FORTHCOMING ATTRACTIONS

It's back to work for the European Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance and here's the agenda for the next fortnight. Big events for IP enthusiasts include

* Tomorrow, Tuesday 7 September: Opinions C-207/03 Novartis and Others and C-252/03 Millenium Pharmaceuticals (Advocate General Ruiz-Jarabo Colomer advises the ECJ on applications for a preliminary ruling on the term of supplementary protection certificates for medicinal products which are first marketed in Switzerland before they hit the market in the EEA).

* Thursday, 16 September: Judgment C-329/02 P SAT.1 SatellitenFernsehen v Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (the result of an appeal against the CFI's "salami-slicing" approach, when refusing to allow the registration of the word mark SAT.2 for satellite services on the ground that it was not distinctive).

* Also on Thursday, 16 September: Judgment C-404/02 Nichols (ruling on a preliminary reference on the registrability of common surnames as trade marks).

* Tuesday, 14 September: Judgment T-183/03 of the Court of First Instance in Applied Molecular Evolution v OHIM (an appeal against the refusal to register as a Community trade mark the words APPLIED MOLECULAR EVOLUTION).

The IPKat notes that there are plenty of hearings on IP-related cases too, thus guaranteeing that the current flood of IP Euro-litigation through the courts of Luxembourg is unlikely to dry up in the near future.