SOMETHING FOR THE WEEKEND

Apple claims i and Pod

The IPKat's friend Miri Frankel drew his attention to this delightful snippet from The Onion. Further comment is superfluous ...


Latest IAM

The October/November 2006 issue of Intellectual Asset Management, published by Globe White Page, has now been published. The cover story, prepared by Victoria Slind-Flor, deals with the risk faced by US corporations that shareholder suits may call them to account for mismanagement of their IP portfolios. This is a terrifying prospect. The IPKat assumes that there will be a sequel, covering the risk - which may be greater - that shareholder suits will be brought against businesses that, through negligence or inadvertence, find themselves infringing third party rights.

Other topics of interest in this issue include benchmarking methodologies for assessing the quality of patent portfolios, the use of valuation techniques as a means of smoothing the path towards the conclusion of IP licences and a special focus on IP litigation strategies.

All about IAM here



WIPO hits the 25,000 mark

According to a data-rich press release the World Intellectual Property Organization's Arbitration and Mediation Center has just decided its 25,000th cybersquatting complaint under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), among other policies. The landmark decision involved a domain name to which the Red Lion Hotels chain took exception.

84 per cent of cases resolved so far have resulted in wins for the complainant which is not surprising, the IPKat says, when you consider what a lot of parasitic bad-faith registrations are made, wasting everyone's time and causing so much frustration to legitimate businesses, consumers and web-users alike.

For more about the UDRP and related information, click here.
Cybersquatting and double standards here.


The Lovemarks Effect

In May of each year the British Brands Group (BBG) hosts the Brands Lecture. This year's lecture was given by Kevin Roberts, the Worldwide CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi, on the subject "The Lovemarks Effect". A Lovemark is a "super-evolved brand that forges lasting emotional connections". The BBG has published the full text of Kevin's lecture in a handsome little booklet that is both enjoyable and informative - whether you agree with it or not. Well done, BBG, for enlivening yet another aspect of the continuing debate over brands and branding.

More on Lovemarks here; Love Marx here and here

Postscript

The IPKat reminds his readers (i) that they can receive all IPKat postings on this weblog by email circular if they write to him here and ask to be put on the list; (ii) that details of the IPKat's planned Workshop Sessions on the Gowers Review will be posted in the next week or so; (iii) that they should not forget to have a lovely weekend ...