Monday Miscellany

Not long until Christmas now! Before we all start wrapping our presents (if you haven't already) and making the journey back home for the holidays, you can find out about IP events, job opportunities and news here.

Is this Kat in awe of Christmas, or 

the wonder that is IP law... who knows?

Events

Sir Richard Arnold, Westminster Law School Annual Lecture

Sir Richard Arnold, Visiting Professor at Westminster Law School and recently appointed Court of Appeal judge, will be delivering his Annual Lecture on 4 February 2020, at 5:30pm-7pm at Westminster Law School, 4 Little Titchfield Street, London, W1W 7BY. 

Sir Richard Arnold's lecture will be on 'Issues and Developments in Entertainment Law: an intellectual property perspective', covering a variety of current issues and developments. The lecture is free and open to all, and you can register here.

Search Matters 2020 - Training event for patent search professionals

The European Patent Academy will be hosting this year's Search Matters conference on 11-13 May 2020, at The Hague, Netherlands.

The conference aims to deliver workshops and lectures with a special focus on disruptive technologies such as 3D printing and AI, and give the chance to meet their examiners to gain an insight into how they tackle the complex task of searching the ever expanding prior art. Their popular “at-the-desk” sessions will also offer a limited number of pre-registered participants the opportunity to talk to examiners individually and gather first-hand information about their search strategies in specific technical areas.

Further information can be found here.

IP Transactions: Law and Practice - UCL IBIL

The UCL Institute of Brand & Innovation Law will be holding a course convened by Mark Anderson (Anderson Law LLP) and Prof. Sir Robin Jacob (UCL) on 20-24 April 2020, at UCL Faculty of Laws, Bentham House, Endsleigh Gardens, London, WC1H 0EG. 

Each day of the course focuses on a different market or practice area, provides instruction on legal and commercial topics that are relevant to IP transactions in that area, and gives an introduction to the IP agreements that are encountered.

The topics covered include IP aspects of mergers and acquisitions, information technology contracts, agreements in the life sciences sector, contracts with universities and government bodies, and agreements in the media and consumer goods sector.

The deadline for registrations is 31 January 2020 (or earlier if the course is full), and you can find more details here.

Job Opportunities

Internship with WIPO's Traditional Knowledge Division 2020

WIPO's Traditional Knowledge Division is looking for an intern to work with them in Geneva as soon as possible in 2020 for an initial period of six months, with possible renewal for a further six month-period.

The ideal candidate would have a background in intellectual property law, an advanced degree (Master, PhD etc.) and an interest in the relationship between IP and traditional knowledge, genetic resources and/or traditional cultural expressions. Above all, the candidate should have excellent research and writing skills in English, and, preferably, some project management experience.

If you wish to be considered, send your CV and a short motivational letter of no more than 400 words (and not other attachments) to grtkf@wipo.int before 10 January 2020. Further information can be found here.

Lecturer in Bio Law - Brunel University London

The College of Business, Arts & Social Sciences is looking to appoint a Lecturer in Bio Law in the Division of Private and Commercial Law, to join the Brunel Law School. This is an exciting opportunity to pursue research related to areas such as social and ethical dimensions of Bio Law and health care, bioethics, medical law and AI and health care.

The deadline for applications is 12 January 2020, and you can find further details about the position here.

Early Career Fellow in Intellectual Property Law / Lecturer in Intellectual Property Law - The University of Edinburgh

Applications are invited for a post in IP Law at Edinburgh Law School. The School has existing strengths in IP Law including in copyright, designs, trade marks, IP enforcement, international IP, IP and the creative industries, and IP and human rights. The postholder will have excellent IP law research and teaching abilities complementing existing strengths and providing a basis for expanding the School’s IP law research and teaching. Current requirements include teaching and supervision in patent law and trade secrets and applications from candidates with expertise and research interests in patents and trade secrets are particularly welcome.

The deadline for applications is 31 January 2020, and you can find more information here.

Fellowship in Empirical Intellectual Property/Internet Law Research - ETH Zurich

The Centre for Law & Economics at ETH Zurich is inviting applications for a Fellowship in Empirical Intellectual Property Research.

The fellow will work on quantitative empirical or experimental research on IP law and/or Internet law (privacy, automated decision-making, IT security, legal tech etc.). The goal of this fellowship is to enable fellows to devote one to two years on empirical research in preparation of the academic legal job market. Fellows will be able to pursue their own research agenda in a highly research-focused environment at a leading research university.

The deadline for applications is 15 February 2020, and you can find further information here.

IP News

European Copyright Society gives Opinion in the Brompton case

The European Copyright Society has issued an opinion in Brompton Bicycle v Chedech / Get2Get, case C-833/18 (in progress). The opinion can be found here, and recommends that the AG and court do not adopt either the multiplicity of shapes nor the causality approach (Doceram) but, instead, apply its well-established case law on the copyright principles of idea/expression dichotomy, merger doctrine, the non-protection of functionalities and the originality requirement to reject the copyright protection of the Brompton bicycle.

Parasitic copying - how to fight it

British Brands Group, in conjunction with IPTogether, has recently published a 'Brief Guide - An SME's checklist against parasitic copying'. You can download the guide via the British Brands Group webpage here.

Study on Illegal IPTV in the European Union

Funded by the European Union Intellectual Property Office, the Centre for Intellectual Property Policy and Management (CIPPM) of Bournemouth University, has just published a report illegal IPTV. It is the first major study that reviews the existing literature, the legislative framework and case-law in the EU and provides structural analysis of existing business models with regard to unauthorised delivery of television content over the internet. In addition, the study provides the first assessment results of the magnitude of illegal PTV across the EU in terms of active users and unlawful revenue obtained from infringing activities. See further here.