Friday frenzies

There are now 37 forthcoming events listed in the IPKat's lovingly updated 'Forthcoming Events' feature, which you will find in the left-hand side-bar of this weblog's front page. It contains some fresh entries which you may not yet have seen. Don't forget to check them out.

The IPKat received an anxious email yesterday from Scott Smith, President and Entrepreneur of BizStarz, based in Sacramento, California. Scott said he was writing "on behalf of all small entrepreneurs", which sounds like a pretty impressive client list. As it turns out, Scott's anxiety is one which all entrepreneurs with a small "e" may be wise to share. Scott refers to the activities of Entrepreneur magazine which, he says, claims to own ALL rights to ALL versions of the word entrepreneur! He writes:

Unfortunately, most people –- including those that use and profit off the word entrepreneur and/or market themselves as being supporters of entrepreneurs –- have been too afraid or apathetic to stand up to Entrepreneur magazine's damaging efforts to monopolize the word "entrepreneur."

The IPKat hasn't heard about this, but wonders if any of his readers have. It would seem dreadful if entrepreneurs were deprived of the right to use this beautiful descriptor {adds Merpel, how come there isn't a decent English word so we have to steal a French one?]. If you've any useful information or words of support, please email Scott here and let him know.


Here's a headline you don't get to read every day: "YouTube helps rights-holders profit from piracy". It comes from SportBusiness.com's BritSport Weekly news circular, and here's the news item that accompanies it. The thesis is that IP right owners choose to place advertisements around pirated video content on YouTube in 90 per cent of cases, in preference to initiating a takedown for the unauthorised content. Unsurprisingly, the article says that "YouTube was pleased with the development of its relationships with rights-holders". A sudden thought occurs to the IPKat: if right holders profit from the location of ads around pirated sites, if they later sue for infringement can the benefit they have derived from it be offset against any losses? Merpel says, it's more serious than that, surely -- isn't there a question of whether the right owners have condoned the infringements altogether?


IP professionals from solo and small practices -- whether in private practice or in-house -- remain welcome to put their names down for the forthcoming meeting of the SOLO IP Group in London on 10 September at which LexisNexis's "champion of the small and medium-sized", Stuart Greenhill, will be saying some choice words (and hearing a few, too!). The initial take-up has been so good that LexisNexis are now sending a team of three, obviously convinced that their main man needs a couple of minders ... If you'd like to attend, you'll find the details here.


It's a while since the IPKat has cited The Onion for making fun of cherished brands, but the US satirical website has come up with a good example of this subtle art today: "Johnson & Johnson Introduces 'Nothing But Tears' Shampoo To Toughen Up Newborns". The text opens with the following declaration:

"After decades of coddling young children, Johnson & Johnson unveiled its new "Nothing But Tears" shampoo this week, an aggressive bath-time product the company says will help to prepare meek and fragile newborns for the real world.

A radical departure for the health goods manufacturer, the new shampoo features an all-alcohol-based formula, has never once been approved by leading dermatologists, and is as gentle on a baby's skin as "having to grow up and fend for your goddamn self."

"We at Johnson & Johnson have been making bath time a safe and soothing experience for far too long," company CEO William C. Weldon said. "Years of pampering have left our newborns helpless, feeble, and ill-equipped for the arduous road ahead."

"It's time our children got the wake-up call that's been coming to them," Weldon continued. "It's time they cried their precious little eyes out"."

Value rating for Johnson & Johnson's "No More Tears" shampoo here.