December 19 - 25

This Week in History

Before Zimmerman

DECEMBER 22, 1984 - Bernhard Goetz shot and seriously wounded four young black men when they tried to mug him on a New York City Subway train in Manhattan. Nine days later he surrendered to police and was charged with attempted murder, assault, reckless endangerment and several firearms offenses. A jury found him not guilty of all charges except for one count of carrying an unlicensed firearm, for which he served two-thirds of a one-year sentence. At the time of the shooting New York had the highest crime rate in the United States with 1,100 crimes per 100,000 people. Geotz himself had previously been the victim of a subway mugging in 1981 and soon thereafter began carrying a concealed handgun, even though his application for a permit had been denied. The case against Geotz triggered a nationwide debate on race and crime in major cities and the legal limits of self-defense. Goetz -- who was dubbed the "Subway Vigilante" by the New York press -- was both praised and vilified by the media and public opinion.

Against All Odds

December 23, 1972 - Sixteen survivors of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 were rescued 72 days after their plane crashed in the Andes Mountains. The 45 passengers and crew on board the chartered flight were members of the Old Christians Club rugby team and their supporters. On October 13, the team was traveling from Montevideo, Uruguay, en route to play a match in Santiago,

Nando Parrado and Roberto Canessa (sitting) with Chilean arriero Sergio Catalán

Chile, but the plane crashed near the border of Argentina and Chile in low visibility conditions. Only 29 survived the initial crash and 13 more died in the ensuing weeks. Using a small transistor radio they had found on the plane the survivors learned that the search for the crash site had been called off after eight days. At that point they realized their only hope for rescue was to seek help. But the decision was made to wait nearly seven weeks to allow for summer to begin in the Southern Hemisphere, thus providing warmer temperatures. Due to the high altitude of the crash site and the freezing temperatures on the snow- covered peak, there were no animals or vegetation for the survivor's to eat. As a result the survivors were forced to resort to cannibalism to survive. On December 12, three of the survivors set out to find help. After climbing the mountains to the west of the crash site they saw a valley in the far distance. Two of the men, Nando Parrado and Roberto Canessa, continued toward the valley while the third returned to the plane to report. After hiking for eight days Parrado and Canessa encountered a Chilean arriero,Sergio Catalán, who provided them with food and was able to call for help. The remaining survivors were rescued by helicopter two days later.

Christmas Crossing

DECEMBER 25, 1776 - General George Washington led the Continental Army across the Delaware River at night to launch a surprise attack on Hessian forces stationed in Trenton, New Jersey. The crossing was described as infinitely difficult due to the danger of floating ice in the river. In addition to the crossing of large numbers of troops they also transported 18 pieces of artillery and several horses. The crossing began at 6 pm in poor weather conditions and was not completed until 3 am on December 26. Several hours later Washington's troops won a decisive victory against the Hessians. He then had to lead his troops back across the river to Pennsylvania, this time with 1,000 prisoners in tow.

Emanuel Leutze's depiction of Washington's crossing (above) has become one of the most recognizable pieces of artwork portraying the American Revolutionary War.

Legal Corner - Very Intellectual

Patents, copyrights and trademarks are all forms of intellectual property, but the terms are often misapplied or misunderstood. Here is a quick explanation of what each type of intellectual property is and what they protect.

Patents protect inventions and grant their inventors the exclusive right to make those inventions for 20 years from the date of filing. Patents apply to such things as electronics, pharmaceuticals, and machinery. Patents are granted by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.

Copyright © protects original works of authorship and grants authors the exclusive right to license or sell those works. Copyrights apply to such things as books, movies, and computer software. Copyright exists as of the moment the author creates the work, but to protect the copyright it must be registered with the U.S. Copyright Office. The term of protection for works created after 1978 is the lifespan of author plus 70 years.

Trademarks ® protect the brand identity of products and services in the marketplace and give the owners the exclusive right to sell products using those trademarks. Examples of well-known trademarks include COCA-COLA, APPLE, and CHEVROLET. Trademark protection is limited to the class of goods under which a product or service is sold. Thus it is possible for DELTA Airlines and DELTA Faucets to co-exist and not infringe on one another's rights. Trademarks are perpetual so long as renewal applications are routinely filed with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.

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"I learned that when everything feels hopeless, if you wait a little, sometimes in the walls that seemed to offer no way out, doors you never imagined may appear if you know how to wait."

- Roberto Canessa

Survivor of Flight 571

Side Note

The story of the survivors of Flight 571 is told in the 1993 film Alive.

Historical Archives

Read past editions of our This Week in History newsletter any time in our Archives.

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