OHIM prize essay; the AIPPI needs you

The IPKat is pleased to remind his readers of the Annual OHIM Award 2007/2008 for the best dissertation in the field of Community trade marks and designs. The good news is that

"The prize, which is organised and financed by the OHIM, awards EUR 15,000 to the author of the winning dissertation and EUR 7,500 to the author of the second best dissertation. Both of the winning authors will have the opportunity to complete a five-month paid traineeship in an OHIM department.

Right: Oliver is a prize-winning cat. Modesty forbids him from boasting about what he wone his prize for, but he is reputed to be very popular with the ladies.

The competition is open to graduates who have studied or are studying a post-graduate course in one of the Member States of the European Union. The course must include subjects related to Community industrial property.

The programme has three main objectives:

* Promoting and encouraging at university level, a better knowledge of Industrial Property Rights;

* Fostering and deepening relations with European education institutions and research centres in the field of Industrial Propriety;

* Encouraging students to acquire professional expertise in the fields of Community trade marks and designs".

Says the IPKat, someone - possibly a bureaucrat from birth and with obsessive tendencies - must have had fun drafting Article 5 of the Regulation governing the ‘OHIM Annual Prize' for the best dissertation in the field of Community Trade Marks and Designs. This provides as follows:

"The dissertation

The dissertation must be an in-depth analysis of a subject related to Community trade marks and designs.

It must be a minimum of 40 pages and a maximum of 70 pages (approximately 30 lines per page, font size 12, excluding footnotes).

Left: Kat of letters (available from Library of Congress shop)

It must be written in one of the five languages of the OHIM and printed on one side of the page only, in A4 format. However, in order to facilitate the work of the Jury, all dissertations not written in English must be submitted with an English translation [the IPKat adds - European Court of Justice, please take note!].

Dissertations should not include any annex or other document, such as slides, audio-visual material etc.

The first page of the dissertation must contain the following "Solemn declaration" (Annex 2 of the Application form):

‘I solemnly declare that the present dissertation has been written for this competition by myself and without any external help not explicitly authorised. I solemnly declare that the ideas, paragraphs and other extracts taken from or inspired by external works and the bibliographical references used have been cited accordingly.’

The dissertation must be unpublished and original and must be submitted together with the assessment completed by a supervisor in the educational establishment where the applicant is carrying out or has completed the post-graduate course. The supervisor should use the assessment form drawn up by the OHIM (Annex 1 to the Application form).

The deadline for submission of applications is 15 December every year. Any dissertation which arrives at the Office after this date, as evidenced by the postmark, will be considered inadmissible for that year’s annual prize".

The IPKat understands that the UK committee for the AIPPI (the International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (UK website here) is seeking to widen its membership, in particular by securing greater participation from those law firms and companies that do not currently possess any members of AIPPI.

Right: a small but representative sample of the blue-and-white artwork that decorates the AIPPI UK website

This group considers issues relating to all aspects of IP law and practice, with emphasis on what the law is at present and how it could be developed in an international context. As part of this exercise, it considers a number of questions each year, which are then discussed at an international meeting. For example, this year, the meeting is in Singapore and the questions are:

Q193: Divisional, Continuation and Continuation in Part [of Patent] Applications
Q194: The Impact of Co-Ownership of Intellectual Property Rights on their Exploitation
Q195: Limitations of the Trademark Protection.

Next year, the meeting will be in Boston, USA, and the questions are:

Q202: The impact of public health issues on exclusive patent rights
Q203: Damages for trademark infringement through counterfeiting and piracy
Q204: Liability for contributory infringement of IPRs
Q205: Exhaustion of IPRs in cases of recycling or repair of goods.

Answers to these questions are prepared by each national group during the Spring for collation and presentation at the Autumn meeting. In addition, the AIPPI hosts a number of lectures each year, to which prominent international speakers are invited, for example from the Commission, the EPO, OHIM and the ECJ. These are probably the highest calibre lectures on IP in the UK [this is what the UK AIPPI Committee says. The IPKat, who has not been invited to address this group, reserves judgment ...].

Members comprise solicitors, barristers, trade mark and patent attorneys, and in-house counsel. The group also holds a rather good champagne reception every July. Any reader of this post interested in joining (the membership fee is currently £100 pa), should not hesitate to email Michael Edenborough for more information.