Friday fanfare

Can it really be Friday again, time to check that lengthening list of exciting events? The IPKat's sidebar is burgeoning with goodies. London, Brussels, Brighton, Geneva, Pavia, Paris, Brno, Buenos Aires, Montreux, Sandton: wherever you are, you're never more than a couple of metres away from a group of networking IP-ers ...


Have you signed Dids Macdonald's Downing Street petitions for meaningful punishments and civil relief against design pirates? If not, click here for the background and for links to the petitions [note: you do have to be a British citizen or resident -- but there is no apparent age restriction and you don't have to be sane either].


If you feel in the mood to exercise some aesthetic judgment, patent litigation weblog PatLit is running a poll of its own. There's nothing more serious at stake than the choice of a new logo. If you'd like to take a peep and then cast your vote, the candidate logos are here and the poll can be found in the top right-hand bit of that weblog's sidebar. Though there are six 'possibles' to pick from, it's a bit of a three-horse race at this early stage. The poll closes at one minute past midnight on Tuesday 7 September (BST).


Film of the week? The IP connection isn't immediately apparent from the 56-second YouTube video made for IP recuitment agency Fellows and Associates. The story -- and the link to a most unfortunate goose -- can be found here on the SOLO IP blog.


A couple of plugs for upcoming events: both of which are organised by CLT, are being held in Central London and have a generous two-for-the-price-of-one offer for registrants. First, on 22 September 2009 there's "Handbags at Dawn", the 4th Annual Conference on intellectual property and fashion, sponsored by Fashionista at Law. Details of this event can be found here and IPKat team member Jeremy will be in the chair. Then on 10 November 2009 there's "Protecting Brands Online", chaired by the IPKat's friend and respected colleague Shireen Smith and a revisiting of the issues tackled in Shireen's very popular conference last year. Full details are available here.


IP Bulgaria magazine has issued a call for materials and presentations. Says editorial board member Ivan Ivanov:
"Our aim is to present the Bulgarian IP public with more colleagues from all over the world and with contemporary questions for discussions. If you have material which you like to be publish, please feel free to send it in English with a picture and short presentation of the author. We will be responsible for the translation from English to Bulgarian, but unfortunately cannot undertake the obligation to pay any author's fees".
If this opportunity appeals to you, please email Ivan here and tell him the IPKat mentioned him.


And finally, the legendary Bob Sacoff has thoughtfully suggested something for the Kat's readership to ponder over. He writes:
"This may be beyond your brief, as it is not a case or legislative development, but it's such an interesting site I thought you would like to see it. In the U.S., the design of "useful articles" is not copyrightable, and as I'm sure you know, the seminal case on "separability" is Mazer v. Stein, 347 US 201 (1954). Against that background, check out Things That Look Like Other Things".
Thanks, Bob!
Friday fanfare Friday fanfare Reviewed by Jeremy on Friday, August 28, 2009 Rating: 5

1 comment:

  1. The Wombles are very well connected to the IP legal trade. While it is true that in Wombles vs. Wombles Skips Elizabeth Beresford did not win what was essentially attempted as a passing-off case,

    (Reports of Patent, Design and Trade Mark Cases 1977 94(5):99-102
    Also reported [1975] F.S.R. 488)

    Mr. Justice Walton endeared himself to me by commenting that it was a pity (or words to that effect) that Wombles Skips were maligned, because they were really only doing what the Wombles themselves stood for: the collection of garbage and refuse. So, he was paying tribute to the Wombles. Having read out aloud to our children from the Wombles books, I was very intimate with all members of that tribe, including Great Uncle Bulgaria.

    ReplyDelete

All comments must be moderated by a member of the IPKat team before they appear on the blog. Comments will not be allowed if the contravene the IPKat policy that readers' comments should not be obscene or defamatory; they should not consist of ad hominem attacks on members of the blog team or other comment-posters and they should make a constructive contribution to the discussion of the post on which they purport to comment.

It is also the IPKat policy that comments should not be made completely anonymously, and users should use a consistent name or pseudonym (which should not itself be defamatory or obscene, or that of another real person), either in the "identity" field, or at the beginning of the comment. Current practice is to, however, allow a limited number of comments that contravene this policy, provided that the comment has a high degree of relevance and the comment chain does not become too difficult to follow.

Learn more here: http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/p/want-to-complain.html

Powered by Blogger.