Friday fantasies

Spreading the word. US-based attorney and IP enthusiast Timothy Trainer (Global Intellectual Property Strategy Center, Washington DC), having spotted news of the upcoming release of Shireen Smith’s new book, Intellectual Property Revolution, has drawn the Kats' attention to the fact that he and Shireen have been thinking along similar lines when it comes to raising intellectual property right awareness. Whether the title may be more tasty than tasteful is a subject for debate, but there is no doubting the author's determination to spread the word.  Details of Timothy's book can be accessed here; details of Shireen's launch can be found here.

Examination Guidelines for Patent and Utility Models in Japan. From Hirokazu Nakano (Senior Director for IP, Japan External Trade Organization, Düsseldorf) comes news that the Japan Patent Office(JPO) has updated its Examination Guidelines in order to reduce discrepancies in examination practice and results and to establish easy-to-understand examination guidelines for improving applicants' understanding, adding more case examples and court precedents. These Revised Examination Guidelines were published on 16 September 2015. Together with a revised Examination Handbook for Patent and Utility Model in Japan, the revised Guidelines will be applied in patent examinations conducted on 1 October and thereafter. Do click here for further information and links to downloads.  

Soft spot. This Kat, who has been teaching since 1973, likes to keep tabs on his students as they develop in their respective careers and display their many talents.  Some have excelled in the legal professions, in business, commerce or government, others in quite different fields, including boxing, rugby and basketball.  Curiously, only a relatively small proportion have got stuck into intellectual property from the word "go" and stayed there. One of them is Nick Kounoupias, whom this Kat taught at Queen Mary back in the 1980s and who has recently gone solo. On his new website, beneath a button marked "Academy", lurks a video of Nick speaking about how much copyright means to the very many people who depend on it for their sustenance. It's good to know that, in this cynical age, there are still people who believe that copyright is a force for good and are prepared to say so.

European Patent Office latest.  While Merpel, who has been inspired to write on European Patent Office (EPO) matters is no doubt contemplating the best way to sharpen her quill, this Kat will content himself by merely recording, without any comment, the existence of some astonishing content on the FOSS Patents weblog earlier this week. Readers do not need a fictional feline to assist them in drawing their own conclusions. Readers may also be curious to know that the EPO has featured on Belgian TV. If you click here and register, you may find the sequence between minutes 20 and 31 worthy of note.