Monday miscellany

All Kats are now reporting for duty

Back again! IPKat team member Jeremy is back from his winter break, and bouncing with enthusiasm for the Michaelmas blogging season. Pausing only to thank his colleagues for keeping the blog running so smoothly, the item on his list is a somewhat trivial one -- the magical fascination which he has long had for arbitrary and preferably round figures. While he has been on the sidelines of the blogosphere, the following milestones have been reached:

• This weblog has secured its 6,000th email subscriber and its 3,000th follower on Twitter. The Kat just wants to say "hello" to the newcomers and to assure them that they're very welcome. He, Merpel and the rest of the crew will do their best to keep everyone informed, entertained and if possible excited about the wonderful world of intellectual property, warts and all;
  
  
• Class 46, the European trade mark law and practice blog which is hosted by MARQUES and written by a team of that organisation's members and supporters (which coincidentally include two Kats -- Birgit and Jeremy), has just surpassed the 2,400 subscriber mark and has secured its 1,000th follower on Twitter. MARQUES works very hard to improve the environment in which trade marks are secured, protected and successfully used in Europe and it's good to see that so many people are making use of its information and education services;
  
  
• PatLit, which focuses solely -- as the name suggests -- on patent litigation, now has its 900th email subscriber. PatLit, which has worked hard since 2008 to preach the virtues of cheaper, faster and more efficient patent litigation wherever possible, welcomes offers from potential contributors in major jurisdictions in which it has no author (the United States being the most obvious one);
  
  
• jiplp, the weblog of the Journal of Intellectual Property Law and Practice (JIPLP), now has its 550th email subscriber. jiplp offers readers some samples of its contents, together with news and ideas concerning the journal and requests for articles on specific topics.

Now that Neil and Annsley the AmeriKat are also back on duty, there should be plenty of bright, brisk, bouncy content for IP watchers -- so please stay with us, and be prepared for a busy time!

A recent publication. The IPKat's old friend and occasional sparring partner Professor David Vaver has been so kind as to roll up his sleeves and produce a second edition of Intellectual Property Law: Copyright, Patents, Trade-Marks, published by Irwin Law (web page here).  The Kat would of course have provided a review, but for the fact that Teresa Scassa has done the job rather better, having composed a suitably glowing review on the Osgoode IPIGRAM.  The Kat has always been fascinated by the fact (on which he has previously commented) that David Vaver shares his 'DV' initials with three other icons of intellectual property: Derk Visser, Dirk Visser ... and Darth Vader.


Events and all that. The next few weeks are positively brimming with seminars, lectures, conferences and other opportunities for intellectual property experts and owners, practitioners and pundits to get together and exchange news and views on their areas of expertise.  In particular ...

* With a week and a half to go, Galit Gonen's seminar, "Linkages, marketing theories and secondary pharma patents: a seminar" (full details available here), already has an amazing 78 registrants signed up for it.  This seminar takes place at the London offices of Olswang LLP (90 High Holborn) on Thursday 3 November, from 5.00pm to 6.30pm. Registration is free and there is no registration form. To sign up, just email the IPKat here with the subject line "Linkages" and tell him you're coming.

* Later next month, on Tuesday 22 November, the IP Finance weblog has organised a seminar, “Facts and figures on FRAND licensing for standards-essential IP” (further details available here), also from 5.00pm to 6.30pm -- and also in the agreeably comfortably setting of Olswang LLP's London office.  With nearly a month to go, over 20 participants have signed up to hear the speaker, Keith Mallinson (WiseHarbor),who  a regular guest contributor to the IP Finance weblog on FRAND-related issues. If you'd like to attend this event, which is free, please email the IPKat here with the subject line "FRAND" and let him know.

* One of the panellists on Keith Mallinson's FRAND talk (supra) is the IPKat's friend Richard Vary (Nokia), who is also speaking in his own right in this year's Standards and Patents Conference on 16 and 17 November.  Richard, who is a real FRAND enthusiast, says:

"2010 has seen us move closer to the question that’s been troubling the ICT industry for many years now: how does the FRAND defence work? Germany is perhaps most advanced in its thinking, with the Supreme Court’s Orange Book Standard case being applied this year in yet another IPCom v Nokia decision, and in Philips v Sony Ericsson. The LG v Sony battle saw the Netherlands soften its hardline approach in SK Kassetten. These and more will be considered by the speakers. In particular, I’ll be chairing an Orange Book discussion on the second day. We’re hopeful that one of the Mannheim judges at the centre of these disputes will appear on the panel…"

Standards and Patents is organised by IBC and hosted at the Millennium Hotel London Knightsbridge. Full details of the programme and registration can be accessed here. IPKat readers who quote the IPKat VIP Code FKW82244PLL will receive a 10% discount off the registration fee.


Note for patent-and-standards addicts. The IPKat is again indebted to Chris Torrero for drawing his attention to the Study on the Interplay between Standards and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), prepared for the European Commission and published just last month.  It was produced by the Fraunhofer Institute for Communication System and Dialogic in collaboration with the School of Innovation Sciences at Eindhoven University of Technology, supported by two legal consultants. At 212 pages, it is no mere skimming of the subject. According to the Commission,

"the study suggests that the globalisation of actors and the convergence of technologies call for a global perspective on the interplay between IPRs and standardisation. The policies of the European Union should continue to promote voluntary, market-led standardisation, whereas IPR policies should be set by the standard setting organisations (SSOs) themselves [Merpel is delighted to see the emphasis on voluntary, market-led standards and hopes that the Commission will take the hint and only intervene if things go wrong, rather than leap in first and make sure they do]. Competition policy guidelines should provide safe harbours for SSOs' IPR policies, while supporting flexible and different approaches and business models – provided these do not result in anti-competitive behaviour".

A recent publication. The IPKat's old friend and occasional sparring partner Professor David Vaver has been so kind as to roll up his sleeves and produce a second edition of Intellectual Property Law: Copyright, Patents, Trade-Marks, published by Irwin Law (web page here).  The Kat would of course have provided a review, but for the fact that Teresa Scassa has done the job rather better, having composed a suitably glowing review on the Osgoode IPIGRAM.  The Kat has always been fascinated by the fact (on which he has previously commented) that David Vaver shares his 'DV' initials with three other icons of intellectual property: Derk Visser, Dirk Visser ... and Darth Vader.


Around the blogs.  The City University's City Legal Research blog has smartened itself up and, reflecting the interests of the City Law School, has a high-fibre intellectual property content. This includes coverage of the law school's recent seminar, chaired by Sir Robin Jacob, on the controversial ECJ rulings in FA Premier League v QC Leisure and Murphy v Media Protection Services (noted by the IPKat here).  Meanwhile, PatLit hosts the second in a trilogy of posts commissioned from US law firm Faegre & Benson to explain the impact of the America Invents Act.  Back in Europe, Sophie C. van Loon (Kennedy van der Laan) dissects the ECJ's "who pays for the levy on unrecorded media?" ruling in Thuiskopie v Opus for jiplp.  Ben Challis's post on the 1709 Blog on Fight for The Future deserves to raise some eyebrows -- both among those who are horrified at the thought of Justin Bieber languishing in prison and those who would be only to happy to incarcerate him somewhere soundproof. Finally, on the 19th leg of his grand tour of official intellectual property office websites in Africa, Kingsley Egbuonu has some positive things to say about Ethiopia.