COMPETITIONS GALORE!!

Limericks

Tomorrow is the last day for the submission of limericks in the IPKat's competition to win free admission to CLT's 10th Annual Intellectual Property Law Conference, Cafe Royal, next Tuesday 24 January (details of competition and conference here). IF the IPKat hasn't acknowledged your entry, can you please re-send it? This because, when he was deleting a pile of what appeared to be junk mail from his Yahoo! trash can, the Kat noticed the word "Limerick" flash across his path of vision as an email subject-line, just as the putative junk was irredeemably eliminated.


Cat caption

You've still got till Thursday 26 January to submit a brilliant caption to match the picture (right). The prize for this is free admission to the IAM/CPA conference on 7 and 8 February, 'The Business of IP: 10 questions the CEO will ask in the next 5 years' (details of competition and conference here).

The conference organisers have just published a press release, which reads as follows:

Intellectual Property leaders unite to select first inductees into Hall of Fame

The first inductees into the IP Hall of Fame are to be announced at a gala dinner to be held in London on 7 February 2006. Organised by Intellectual Asset Management magazine (IAM) and leading IP management specialist CPA, the event will honour those who have made an outstanding contribution to intellectual property.

Joff Wild, the Editor of IAM magazine, says: "Intellectual property is now widely seen as a business asset of pivotal importance. Our aim is not only to acknowledge the vital role played by both individuals and organisations in developing today's vibrant IP environment, and in ensuring its continued health, but also to show how central IP is to the global economy and to the well-being of people around the world."

Maria Parker, Head of Global Marketing at CPA explains: “The Hall of Fame concept was developed during CPA and IAM’s collaboration on IP Review Live, a conference taking place in London on 7/8 February 2006, which is aimed at demystifying IP as a business asset. Researching the conference confirmed to us that there are many individuals and organisations who have contributed greatly to the development of IP, but whose role all too often goes unnoticed outside the IP arena.”

Over the last few months, a team of a panellists made up of leaders from business and the law have produced a list of nominees who they feel have made an outstanding contribution to IP. The panellists are now in the final stages of voting for the individuals that will finally be inducted into the Hall of Fame. The results will be made public at the dinner on 7th February.

The panel of 18 experts, chaired by Joff, are all significant figures within intellectual property and have wide knowledge of, and experience in, the business of IP. They include Todd Dickinson, current head of IP at General Electric and a former Commissioner of the US Patent and Trademark Office; Anne Gundelfinger, the President of the International Trademark Association (INTA) and Vice President & Associate General Counsel at Intel Corporation; Ciaran McGinley, Head of the President's Office at the European Patent Office in Munich;and Melvin Garner, the President of the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA). The full list of panellists can be found below. Each of the experts was asked to select five individuals who they felt merited a place in the IP Hall of Fame and to explain why. A short-list was then compiled, from which the final selection is now taking place.

The IP Hall of Fame will continue to welcome new inductees on an annual basis. CPA and IAM also plan, post launch, to develop an IP Hall of Fame online museum and resource centre, designed to make intellectual property issues more accessible to the general population.

So, if you want to participate in a little bit of IP history, now's your chance.

Mickey Mouse: he's famous and he's a personification of intellectual property - but does he have what it takes to gain admission to the Hall of Fame?


Trade Marks at the Limit

Edward Elgar Publishing, who are bringing out a collection of essays called Trade Marks at the Limit (details here) this April, have kindly agreed to offer a copy as a prize for yet another IPKat competition. This time the competition is a creative one - can you conjure up a really punchy advertising slogan to suggest that (i) it's cooler to drive a Nissan than a BMW, or that (ii) people should celebrate major events in their lives by drinking tea in preference to Champagne, or that (iii) the place to dine out at is KFC, not Maxim's. You can enter the competition as many times as you like between now and 10 April: just send your slogans here. The best will be published (assuming that they're not actionable ...)

If you want further information about publication of Trade Marks at the Limit, just email IPKat co-blogmeister Jeremy here. If you're on his "information list", or if you buy the book direct from the publisher's website, you'll get a 10% discount.