrastructure Capital Management and investor in natural gas and oil pipelines and storage.

The shutdown of the 5,500 mile pipeline that carries nearly half of the east coast’s fuel supplies was a worrying sign that the country’s energy infrastructure is vulnerable to cyberattacks by criminal groups or nations.

Colonial Pipeline admitted on Saturday that it was the victim of a ransomware attack by a criminal group, which means the hacker can take the company’s data hostage until he pays a ransom. The privately owned company wouldn’t say whether it paid a ransom. They said it was working to get up and running as soon as possible.

In business today

Updated

May 7, 2021 at 1:12 p.m. ET

One reason prices have not risen so far is that the east coast generally has plenty of fuel on hand. While fuel consumption grows, it remains depressed due to the prepandemic.

Nevertheless, there are some weak points in the supply system. Inventories in the southeast are a little lower than normal for this time of year. Refining capacity in the Northeast is limited, and the Northeast Gasoline Supply Reserve, an emergency-stop supply, only holds a total of one million barrels of gasoline in New York, Boston and South Portland, Maine.

This is not enough for even a single day with average regional consumption. That is according to a report released on Saturday by Clearview Energy Partners, a Washington-based research firm. “Much depends on the length of the failure,” the report said.

When Hurricane Harvey paralyzed several Gulf Coast refineries in 2017 and halted flows of petroleum products from the colonial pipeline to the northeast for nearly two weeks, spot gasoline prices in New York Harbor rose more than 25 percent and took nearly a month to subside.

Regional refineries can supplement their shipments through Kinder Morgan’s Plantation Pipeline, which runs between Louisiana and Northern Virginia. However, its capacity is limited and it does not reach any major metropolitan areas north of Washington, DC

The east coast has ample ports for importing petroleum products from Europe, Canada, and South America, but this can take time. Tankers sailing at speeds of up to 14 knots from Rotterdam in the Netherlands can take up to two weeks to get to the port of New York.

Tom Kloza, global director of energy research at Oil Price Information Service, said the Biden administration could suspend the Jones Act, which requires goods shipped between American ports to be transported on American-built and operated ships. This would allow foreign flag tankers to move additional barrels of fuel from Gulf ports to ports on the Atlantic coast. The Jones Act is usually suspended in emergencies such as hurricanes.

“One could argue that the Biden administration might consider such a move sooner rather than later if problems with the colonial software persist,” said Kloza.

Categories
Business

SpaceX accepts Dogecoin cost for DOGE-1 mission to the moon

SpaceX accepts Dogecoin payment for DOGE-1 mission to the moon

SpaceX founder Elon Musk shows the audience after he was recognized by US President Donald Trump in NASA’s vehicle assembly building after successfully launching a Falcon 9 rocket with the Crew Dragon spacecraft from Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center

Paul Hennessy | SOPA pictures | Getty Images

Elon Musk’s SpaceX will launch the “DOGE-1 Mission to the Moon” in the first quarter of 2022, with the company accepting the meme-inspired cryptocurrency as full payment for the lunar payload.

Geometric Energy Corporation announced the Dogecoin-funded mission on Sunday, which SpaceX’s communications team confirmed in an email to reporters. The financial worth of the mission has not been disclosed.

DOGE-1 will fly a 40-kilogram cube satellite as a payload on a Falcon 9 rocket. Geometric Energy Corporation states that the payload will “receive lunar sensors from sensors and cameras on board with integrated communication and computing systems.”

Tom Ochinero, Vice President Commercial Sales at SpaceX, said in a statement that DOGE-1 “will demonstrate the application of cryptocurrency beyond orbit and lay the foundation for interplanetary trade.”

“We’re excited to bring DOGE-1 to the moon!” Said Ochinero.

A Falcon 9 rocket will launch the Transporter 1 mission in January 2021.

SpaceX

Musk previously announced the company’s plans, albeit in an April Fool’s tweet.

“SpaceX is going to put a literal Dogecoin on the literal moon,” wrote Musk.

The DOGE-1 mission comes after Musk, the self-proclaimed “Dogefather”, made his debut as the host of “Saturday Night Live”. The price of Dogecoin fell during its appearance and fell below 50 cents despite its references to the cryptocurrency.

For SpaceX, the announcement also comes on the day the company set a new record for its Falcon 9 rocket series. After launching another series of Starlink satellites into orbit, SpaceX landed the Falcon 9 rocket booster for the tenth time – a benchmark Musk previously described as key to the company’s progress in reusing its rockets.

“It’s designed for 10 or more flights with no renovation between each flight,” Musk told reporters in May 2018.

“We believe that [Falcon 9] Boosters can be deployed on the order of at least 100 flights before they retire. Maybe more. “

A Falcon 9 rocket amplifier lands after the start of the Sentinel 6 mission.

SpaceX

Become a smarter investor with CNBC Pro.
Get stock picks, analyst calls, exclusive interviews and access to CNBC TV.
Sign in to start a free trial today.

Categories
Business

Ed Ward, Rock Critic and Historian, Is Useless at 72

Ed Ward, Rock Critic and Historian, Is Dead at 72

After his years in Austin, Mr. Ward moved to Berlin in the mid-1990s to work for a planned magazine that had passed away before it was published, and then to Montpellier, France. During his years in Europe he wrote freelance articles, continued to contribute to Fresh Air (where he has been since 1987) and worked as a bartender.

He returned to Austin in 2013 and began work on The History of Rock & Roll, Volume 1: 1920-1963, which was published in 2016. A second volume covering the history of music up to 1977 was published in 2019. However, his publisher declined to publish a third because the sales of the second book had not been as good as the first.

Although well-known names like Elvis and the Beatles are in the first book, there are also those of black artists like Earl Palmer, the drummer of Little Richard’s “Tutti Frutti” and many other classic New Orleans records, and Lowman Pauling, the guitarist and Haupt -Songwriter of the R&B group the “5” Royales.

“There’s this misconception that one day in 1954 Elvis invented it all at once, and that’s not only wrong, it’s really simple and unfair,” he told The American-Stateman Black Music of the 30s, 40s and 40s in 2016 early 50s and the extent to which this shaped the sound from which Elvis emerged. “

The book was in some ways a result of Mr. Ward’s “Fresh Air” work. In sections that lasted only seven or eight minutes, he told compelling, detailed stories about famous and obscure musicians and groups.

“I think this is Ed’s most outstanding work,” said Marcus in a telephone interview. “They were so interesting and well produced and so sharp. I am not ignorant of this, but from time to time he would present a snippet of something I had never heard of. He was a great explorer, a great digger. “

When Fresh Air refused to interview him about his book in 2017, he resigned.

“Leaving ‘fresh air’ was a dangerous thing,” said Patoski, “and it hurt him because people knew him like that.”

Categories
Business

Turkey and China disrupt the multibillion-dollar armed drone market

Turkey and China disrupt the multibillion-dollar armed drone market

The widespread use of drones in Iraq and Afghanistan by the United States to combat and kill insurgents opened a new chapter in the history of the conflict. These soaring and remote-controlled aircraft were able to attack targets with impunity while operators worked safely in a ground control station.

To keep the crews out of danger, the drones were also politically cheap to use over dangerous skies. Now more and more countries like China and Turkey are gaining this military capability for their own ends.

“At the moment we have seen over 100 countries around the world that have used military drones, and that number is growing significantly,” said Wim Zwijnenburg, project manager for humanitarian disarmament at the Dutch peace organization PAX. “We have over 20 states that use armed drones in or outside of armed conflict.”

Although larger and more complex drones like the General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper are more powerful, they are not cheap to develop or operate, which is why smaller drones are becoming more ubiquitous in conflict areas.

Limiting the proliferation of these smaller drones and the ability to arm them is a government nightmare for government agencies around the world.

“Drones are just model airplanes with great sensors. All of these airplanes have a dual purpose and have been used in the civilian sector,” said Ulrike Franke, Senior Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. “In fact, drones have grown enormously in the civilian population in the last five to ten years, so it’s really difficult to control their export.”

Check out the video above to find out why the multibillion dollar armed drone market is in demand beyond the US.