Monday miscellany

Some forthcoming events. The IPKat was in transit on Friday and didn't have a chance to remind everyone about his Forthcoming events page.  To make amends, he's doing so now.  In doing so, he particularly wants to mention the following:

• The IPKat's free peer-to-patent seminar on the afternoon of 6 June 2011 now has 42 registrants, but there's still room for more.  See you there?
  
• Myles Jackson (Director of Science and Technology Studies, Polytechnic Institute of New York University), speaks on "Intellectual Property and Molecular Biology: Biomedicine, Commerce, and the CCR5 Gene Patent", on Monday 13 June, 17:30. Bowland Auditorium, Berrick Saul Building, University of York. A video of the event will be added to the IPBio Network’s website shortly afterwards. The event is free. If you'd like to attend, email Berris Charnley.
  
• Details will soon be available for a good old-fashioned debate: "Do we come to praise copyright or to bury it?"  The date is 12 July and the venue will be in Central London, 5pm to 7pm.  

Lost for words. With an unprecedented and possibly never-to-be-repeated admission that he is lost for words, the IPKat's friend and fellow blogger Howard Knopf records the horrific sight (above) of a copyright symbol being claimed as a trade mark.  This Kat has a sneaking suspicion that others may have done this in the past.  Can any readers jog his memory?


Around the blogs.  The Bright Spark's thoughts on Twitter and super-injunctions to protect celebrity privacy can be read here.  A new blog has recently been drawn to the IPKat's attention: it's the IPBio Blog, which is run by a group of scholars who are interested in the past and present of IP in the biosciences.  The Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice's jiplp weblog has been busy this weekend, posting a further note on whether UK patent law recognises a right of repair and an announcement of the journal's online cross-referencing trial.  The SPC Blog carries a summary of the hearing before the Court of Justice of the European Union in two joined cases (Medeva and Georgetown) on the complex web of rules involving patent term extensions.  IP Draughts tackles the tricky topic of licensing IP that you don't actually own.

IP blogrolls.  It's only a few days since the Kat alerted readers to Marty Schwimmer's 2011 IP LAW BlogDex, and here we are with another IP blogroll, this time from the University of Alicante's IP portal. You can check it out here.  Merpel has tied the Kat down in order to prevent him rushing to consolidate the two, and she hopes that some public spirited soul will do it before the Kat can wriggle out of her clutches ...

Would-be patent attorneys in the UK might want to start thinking about revision for the UK finals, which begin this year at the end of October. To this end, Doug Ealey informs the IPKat that, to help candidates plan and possibly coordinate their revision, he has made a 2011 revision schedule which they can consult here, also suggesting past papers to attempt for each of P2, 3, 4 and 6. He adds that this year’s edition of the P2 Study Guide will be published by CIPA in June.


Information released under Freedom of Information Act is not a topic to which the IPKat often turns his attention, so he was amused to read this little gem from Nick Bassil (Kilburn & Strode LLP). 

Subject: Music played to callers while on hold 

Summary of request: The Intellectual Property Office telephone system uses several pieces of music to entertain callers while on hold. In particular, the Trade Marks Examination Section and Trade Marks Tribunals Section seem to use different pieces; one is classical piano music and the other a "country-style" upbeat tune. I request the names of the pieces, as well as the performers, composers or any other information that may be available about them. 

Response: The music we play is provided by Cisco for use on their telephone systems. The two tracks we use are Panjo (country style music for user hold) and Portraire (classical piano music for network hold). I regret that we do not hold any further information on either of these pieces of music.

LinkedIn to Fashion.  The IPKat's friend Rebecca Tilbury (Harrison Goddard Foote) has launched a LinkedIn group, Fashion+IP.  If you think this might be for you, click here.