Yippee, it's CLIPEE -- but time's running out!

Add a little colour to Jesus College
by attending the CLIPEE conference

One of the very first academics to emerge from the wreckage of the end-of-year celebrations was the IPKat's valued friend and colleague Justine Pila. She had a bit of a surprise, though, when she checked her calendar [note for readers who have never experienced the University of  Oxford: time moves very slowly in institutions that were founded in the 11th century. Watches whizz round far too fast to be of much use, but calendars are just about right] -- she discovered that there were just TWO DAYS left till the closing date for registration for her favourite conference.  With admirable presence of mind so soon after the break, Justine reached for her trusty computer and wrote as follows:

"I am writing to ask whether you might be willing to post a final call for registrations for our second CLIPEE conference -- this time a collaboration between the Universities of Oxford and Bayreuth (organised by me and Professor Dr Ansgar Ohly) -- entitled "European Methods and Interactions in the Field of IP" Please don't worry if you'd prefer not, but if you would be willing the details are here. I am also attaching to this email a copy of our final programme. Registration will close on Thursday (5 January)".

Recognising an order when he receives one, the IPKat was naturally obliged to obey. He also knew, through feline intuition, that the conference itself is coming up very soon, on 7 and 8 January. However, knowing Justine's fabled resilience and inability to refuse a challenge, he told her: "your wish is my command, but first you must give me five good reasons why readers of this weblog should need or want to attend". Well, Justine said she came up with just four, but that's just the quaint Australian way she has numbered them. If you read the following carefully, you'll come to more:

"Four reasons you might be interested to attend our conference in Oxford this coming weekend 

1. Its importance and topicality 

No area of private law has been Europeanised to the extent of IP. In addition, the methods by which the three main IP regimes have been Europeanised differ, offering three Europeanisation case studies. Despite this, there has to date been little sustained consideration of the methodological and institutional aspects of Europeanisation, and little attempt to draw lessons from the experiences of IP for general private law. Further, while the focus of our conference will be on Europeanisation, its results will be relevant to harmonisation in general. Among other things this is because of the “global spread of European style international courts” (K Alter), which has itself been attributed largely to IP. 

Napoleon: ahead of his time? 

2. Its timeliness 

Our aim at the conference will be to use IP as a case study in private law Europeanisation, and to help develop a European legal methodology. Now is an ideal time to pursue this aim. The amount of IP litigation at the domestic and European levels is increasing, the interaction between domestic and European legal sources and institutions is becoming increasingly complex and contested, and further IP Europeanisation initiatives are being pursued. Beyond IP, the Europeanisation of general private law has also been a central focus of European and comparative legal scholars’ work, particularly since the European Parliament's call for the creation of a European Civil Code in 1989. However, and notwithstanding significant investments of time and money, and the publication of many texts, studies, books and articles, general private law remains considerably less harmonised than IP, with projects hampered by disagreement over basic issues of institution and methodology. 

3. Its speakers and format 

The format of the conference will involve 30-minute presentations from senior European judges, practitioners and academics, drawn from the fields of IP and EU Law, on one of the following six topics: models of harmonisation, the pursuit of harmonisation, the creation of European IP courts, the impact of constitutional rights and values on IP, the impact of general EU Law on IP, and the relationship between European and national courts. Our speakers and their topics are shown on the programme attached. Their presentations will be delivered in pairs, interspersed with a 30-minute “questions and discussion” session for each topic. 

4. Its location 

The conference will take place in beautiful Oxford, at one of its most historic colleges, Jesus College [Merpel, who's not great at history, isn't sure whether Jesus is the founder of the college or just a distinguished alumnus. Either way, it looks like a great place to discuss IP ...]."

Please, please, please -- the IPKat adds -- make sure that you come and/or, if you can't come, do forward this to your friends, family, pets and other acquaintances.  It would be far too indiscreet for any of the Kats to name names, but at least one of the speakers on this programme is quite extrovert and gets a huge kick out of speaking to the attendant multitudes ...

IPKat note on the first CLIPEE conference here (for those with a curiosity to know what CLIPEE stands for)