Friday fantasies

There are so many Forthcoming Events on the IPKat's list that even he can't keep up with them.  Do check them out!

In all due modesty, the IPKat was thrilled to be listed in The Times Online yesterday as a "Best Legal Blog" in the UK.  Sadly, since this feature lives behind a paywall, he can't throw you a link to it, but what made him really happy is that a weblog that covers a niche subject like intellectual property can be spotted and given some recognition even when compared with blogs that cover far more general -- and popular -- topics.  Merpel adds, a big thanks is owed as usual to the IPKat's readers, whose questions and comments have done so much to add spice to the Kats' offerings.

Are you an author in search of a subject to write about?  If so, here's a fresh list of intellectual property-related subjects for which the Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice (JIPLP) is seeking articles. This list reflects at least in part the hopes of readers and subscribers, so you can be sure that if it's published in JIPLP, someone other than you, the editor and the proof reader is likely to read it. If none of the articles listed here appeals to you, JIPLP is always ready to negotiate ...

The world's response to scam sites?  Right now, an
elite squad of hand-picked tortoises is being trained
to pursue the perpetrators ...

Demands for payments reach Galapagos.  This is not a reference to the volcanic archipelago from which, from time to time, there is an eruption of giant tortoises, but rather to the fact that the IPKat is grateful to Maria Nichol (Galapagos NV) for drawing his attention to the firm and formal-looking demands of ECTO SA for payment in respect of a trade mark renewal (you can see for yourself here).  Since the MARQUES Class 46 weblog posted on its most recent list of websites that give warnings about unwarranted demands for payments for services and directory entries, another three countries have emerged as providing information for IP owners and their advisors -- the Czech and Slovak Republics, followed by Ireland.  The IPKat is upset that there is still too little warning information available.  Merpel wants to know why, when almost every day there seems to be a new research project on the cost of patents or their impact on the economy, no-one seems yet to be commissioning or carrying out any research into the impact and effect of these parasites on the IP system.  Well, what are we waiting for?

Who wants to see court documents anyway? Who cares?  "Open justice and access to documents: can the Patents Court lead the way?" is the title of a thought-provoking piece hosted on PatLit here, which attacks the current archaic manner in which court documents must be sought in the internet age -- but which offers hope that some progressive thinking, and a lesson or two from the United States' experience of PACER, can improve the information environment.

If you're interested in the way that the press use (or abuse) the statutory exceptions and defences to copyright infringement when helping themselves to works generated by third parties, you've got something in common with talented young Polish lawyer Grzegorz Pacek, who is writing a PhD on this very topic under the auspices of the Jagiellonian University in Cracow.  Though he is mainly focusing on Polish law, he'd like to hear from people in other jurisdictions who have interesting insights, war stories etc. More details here.  You can email Grzegorz here.


An experienced and naturally non-cynical patent practitioner has emailed the IPKat with the following:

"We have an old case on which we filed a response to a European Patent Office examination report just under five years ago. We have just received a new report in which the normal four month term has been unusually shortened to three months. It's good to see that the EPO is keen to speed up the examination process, and is going about it so symmetrically".