Weekend items

Last week was a very good week for the IPKat weblog. The site received 3,564 casual visits, breaking the 3,500 barrier for the first time. Sunday's total of 270 was also a record for a "non-work" day. On that day the IPKat's email circular list reached an all-time high of 729 readers. Thanks, all of you, the Kat says, for your continued interest and support.


Congratulations to Mr Justice Lawrence Collins (left) on being the first solicitor to be elevated to the Court of Appeal for England and Wales. Intellectual property enthusiasts will recall his rulings in Polydor Ltd v Brown [2005] EWHC 3191 (Ch): ignorance no defence to copyright infringement action in respect of connecting a computer to the internet so that others could access audio files; Sawyer v Atari Interactive Inc [2005] EWHC 2351 (Ch) - English courts had jurisdiction to hear software dispute even though claim served in US; General Cigar Co v Partagas [2005] EWHC 1729 (Ch), the nightmare CIFUENTES/CIFUENTES WINKS trade mark infringement case; Sony v Nuplayer Ltd [2005] EWHC 1522 (Ch) - the fact that a trade mark was not visible at the point of sale of goods did not mean that there was no infringement. The IPKat seems to recall that, when still only a Deputy Judge, Lawrence Collins got it right in Design Guild v Russell Williams, a controversial artistic copyright infringement case in which the House of Lords rapped the Court of Appeal over the knuckles for over-interference in the trial judge's findings of fact and reinstated his ruling that the claimant's copyright had been infringed. Good luck, says the Kat.


Another wiki is up and running, this time from veteran IP enthusiast Peter Groves. WikiIP is still in its early stages, consisting at the moment of a basic framework plus a batch of Google-supplied ads. If you'd like to post some copy on it so that everyone else can edit it, or even if you just want to email Peter and let him know your thoughts, feel free to do so. Good luck, Peter, add the Kats - we'll be watching!

Right: "Gotta Keep Searchin' ...". This attractive young lady was thrown up on a Google image search under the term "wiki"


Haikus are coming in thick and fast as the IPKat's latest competition gets more popular. The object of the exercise is to compose, in haiku format, an email disclaimer. If you're planning to enter, you've still got plenty of time - the closing date is 5 February 2007. Best entries will be published, of course.