Some reminders ...

Members of MARQUES, the Association of European Trade Mark Proprietors, enjoy an excellent facility as part of their membership package: they have a searchable online database of some 1,300 trade mark rulings drawn from the European Court of Justice, the Court of First Instance, OHIM and the many national/regional courts around Europe itself. If you are a MARQUES member, don't forget to check the database out from time to time: you never know what you might find in it.

Right: the Meerkat family tried using Outlook for their forthcoming events, but it didn't seem to work after the laptop battery ran down ...


If you're interested in the problems caused by the use of IP as collateral and the subtle interplay between finance and IP, you're welcome to attend an informal and friendly meeting of the IP Finance Group in the late afternoon/early evening of Wednesday 30 January, at which Eva Lehnert will say a few words about the UNCITRAL guidelines and what they mean to IP owners. Further details here.


Would you find a weblog on intellectual property law and business developments in Africa handy? If so, click here and register your interest.


The Annual Intellectual Property Round-up Conference organised by CLT takes place in Central London on Wednesday 30 January. If you'd like to attend, or are just curious to read the brochure, the details are here.


A week later, on Monday 4 February, CLT holds its IT and E-Commerce Update Conference, also in Central London. Details are available here.


If you're about to incur any Patent Cooperation Treaty fees through the United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO), take note:

"Notice is given that the fees (chapter1) payable in connection with applications filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty at the UK Intellectual Property Office (RO/GB) are changed with effect from 1 January 2008".

That's yesterday. The Transmissal fee is £55 and the Search fee is £1,125. The fees contain some reductions for e-filing.