Recent publications - and a facelift

Once again, Sweet & Maxwell has delivered its European Trade Mark Reports ahead of time: the March issue has seen the light of day in the first half of February. Cases reported in this issue include

* Gillette Co v LA-Laboratories Oy - the Finnish Supreme Court decision after the European Court's preliminary ruling as to the use of Gillette's trade marks by a manufacturer of compatible razor blades;

Below: from Polish hero to trade mark - the curious fate of Jan III Sobieski

* Belvedere's application - an opposition before the Irish Patents Office to an application to register JAN III SOBIESKI as a trade mark, in which the Hearing Officer has to consider whether tobacco and spirits are similar goods;

* WWF World Wide Fund v Moniker Online Services (WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center) - the latest sad story in the sage of the wwf.com domain name;

* O2 Holdings v Hutchison 3G, in which the Court of Appeal for England and Wales refers three further questions to the ECJ for a preliminary ruling, plus some suggested answers.

The IPKat reminds you that, if you have information about any recent European trade mark cases that you'd like to see reported in the ETMR, just write to him here and let him know.


The same publisher's Intellectual Property Quarterly, if not actually ahead of schedule, is certainly not lagging behind. This title, which is published in association with the Intellectual Property Institute, carries four articles:

* "Improving patents for smaller firms: insurance, incontestability, arbitration?" by veteran patent critic/guru William Kingston;

* Tanya Aplin's "The development of the action for breach of condidence in a post-HRA era", HRA being the Human Rights Act;

* Melissa de Zwart's "An historical analysis of the birth of fair dealing and fair use: lessons for the digital age" and

* "The patentability of computer-implemented inventions in Europe" by David Booton.

Left: Melissa de Zwart (Senior Lecturer, Monash University)


There's a stunning new look for the CIPA Journal, the near-monthly magazine of the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys. It's not just the cover that has had a make-over; the styling of the inside pages is much smarter and sleeker too. IPKat team blogger Jeremy can still remember the old days when CIPA published the Transactions of the Chartered Institute of Patent Agents, as scholarly, dry and user-hostile a publication as any curious young academic was ever likely to encounter. He takes this opportunity to congratulate CIPA for its facelift which, he suspects, quite a few of the Institute's more traditional members will heartily loathe.