OF SHARKS AND LAWYERS; LATEST JIPLP

Of sharks and lawyers

Now here's some fun. The Telegraph reports that controversial artist Damien Hirst (he of the shark in formaldehyde) is threatening to instruct lawyers to take action against Simon Phillips, a self-proclaimed internet artist, who appears to have borrowed Hirst's name for the damien-hirst.co.uk website which, he claims, is a work of art. Hirst objects that Phillips was making money from the site, which visitors might take for an official site. If UK domain name regulators Nominet won't bring happiness, he's going to sue.

Damien-hirst.co.uk is not Phillips' only site: other celebrities incorporated into his websites include Tracey Emin and Ken Livingstone.

Left and right: a shark and a lawyer - can you spot the resemblance?

Many people, the IPKat says, rudely say that lawyers are sharks. But here's a man who's prepared to hire lawyers to protect the commercial value of his shark ... Merpel adds, lawyers would really be in trouble if they charged as much for their efforts as Damien Hirst does.


Latest JIPLP

The August 2006 issue of the Oxford University Press monthly Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, edited by IPKat co-bloggie Jeremy, is now out. Of particular interest are the following items:

* Veteran lawyer/commentator, IP philosopher and expert on coffee-makingMario Franzosi (Franzosi, Dalnegro, Pensato, Setti) describes a very Italian solution to design-related disputes - one which functions pretty well in practice even though perhaps it should not do so in theory;

* Tim Pinto (Taylor Wessing) bursts the bubbles surrounding the O2/3 trade mark comparative advertising dispute (a special treat for subscribers is that they can watch the TV advert in full on the electronic version of this case note);

* Prerak Hora and Vivek Kathpalia (Nishith Desai Associates) explain the background to an ongoing dispute in India over the legality of sending cricket scores by SMS;

* New editorial board member Christopher Stothers (Milbank) comments on the point of intersection of parallel trade and free trade agreements.

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