Recent publications

From the beginning of 2008, Oxford University Press took over the publication of the Reports of Patent Cases--a series that goes back to 1883 and which is mandated by statute--from Sweet & Maxwell (publication of the RPCs is put out to tender; the series is published for the UK IPO). Mary Vitoria QC remains the editor. There are two main changes, so far as the IPKat can see. One is that the RPCs now have a neat web page of their own. The other, to the annoyance of the postal services, is that it now comes out once a month instead of fortnightly. For those who like statistics, the first six cases reported this year are evenly split at 3-3 between patent and trade mark decisions. Paper subs start at £360.


Meanwhile at LexisNexis, the black shiny Intellectual Property and Technology Cases continue apace. The IPKat visited the website printed inside each issue, here, but came away from it several minutes later without having been able to find its price. He wonders what would be the minimum number of clicks from that page to a page containing IP&T subscription details, assuming that the person looking for information on IP&T doesn't already know where to find it.


The Kat receives occasional copies of Product & Image Security, which styles itself as "official journal of Product & Image Security Foundation". There's not a lot of legal analysis, since its prime readership is people who trust technology more than lawyers. If you like to have your products lasered, electro-tagged, holographed, DNA'd or painted luminous yellow until you choose to market them, this is the publication for you. It's £75/140 euro a year, but the Kat suspects that it's so advertising-driven that a determined haggler could probably negotiate a good personal rate without denting profit margins too much. Details here.


Now, this isn't a periodical -- but it's a real curiosity. Music 2.0 is a collection essays by Gerd Leonhard (co-author of The Future of Music). Gerd is a blogger and a visionary, though those of make our livings from copyright-based business models may not always (or ever, says Merpel ...) like his messages. These essays are drawn from Gerd's blogsposts and they are as opinionated and provocative as he is. You can order this book, or download it and pay whatever you want for the pdf, here. Whether you read it or not, it asks a lot of difficult questions should under no circumstances be ignored.