"This is such a one-sided 'debate' due to IPKAT censorship of contradictory comments". This extraordinary statement was posted by an anonymous commenter today at 11:32:00, referring to the string of comments received in the wake of the Communique issued this morning by the Administrative Council of the European Patent Office, posted by this blogger and without comment
here. For the record, Merpel has herself posted the following at 12:09:00 GMT:
"Merpel has moderated all the comments on this thread this morning. She has not had reason to censor, disapprove or not post any comment. So the debate is one-sided because the comments have tended to be reflecting the same viewpoint. ...
As it happens, Merpel would greatly welcome an alternative viewpoint in this debate. If you (or any other anon) has submitted a contrary viewpoint, please do so again and it will DEFINITELY be approved unless it is unpublishable".
To remind readers, this weblog does welcome serious comments, whether they agree with the positions taken by the IPKat and Merpel or not. This blog does not however welcome gratuitous abuse of bloggers or fellow comment-posters and it does not encourage obscenity. This particular debate has been unanimously cynical of the Administrative Council's motives and actions; commenters are disgusted by what they see as an attempt to sweep matters under the carpet,
Forthcoming events. With the New Year break approaching, you may be wondering what's in store for you in the coming year. Well, the IPKat's
Forthcoming Events list is the shortest it has been for a while, since there are no further conferences and seminars listed for 2014 and the 2015 list is still pretty short. Good news is that, being short, it will take less time to check it out. so why don't you?
This very afternoon the IPKat's friends in the
Anti-Counterfeiting Group and
British Brands Group launch the Manifesto for Brands. This Manifesto outlines what brands already deliver for the UK and proposes a six-point plan on how they can deliver more:
- Place brands firmly within the UK economic policy
- Provide the environment for brand growth
- Stop the trade in fakes
- Encourage companies to invest in brands
- Help people to make informed buying decisions
- Allow communication with consumers
The Manifesto can be downloaded from the BBG's website
here.
Around the weblogs. Fellow Kat Darren's
post earlier this week, "Hurray for judicial sense on product by process claims - Birss triumphs in Hospira v Genentech", has attracted a welcome and gratifying degree of attention from our patent-oriented readers, showing that the patent fraternity is interested in matters other than office politics; this blogpost has even received a
follow-up from the same author. Meanwhile Katfriend Suleman Ali has written his take on the same case for PatLit,
here, Moving from patents to pirates, if you thought you'd heard the last of The Pirate Bay, well, maybe you soon will: news from Sweden appears on the 1709 Blog
here via Ben Challis. On Afro-IP, Caroline Ncube reports on the
latest news of South Africa's plans for amending its plant breeders' rights legislation. On IP Draughts, Mark Anderson
lists 10 tips for dealing with non-performing licensees
[this Kat has a few more, but they're not as constructive ...]. Finally, the Class 99 design law blog
chronicles a further recent refusal of the Intellectual Property Enteprise Court, England and Wales, to grant "bonus damages".
This very afternoon the IPKat's friends in the Anti-Counterfeiting Group and British Brands Group launch the Manifesto for Brands. This Manifesto outlines what brands already deliver for the UK and proposes a six-point plan on how they can deliver more:
