Weekend Wonders

Women as patentees. Patently-O's Dennis Crouch makes some fascinating and statistic-based observations on the paucity of women named as inventors. There has been an oh-so-slow but steady increase, from around 1% (between 1790 and 1895) to 9% in 1996.

Right: "Frankenstein Created Woman" was the title of the film, but (as Merpel notes) woman created Frankenstein ...


Lean time for Ranbaxy down under. If you thought that cholesterol was not an Australian problem, what with all that wonderfully lean kangaroo meat to eat, Duncan Bucknell reports that the worldwide Lipitor litigation has now reached Oz, the first-instance decision on Warner Lambert's patent having gone against ambitious generic manufacturer Ranbaxy. Fight cholesterol - eat a kangaroo here and here.


Cliff Richard petitions. The IPKat's friend Stine wonders if anyone has any idea of where she can find the petition that Cliff Richard and his friends sent to the European Commission on the duration of copyright in sound recordings. She had heard that the petition was not yet "official" and that only parts of it has been published. She also wonder whether this petition is the same one as that sent to the team working on the Gowers Review.

Right: Sir Cliff, no stranger to public relations activities, with a Town Crier

If you can help Stine, please post a comment below or email the IPKat here. If you think Sir Cliff Richard should renounce his knighthood for voluntarily attempting to hoodwink the public by seeking an extension of copyright term for sound recordings and performances, click here.


Whatever happened to Galileo? Not the astronomer, the legal case. Back in May 2006 Galileo International Technology LLC and 13 of its corporate brothers sued the European Commission for stealing its name and using it for its satellite radio navigation system project. In in Case T-279/03 the Court of First Instance dismissed the action and Galileo has since appealed to the European Court of Justice in what is now Case C-325/06 PP.

Left: Galileo, annoyed at the theft of his name, now wants to be known as SatNav

The IPKat is really annoyed that no official English translation of the CFI ruling has appeared on the Curia website and wonders if anyone has a copy he can feast on? And can anyone explain why translations have been made available in Latvian, Lithuanian, Slovak and Slovene, but not in the most frequently-used and understood language in intellectual property circles? Is the Court trying to cover something up?