Monday miscellany

A couple of patent-y things happened last week. First, the Court of Appeal for England and Wales dismissed an appeal against the validity of the patent -- and the supplementary protection certificate based on it -- in Generics (UK) Ltd v Daiichi Pharmaceutical Co Ltd and another [2009] EWCA Civ 646. You can read all about this decision on The SPC Blog here. Secondly, on Friday Mr Justice Floyd gave ruled on the scope of injunctive relief to which MMI was entitled in (Patents Court, England and Wales) in MMI Research Ltd v Cellxion Ltd and others [2009] EWHC 1533 (Pat), where Cellxion (i) craftily tried to limit the scope of the injunction by invoking Crown use and (ii) had a go at getting a stay of the injunction pending a possible appeal. To find out what happened, you can visit PatLit here for further information.

The IPKat's friend David Musker (Jenkins), left, has just informed him that his 2001 book The Design Directive is now available on his firm's website here. Says David, modestly: "It sold well through CIPA, and formed the basis of the first part of my later book Community Design Law: Principles & Practice, but is now out of print. I have made a few corrections, but it is largely as published - opinionated, but often not far wrong!".


A bright, bouncy, dynamic and initiative-rich friend of the IPKat has written to inform him as follows:

"I am looking for a role as an IP lawyer. I qualified in Australia in 2001 and I am arranging to be UK qualified. I have broad commercial experience, and specialist IP law experience. My most recent UK role was as an IP lawyer and my remit included advising, filing and prosecuting, opposing and invalidating trade marks and preparing cease and desist letters. It also covered the law of copyright and passing off. Previously, I worked as an in-house commercial lawyer, and at the British Broadcasting Corporation as an IP litigation lawyer. I am particularly strong with collecting relevant evidence and turning a large amount of relevant evidence into strong witness statements. I am confident and outgoing, and meet challenges head on. I take a solutions-based approach, and am committed to my IP law career. I would love to hear from you".

If you'd like to know more, email the IPKat here and he'll forward your details.


The IPKat's copyright-shaped friend Gwilym Harbottle writes to him:

"As you may remember we are running a Copinger competition [details here]. The supplier of the best comment on or suggestion for improvement of the current (15th) edition wins a free copy of the next (16th) edition and its supplements. This is actually quite a worthwhile prize in financial terms – the present ed. plus 3rd supplement are retailing at £545.

There's now less than a month to go (31 July 2009), but unfortunately, despite your kindly featuring us on the IPKat some time ago, the dedicated competition mailbox (Copinger@hogarthchambers.com) has received vastly more spam messages than competition entries".

The Kats -- whose mailbox suffers from the same malaise -- do hope that their readers will rise to the occasion and come up with some good suggestions.