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Indian Companies and abuse of B1 Visa

Last week Infosys founder was crying out loud in public about how US judicial system was victimizing Indian companies by suing Infosys for misusing B1 VISA.  Well lets simply put it that Mr.Murthy is lying. It is a well known fact that Indian companies like TCS,Infosys,Wipro and even US based companies like IBM abuse the B1 and L1 visas.

Sending in 1-2 years experienced guys in the name of Business meetings cant be any further from truth. Most Indian companies send their resources to Onsite on B1  for short term for various reasons like implementation of a System, or a temporary vacancy or even just like a carrot to motivate employees.

In US a candidate is eligible for B1 VISA    ” if the purpose for your planned travel is to consult with business associates, travel for a scientific, educational, professional or business convention, or conference on specific dates, settle an estate, or negotiate a contract, then a business” as defined in US Govt  Travel Website. Typically Senior Managers who are negotiating contracts, Business Meetings, attending convention are eligible. Typically anyone with more than few years of management experience will qualify for this VISA, but the list of candidates our companies range from a fresher who cant communicate and some who cant even repeat what was taught as part of VISA appearance training.

In past few years the no of candidates who were getting rejected in US Consulates in India, was getting huge. And despite this most companies were still sending candidates who repeatedly mumbled infront of the irritated interviewers. And with Obama Administration tightening screws, there were more questions in Immigration for all Indians and there were cases where B1 holders were sent back after reaching US, and then started the massive investigation into all major Indian companies, and found several discrepancies.

And the increased B1  abuse  is a result of multiple factors, but ultimately  it points to companies margin. Many of the big companies were always reluctant  to file H1B visas for their employees,  considering the risk that they could leave employers anytime in US. And the increased filing costs was also another reason. Meanwhile in the last 5-6 years number of intra company transfers (L1B VISA)  increased but again, it was meant for skills not available in US, and when companies started sending Mainframe and Java candidates to US through L1B, US did not like the idea. So Indian companies had to easier and faster option of B1 VISA’s.

Though Indian companies are trying maximize profits, the chain of steps US has taken over last few years is part of what Obama promised  and what irked Indian Companies. US is trying to protect its Job market, keep some of its Job within US. By making off shoring costs higher and immigration difficult , US Government is well on its protectionist approach. Well more than anyone else, Indian IT companies will be hoping for a change in Republican fortunes in the upcoming elections.

 

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Should you add your Boss as Facebook Friend?

With the advent of  Social Networking like never before, we tend to add a lot of people into our Facebook or Orkut networks, whether it is a school classmate or College Junior or your neighbor 20 years ago or even a stranger who wants to be your neighbor in Farmville.

But what about your immediate supervisor in office? Facebook is suggesting him as a friend but will you add him?. If he is someone who wants to keep his work away from personal life , by sending a request you might put him in an uncomfortable situation, or if he really considers you as a good friend there will be no issues.

After adding him, will you still be posting all the manager jokes or any office related joke? or will you be conscious, at times it can be irritating. And if you are not the one who is bothered by what others  might think, it still can hurt you like couple of Facebook stories where an employee was fired for a comment on her boss  etc.

For many regular FB users it can be restrictive and after a while irritating to watch out for what you are saying. Personally you can add your superiors in FB, when you are moving out of the project,company just to keep in touch if you had a person friendship with them, and it can even help in future. But  adding your supervisor in your FB can be an avoidable pain.

But if he adds you..well there are very few who I have known to decline the request.

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Apple sues Samsung for copying its Innovation

Apple in a bid to threaten competitors from mimicking the ‘i’ devices,  have files a litigation against Samsung for Patent Violation, Copying design , User Interface and Style of its iPhone and iPad. Unlike many other patent suits unlike against Nokia and HTC this time it is more Vague, but nevertheless once again proves that US patent system is growing trolls than innovation.

Apple has complained about shape of the devices, packaging and icons being copied from Apple. Some of the complaints include copying the the “rectangular shape, the rounded corners, the silver edges, the black face, and the display of sixteen colorful icons”, “rectangular handheld mobile digital electronic device with rounded corners” and “rectangular handheld mobile digital electronic device with a gray rectangular portion in the center, a black band above and below the gray rectangle and on the curved corners, and a silver outer border and side”.These are all covered in the US registration Apple has filed for its trade dress registration (Similar to patents but for look and feel).

Ridiculous wordings aside some of Samsung’s Galaxy line surely include a resemblance to iPhone/iPad. But then again Samsung had its F700 and LG had Prada before Apple’s iPhone hit the market. And industry in General has moved and Apple itself have taken many of the features from various existing devices. If having rounded icon was a problem, Apple should be the infringer, because there were many other devices which had icons.

Coming back to icon design Apple has Dress registration for all its icons –

U.S. Registration No. 3,886,196 covers an icon that is green in color with a white silhouette of a phone handset arranged at a 45 degree angle and centered on the icon that represents the application for making telephone calls

U.S. Registration No. 3,889,642 covers an icon that is green in color with a white silhouette of a speech bubble centered on the icon that represents the application for messaging

And the registrations for its music,Photos,Contacts which all have elements which are generally used in the industry. Going by the nature of trade dress registrations, Apple wouldn’t have been able to launch a phone if Nokia,Blackberry et all had filed registrations diligently.

Apple also claims that Samsung has infringed 10 of its most outrageous patents (Maybe half Apple’s patents are of this nature). The list of infringed patents include the following

7,812,828 (the “’828 patent”) Ellipse Fitting For Multi-Touch Surfaces

7,669,134 (the “’134 patent”) Method and Apparatus For Displaying Information During An Instant Messaging Session

6,493,002 (the “’002 patent”) Method and Apparatus for Displaying and Accessing Control and Status Information in a Computer System

7,469,381 (the “’381 patent”) List Scrolling and Document Translation, Scaling and Rotation on a Touch-Screen Display

7,844,915 (the “’915 patent”) Application Programming Interfaces for Scrolling Operations

7,853,891 (the “’891 patent”) Method and Apparatus for Displaying a Window for a User Interface

7,863,533 (the “’533 patent”) Cantilevered Push Button Having Multiple Contacts and Fulcrums

D627,790 (the “’D790 patent”) Graphical User Interface For a Display Screen or Portion Thereof

D602,016 (the “’D016 patent”) Electronic Device

D618,677 (the “’D677 patent”) Electronic Device

With the nature of lawsuits in the mobile and Software space over patents , Microsoft’s battle with i4i assumes more significance to reduce the number of irrelevant and blatantly Generic patents. Also will increase the need for refining the patent law especially related to Software and Communication.