Monday miscellany

Around the weblogs.  First, a couple of milestones: the SPC Blog, which focuses on the narrow if infinitely contentious topic of patent term extensions, has now topped the 1,800 mark for email subscribers.  And the recently reinvigorated SOLO IP blog which, for so long, was stuck on 178 subscribers that people thought we'd forgotten to update it, has now finally hit the 200 mark.  Well done, both blogs!   Elsewhere, the 1709 Blog reports on a fascinating case in which two Bollywood composers manage to execute future assignments of copyright in a subsequently infringed song to a collecting society and a film producer, while PatLit's Stefano Barazza explains the European Commission's comments on Samsung's policy regarding the once-unthinkable notion of seeking injunctions in respect of standard-essential patents.

Red Bus event.  The Art & Artifice Red Bus Event this coming Thursday (click here for details) is full to bursting point -- and it's got an extra special treat for anyone attending: hosts Simmons & Simmons LLP are offering brief guided tours of their art collection for anyone who wants to stay on a bit at the end.  If you're interested, just click the "yes" button on the Art & Artifice sidebar so that the firm can get a rough idea of numbers. 



Computer and Communications Law: here's a grand opportunity to gain an LLM, PgDip [Merpel wants to know if that's pronounced "pig dip"?] or Certificate in Computer and Communications Law from the Centre for Commercial Law Studies at Queen Mary, one of the UK’s leading law schools.  Further details of the course, and registration, are accessible here. 

The Licensing Executives Society Britain and Ireland (= LES B&I) annual conference, "Global Collaborations-opportunities and challenges", takes place in London next week, on 29 October. The venue is the Over-Seas House (left), St James's Street. This Kat understands that it will focus on some of the many opportunities and challenges that companies face in global collaborations. As usual, and as we've come to expect from the LES, the programme is excellent and the speakers are perfectly qualified for their tasks: Sir Robin Jacob, Bob Boad, Tom Blackett and John Noble are among them.  The closing date for early bird booking reductions was today, but Merpel says it's worth nagging them tomorrow too!  Booking details are available here.