More Wednesday Whimsies

From the IPKat's Turkish friend Mehmet Artemel comes information about the adventures of Hello Kitty, who found herself transformed into a handsome piece of bonnet decoration for a pink Jeep owned by the stylish Ersoy sisters. The vehicle was towed into custody by the traffic police in Kuruçeşme on the ground that the logo had not been recorded in the vehicle's registration certificate. The unlucky girls were fined 66 Turkish Lira. Artemel kindly explains:

"According to Schedule 2 of the Turkish Road Traffic Regulations, car owners are under an obligation to provide requisite evidence that all signs, logos or pictures have been affixed on to a vehicle are subject to the prior authorisation and approval of their rightful owners". 

If your Turkish is up to it, you can read the original, and get to see the Ersoys, here.

A very excited Ben Zevenbergen (from the office of MEP Marietje Schaake) has emailed the IPKat to tell him all about a seminar which Marietje has organised for 7 December -- in the hallowed arena of the European Parliament itself -- on self-regulation of online services. The event seeks to assess the concept critically, taking a careful look at policing the internet. Says Ben

"With ACTA, the review of the IPR enforcement directive and the review of the E-commerce Directive coming to the European Parliament soon, politicians need to be aware of the technical and societal implications of terms such as 'self-regulation' and 'cooperation between service providers and rights-holders.

Also, Europe's credibility in the worldwide information society may be put at risk if we allow for private regulation of content, especially with regards to respect for fundamental rights and promoting a free flow of information abroad".

The striking poster (above) gives you an idea what it's all about. If you click it, you should be able to get it to look bigger. In any event, you can follow the topic and register here, should you wish to do so.


Via Chris Torrero (thanks, Chris!) comes news that a team of researchers from the Technical University of Berlin, examining the interrelation of patents and standards, have prepared a short survey. Now duly enriched and informed by data received from France and Germany, they seek help from the UK. According to information received by the IPKat, Daniel Mansfield (Head of National and European Policy, BSI) says:

"If you have 20 minutes or so to complete the online survey, I know they would appreciate it. The results of the survey will be shared among members of the European standards bodies CEN and CENELEC and could help us as we work on the better use of standards to support innovation and new developments in products and services. 

Your personal details will not be disclosed to third parties, and the researchers will be happy to share any results with you".

Always sympathetic to his fellow bloggers, the IPKat could not help smile at a little exchange between two of them. When he's not industriously solving all the problems past, present and future of the European Patent Office, its president, Benoît Battistelli, is a denizen of the blogosphere -- and what can be more reassuring for the rest of us than to know that our president is rolling up his sleeves, firing up the old PC and giving us a personal glimpse of Life at the Top. His recent post, "European Patent Academy – developing a patent culture in Europe" (here), did not however find much favour with one reader, "Ron" -- who as Ronny Patz is a not inconsiderable blogger and tweeter even though he is not, so far as we are aware, president of anything in particular. Commenting on El Presidente's post, he wrote

"I find this blog post a little confusing. For someone who’s never heard of the academy, this mix of self-congratulation and hardly interesting statistics isn’t what I’d call informative or interesting."

Having read the presidential post herself, Merpel thinks she sees where Ron is coming from. While the IPKat chided her for not knowing about the Academy, since he briefly mentioned it in a post back in April 2010, she reminded him that, as a Kat with a short memory, she could hardly be expected to recall so distant a post. Anyway, the moderator of the president's blog kindly directed Dear Readers Ron and Merpel to the Academy's web page here,  So now we're all happy -- and, if none the wiser, at least we're a little better informed [Thanks, Nick Bassil, Kilburn & Strode, for leading the Kats to Ron's link here to how to handle the Court of Justice's notoriously clumsy website].