MTV v MTV; latest UPOV and Hague accessions

The increasingly useful Birgit Clark has drawn the attention of the IPKat to a remarkable news item concerning Hungarian public broadcaster Magyar Televizio -- an organisation that, until now, has carried out its daily tasks free from the attentions of this weblog. Magyar Televizio, known affectionately by its acronym MTV, survived the Soviet occupation -- but it is now facing a far sterner test: vigorous litigation against Viacom, owner of the MTV music channel. The Magyars are seeking to keep the American interlopers from using the MTV acronym on their home turf in Hungary.

The IPKat appreciates that MTV is extremely popular among the younger, livelier elements of the television-watching community, and he suspects that even he would be unlikely to watch the one channel in the mistaken belief that it was the other -- but he recalls that the Hungarians are a nation that greatly values tradition and the cultural role of their own institutions. Verdict: a home win.

Check your horoscope in Hungarian on MTV here


The IPKat has been solemnly informed of some recent notifications of commitment to the norms of international intellectual property law. By notice UPOV No. 104, the Republic of Turkey announces the deposit of its instrument of accession to the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), as revised to 1991. The Convention enters into force in Turkey on 18 November 2007. Another notice, Hague No. 83, signals the accession of Mongolia to the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs. The Geneva Act will enter into force in respect of Mongolia on 19 January 2008.


Right: Mongolian designer shoes from shopmongolia.com