FRIDAY FEAST

1 A reminder

The Queen Mary Intellectual Property Research Insitute's July IP Chat takes place this coming Monday (18 July), from 12.30 to 1.30pm in Institute's IP Seminar Room of the QMIPRI (John Vane Science Building, Charterhouse Square, London EC1M 6BQ: click here for map). Daniel Greenberg of Adlex Solicitors will be speaking about Trade Mark Parodies and the Black Labour case. Admission is free. For the sake of supplying the right amounts of tea and coffee, please RSVP here.


2 Botswana a positive "basket case" ...

The IPKat found this in the Mmegi Business Week. It's a call to arms by Banny Molosiwa, Permanent secretary in the Botswana Ministry of Trade and Industry, urging her countrymen to make the fullest use of available IP rights both nationally and in the world. She particularly cited the use of IP rights in protecting valuable basket designs made by local manufactureres. Ms Molosiwa also mentioned that Botswana is planning to establish its own national brand.

The IPKat says national branding is the current buzz-word, but isn't it kind of vacuous and even rather dangerous, in that it encourages conformity rather than diversity -- which is a feature of not only African but also many other countries? Merpel says "I thought Botswana already had a rather good brand, as examplified by the Mma Ramotswe stories by Alexander McCall Smith".


3 ... while Ethiopa also looks to IP

allAfrica.com informs the IPKat that the Ethiopian Science and Technology Commission is formulating a policy to protect intellectual property rights in higher learning institutions in the country. Getnet Hunegnaw (Patent Director, Ethiopian Intellectual Property Office, said the policy would be prepared with US$100,000 support obtained from the Swedish government. The IPKat hopes this small but well-aimed investment bears fruit.


4 Ay, there's the rub

This curiosity comes to the IPKat via MARQUES' usefully varied members-only News Channel: the European Commission's Official Journal C 172 informs us that Protected Designation of Origin status has been granted to ACEITE DE LA RIOJA, an extra virgin olive oil from Spain. A note at the end of the journal entry explains:

"Olive oil, now a key element of the Mediterranean diet, has been a basic food in La Rioja, as well as being used for poultices and as rubbing oil, collected by the faithful for use in lamps in shrines and consumed or rubbed on painful spots while invoking virgins".

Indeed ...


5 Bio no-no

The European Court of Justice's ruling in Case C-107/04 Comité Andaluz de Agricultura Ecológica v Administración General del Estado, Comité Aragonés de Agricultura Ecológica was handed down yesterday. This case arose from a challenge to Spanish legislation implementing EU rules on the lawfulness of using terms such as "bio(logical)" on products that were not organically produced. The ECJ ruled that, while Article 2 of Regulation 2092/91 did not initially prohibit the use of such terms, it did prohibit their use following its amendment by Regulation 392/2004. The IPKat sees this as a means of keeping certain terms ("eco(logical)" is another one) free for accurate descriptive use, thus complementing national and Community trade mark law.