IP AND GAME THEORY LECTURE; DELTA BRAND IN TROUBLE

IP and game theory lecture

Just to remind you: IPKat co-blogmeister Jeremy speaks this Thursday, 24 November at 6pm, at Bentham House, University College London, on 'How to Win at Monopoly: Applying Game Theory to the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights'. The lecture, which is free, is part of the Current Legal Problems programme which began more than 55 years ago and which is now published by Oxford University Press.

Do come if you can! Jeremy will be pleased to see you.


Nightmare scenario for brand owners

Delta Airlines, the IPKat thinks, must have a bit of an image problem. If they don't, then this feature in last week's The Onion would have been wasted on its readers. Entitled '133 Dead As Delta Cancels Flight In Midair', the satirical article describes how a 737 travelling from Cincinnati to Salt Lake City was lost with all passengers and crew when cash-strapped Delta cancelled Flight 1060 en route.

According to a statement from Delta, the article reads, the mid-air cancellation was part of the company's plan to cut continental service by 25 percent and emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy with an economically viable business strategy. The piece also describes how passengers on an overbooked flight were dumped in mid-flight somewhere over the Allegheney Mountains.

The IPKat understands how marketing wizards are able to put a spin on almost anything, giving a positive slant to any negative news. However, when the goodwill in a brand is assailed in this manner, it's bad news for anyone investing in it. It seems that there are a lot of hearts and minds to win back out there, but not much of a budget with which to do it.

Delta Airlines' risk-free cancellation policy here
Boycott Delta here; Delta sucks here and here
Build your own plane here
How to do a Chapter 11 filing here