SOMETHING'S AFOOT IN HAMBURG; LATEST PATENT WORLD

Something's afoot in Hamburg

The IPKat sends his thanks again to Miri Frankel, this time for sending him this lovely picture of a million newly-shredded counterfeit shoes. The photo accompanies this article from the Washington Post about how German customs officers from Hamburg seized what they claim is the world's largest haul of counterfeit goods. The haul included 945,384 pairs of counterfeit Nike sneakers plus 105,000 pairs of fake Adidas and Puma sports shoes.

Bad news for Adidas, says the IPKat - there don't seem to have been any fake Reeboks, a sure sign that the brand is doomed. Merpel agrees - if no-one's copying it, is it really worth protecting?

Reebok's impact on Adidas's profits here and here


Latest Patent World

The IPKat is feeling really guilty, having discovered that he has been carrying the November issue of Informa's ten-times-a-year Patent World around with him for over a week in the mistaken belief that it was one of the large number of Christmas catalogues he's recently received. Sorry!

It's a good issue. Star turns include French academic Pascal Corbel (LAREQUOI) and Peugeot-Citroen patent manager Francis Fernandez writing about ten different uses for patents and how to maximise their effect (the IPKat confesses a weakness for articles that list things), Richard Gillespie (RGC Jenkins) on some of the details of the amendment of the European Patent Convention and a review of the good/bad prospects for IP protection in Kosovo by those twin foes of the Microsoft Word spellcheck Kathryn Szymczyk and Vjosa Osmani (SD Petosevic).

Contents of this issue can be perused here