MONDAY'S PICK OF THE DAY

1 Software patents: obituary

The UK Patent Office carries a tidy little summary here of the death of the legislative process relating to the proposed directive on computer-implemented inventions. What the IPKat likes about it is the fact that, since the Patent Office has no particular axe to grind when it comes to software patents, this note is relatively neutral.


2 How are the mighty fallen ...I

Does anyone remember Napster and the confident belief, cherished by a generation of college students, that its then-revolutionary P2P music delivery would change the face of the world we live in? Well, it did -- but the enterprise has not fared so well since its metamorphorsis into a legitimate outlet for paid-for recorded music.

According to this piece in The Register, a recent survey reports that not a single University of Rochester student admitted to buying a song via Napster during the Fall 2004 semester, while eight per cent of students turned to the likes of iTunes and Musicmatch to buy songs they enjoy.



3 How are the mighty fallen ...II

Who is it that goes around capturing princesses? The IPKat has the answer here, via the MARQUES News Channel website. Disney has now enslaved no fewer than eight princesses and is putting them to work in its ruthlessly efficient profit-making machine.

Bereft of the dignity of true royalty, Ariel, Belle, Snow White, Pocohontas, Cinderella, Jasmine, Mulan and Sleeping Beauty are now hard at work selling US$3 billion in lifestyle bras to flat-chested infant females. The IPKat has not forgotten that Pocohontas was formerly a real human being and wonders how she would feel if she knew what was being done in her name.

The real Pocohontas (right) and her Disneyfied make0ver (left)

4 Getting too untidy

OHIM's list of cases involving Community trade marks brought before national Community trade mark courts now stands at 74, drawn from seven jurisdictions (eight, if you count Scotland separately -- which OHIM should, if it treats Belgium and the Netherlands as being separate).

The IPKat has commented in the past on how pleased he is that OHIM is keeping this list, but how poorly organised it is. Please, please, please will OHIM provide more information. Meanwhile, if you want to know which cases deal with infringement, cancellation, revocation or opposition, you have to read them all ...

Says Merpel, tidying up this valuable information and making its access usdr-friendly is clearly a job for tidy-minded bureaucrats, which should make it perfect for OHIM's staff to handle.