Recent publications

The October issue of Euromoney's near-monthly Managing Intellectual Property is another action-packed thriller - features in this deliciously glossy mag include the following:

* an interview with Lord Triesman (the UK's new IP czar), which leaves the IPKat feeling that he is a well-briefed party apparatchik who has learned his lines and uses all the right words and phrases but is probably being paid to absorb the messages with which he will be bombarded from all sides by some of the most articulate and persuasive lobby groups around. At this early stage it's difficult to get the feeling that he is actually for or against anything except the principle of being reasonable and listening to everyone before jumping to what might otherwise have been intuitive conclusions. Merpel adds, he started 12 out of 15 of his answers with the word "well". Miaou ...

* staff reporter Peter Ollier writes about the rumblings of Chinese companies that have worked out how much more money they can make by establishing Chinese brands in the capitalist heartlands rather than knuckling down to the admittedly lucrative but less profitable serfdom of outsourced manufacture for (principally) US and European IP owners. This piece is of far greater interest than the interview with Lord Triesman and of much more long-term significance too in global terms;

* Garry Booth (a journalist who specialises in insurance and reinsurance issues) talks up the attractions of insuring IP-related risks. The IPKat has read plenty of IP insurance articles that read like advertisements for prospective policy-holders - thie piece has more appeal for those who might be thinking of taking their money.

Full contents and details of this issue here


Intellectual Asset Management magazine is now celebrating the tenth birthday of the Bowie bond - the brilliant way of raising money on the strength of a flow of copyright royalties, or of losing it on an inept gamble, depending on your cultural preferences. The bimonthly Globe White Page title also contains the following:

* an investigation by editor Joff Wild of The Gathering - a small but influential group of IP owners, spanning old and new technologies, which enables its members to share ideas and push together without the hassle and interference of formal membership organisations ...

* an enjoyable if unashamedly predictable romp through the 12 key attributes of a successful Chief IP Officer, put together by Robert Sterne (Sterne Kessler Goldstein Fox) and Ron Laurie (Inflexion Point strategy);

* "Just Say No", a very serious (if correct) argument by the triumvirate of Stephen Haber, Scott Kieff and Troy Paredes that expansion of the US research use exemptions to patent infringement would end up causing more harm than good.