MORE ON THE IP WIKI; LATEST EIPR

More on the IP wiki

The IPKat is happy to remind his readers that a new IP news wiki has been launched by Martin Farley, the IP Librarian in a large and distinguished London-based law practice that is a little anxious about being outed by the illustrious IPKat. Says Martin:

"This site aims to provide a common news resource that all members of the IP community can use and contribute to. It is simple to add or amend items and anything posted will appear immediately.

The wiki can expand easily if people feel that other areas would be of interest (case law, legislation etc). It will also allow individuals to write their own news items/commentary if they wish (creating a kind of community-wide blog).

The editorial policy is very laissez-faire, with editing taking place only to tidy up the site and remove anything dodgy. In other words, if it’s genuine it will stay on".

This wiki is a non-commercial site: it is not formally linked to the famous law firm for which Martin works, or indeed to any other legal or commercial organisation. Martin is happy to receive any feedback about the site (email him discreetly via the IPKat here) and encourages all IPKat readers to have a go at adding or amending items for themselves.

The IPKat feels strongly that, if it is properly maintained by its users, this wiki can show that cooperative updating and commentary can provide a robust and cost-saving service that the commercial publishers cannot hope to match. Merpel adds, it's not all fun and games: spare a thought for the poor souls who get to do all the dull stuff like amending statutes and hyperlinking subordinate legislation to the main laws they supplement.


Latest EIPR

The September issue of Sweet & Maxwell's European Intellectual Property Review makes exciting reading. It contains a cogent plea by veteran alternative innovation protection expert William Kingston for more use of an "incontestable protection" principle, modelled on the US orphan drug legislation, in the encouragement of innovation by smaller companies. There's also a scholarly (as usual) sequel to Chris Wadlow's earlier article on the harmonisation of unfair competition, not to mention Part 1 of a state-of-the-art grey goods and trade mark law feature by leading Scottish practitioner Gill Grassie.

For good measure, there are case notes on three of the year's biggest legal cases: the US patent injunction decision in eBay v MercExchange and the UK Da Vinci and O2/3 (Bubbles) battles. Best of all are the book reviews, but modesty prohibits further comment ...