Wednesday Wround-up

The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA) welcomes some new officers. Eduardo Pisani was appointed Director General yesterday, a week after Haruo Naito was confirmed as the organisation's new President. The Kats wish them both good luck and suspects that they are in for a busy old time ...


Congratulations to jiplp the weblog on notching up its 100th email subscriber -- just one week after its launch. You can view the jiplp blog, which supports the Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice (JIPLP), here.


The excellent PowerPoints compiled by Tim Frain (Director of IPR, Regulatory Affairs, Nokia) for the talk he gave yesterday at IBC Informa's "Standards and Patents" Conference on the proposed and shortly-to-be-adopted Unified Patent Litigation System (UPLS) can be found via conference media partner PatLit here. From the same site you can also pick up IPKat/PatLit team member Jeremy's PowerPoints on why the UPLS isn't going to change the world.




The 1709 Blog carries news of a rare England and Wales Court of Appeal, Criminal Division, decision in Gilham v R, [2009] EWCA 2293 (Ch), concerning a prosecution for circumvention of technical measures and money-laundering. The highlights of this ruling are the court's admission that the word 'substantial' is a tricky one and its recital of the observation by Lord Justice Jacob that copyright cases involving complex techie issues like this one are better dealt with as civil actions before the Chancery Division. More details here.


If you were ever likely to forget the dangers of estoppel in UK trade mark litigation, there's a salutary warning for you here on MARQUES's Class 46 in yesterday's Firecraft dispute. Thanks, Michael Edenborough (Serle Court) and McDaniel & Co for each sending the relevant details.

Wednesday Wround-up

If you're interested in supplementary protection certificates and the prolongation of patent rights in pharmaceutical and agrochemical products, the SPC Law and Practice 2010 seminar, organised by the SPC Blog, is the place for you: the date, 13 January 2010. Details here.

Right: would you be more disappointed if the image on the right was (i) a stereotyped representation of a pharma scientist or (ii) a behind-the -scenes snapshot from the kitchen five minutes before the drinks are served?


For devotees of patent litigation, CASRIP's Toshiko Takenaka is speaking on the differences between patent litigation in the US and Japan in the afternoon of Tuesday 8 December under the auspices of the PatLit weblog. Admission is free, full details here.

Left: inspired by Japanese martial arts, the Jackson Review in the UK comes up with a fresh approach to patent conflict resolution


If any further justification were needed for running an intellectual property journal in tandem with a weblog, here it is: Syngenta patent expert Dr Michael Kock has drafted an article for submission to the Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice on the patentability of DNA sequences in Europe in the light of a reference to the European Court of Justice for which the oral hearings take place next month. You can read Dr Kock's article and make comments to him by visiting the JIPLP weblog here.


If you've ever dearly wanted to tell the United Kingdom's Intellectual Property Office what you think of its services, here's a golden opportunity. The 2009 Customer satisfaction survey is on its way, in a rather different format from usual. Says IPO:

"We made a decision not to run a single end of year survey but to engage with our customers more regularly throughout the year and by varied means. One of the ways we have decided to use is a perpetual on-line survey (hosted by SurveyMonkey.com).

Left: Not the SurveyMonkey, we hope ...

The survey was launched on 30 June 2009 and will be accessible until 31 March 2010. We are also able to add additional questions throughout the year if there is a specific change in practice which we may wish to obtain feedback on.
We would be grateful if you could spare approximately 5 minutes to complete the survey".

The IPKat hopes that readers of this blog who use the IPO will avail themselves of this facility, and that they'll remember to be generous in their praise of the good things the office does. You can find all the details you need here.


The Sultanate of Oman has taken the step we've all been waiting for, having decided to accede to the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants. The UPOV Convention, as revised in 1991, comes into force with respect to Oman on 22 November 2009. Source: WIPO press release here.

Wednesday wround-up

O death, where is thy sting... ? If your internet connection dies on you, before you check that your cable is still plugged in, that your router is twinkling away and that your server is operational, ask yourself whether you are in the catchment area of Lord Mandelson, a.k.a. The Terminator. According to the BBC, speaking at a government-sponsored forum he said the UK would introduce a similar policy to the French "three strikes" law: "persistent pirates" will be sent two warning letters, before facing disconnection from the network. It has been unkindly said of his Lordship that he understands better than others the operational functionality of a "three strikes" rule since, in the days before his ennoblement, he twice had to resign from a government position on account of his having done nothing wrong. [Thanks, Howard Knopf (Excess Copyright, for spotting this]


... O grave, where is thy victory? Newport, in the beautiful principality of Wales, is the location of the United Kingdom's excellent Intellectual Property Office. Earlier this week the IPO issued a press release with the most depressing title the IPKat has ever seen, bearing in mind how many patents are optimistically filed and how many inventors' aspirations are mercilessly crushed beneath the weight of development costs, competition and unresponsive consumers. The title reads thus: "First Minister Rhodri Morgan guest of honour as ideas of the future are buried in Newport". The press release, which is not as miserable as its title, can be read here.


Young, gifted and ... suitably qualified. Earlier this week the IPKat announced the launch and inaugural meeting of IPSoc, the new organisation for bright, young, dynamic, charming and suitably qualified IP practitioners. The response has been terrific, not least from bright, young, dynamic, charming in-house IP practitioners who wanted to know why they had been excluded from IPSoc membership. The good news, say twin IPSoc powerhouses Charlotte and Juliette, is that

"Due to popular demand, the in-house issue was raised with the IPSoc committee which has voted in favour of removing the private practice restriction and therefore admitting IP practitioners who are in-house and fulfil our qualification criteria.

We would be extremely grateful you would post a further ad on IPKat to this effect - the Standing Orders of the Constitution and membership forms have been amended to reflect this and can be accessed from our http://www.ipsoc.org/ holding page".

The IPKat is delighted to oblige, adding that the ability to execute a graceful u-turn -- though not an admission criterion for IPSoc -- is an inestimably valuable talent in later professional life.

Wednesday wround-up

If you've not yet voted in the great "Can You See the Curia Artwork?" speed-poll (see story here), you still have a few hours in which to do so.


The United Kingdom's Intellectual Property Office is urgently seeking responses from stakeholders with regard to UNCITRAL's proposals on security interests in intellectual property. For details click here (you can follow the links there if you want more information). Incidentally, the IPKat wants to express his pleasure that the IPO is taking an interest and is prepared to involve itself; he wonders how many other national IP offices have done the same, since he hasn't heard so far of any equivalent initiatives.


Those IP haikus are still coming in thick and fast, together with some excellent non-haikus (though they're disqualified from the competition -- for which you can obtain the details here -- they are still liable to be published). Particularly enjoyable was a parody of Shakespeare's "To be or not to be" speech. Remember, the prize for the best IP haiku that is submitted in compliance with the rules is complimentary admission to CLT's annual Copying Without Infringing one-day conference, plus a decent lunch.


Have you ever been caught out, writing about how someone "patented a trademark"? The IPKat is thinking of making a short presentation for non-lawyers who are editors, reporters or writers on intellectual property, to help them get their IP concepts right. This will (i) help them to avoid looking like total wallies who don't know their subject, (ii) add to the credibility of their output and (iii) reduce the risk of irate IP owners (and, worse, their lawyers) phoning up and asking for corrections. The Kat needs a minimum of 10 people to make it worthwhile and the cost will be low -- somewhere in the area of £75 plus VAT. This little event will probably be in January/February and will be held in Central London unless there is substantial demand for holding it elsewhere too. If you're interested, email the IPKat here and mark the subject line "IP-write".


An English translation of the Brazilian law that will, depending on your perspective, (i) protect investment in the Olympic Games to be held in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 or (ii) crush meaningful opportunities for competition has now been made available on the IP Tango weblog. You can find it, together with a link to the original Portuguese version, here.


The PatLit weblog is holding a seminar on Tuesday 8 December at which the speaker is Professor Toshiko Takenaka (Associate Director, Graduate Program in Intellectual Property Law and Policy Director, CASRIP). The subject of her talk is "Patent litigation in the US and Japan: what's the difference?". The event runs from 5.30pm to 7pm and will be accompanied by refreshments. There is no charge for admission. For further details of the speaker and venue, and to reserve a space, click here.