Recent periodicals

The December/January issue of Euromoney's 10-times-a-year Managing Intellectual Property is looking just great (you can see all the contents of the current issue here). The cover story features "The brand reality of Second Life", a review by staff reporter Emma Barraclough on the delicate and uncertain position regarding the use and abuse of trade marks and related IP in an environment in which, despite its ephemeral nature, there is much to be gained and lost. There's also an extremely handy survey by Taylor Wessing's Roland Mallinson of the extent, if any, to which the national laws of various jurisdictions can render landlords liable for the infringing activities of their tenants. Countries surveyed include China, Korea, the Philippines and the UK as well as a small sprinkling of European nations.


The December 2007 issue of the World Intellectual Property Organization's (WIPO's) bimonthly WIPO Magazine (no.6 of 2007) also looks at Second Life. Unlike MIP's account, WIPO's is written for a more general readership than the fraternity of IP "heavies", which makes it more accessible to the reader who is happier doing business than resolving legal problems. By a curious coincidence, the content of the most recent MIP is mirrored again by an article on making landlords liable for tenants' infringements in China -- this being written by Baker & McKenzie partner Joseph Simone. You can access the current issues of the WIPO Magazine and its archives online here.


The December 2007/January 2008 issue of Copyright World, by an even bigger coincidence, leads with a cover story on ... virtual reality and real infringement, "Copyright in Second Life", by the Covington & Burling team of Kristina Rosette and Mark Young.
This piece focuses a good deal on the significance of the TOS (terms of service) under which Second Life's owners Linden Labs seek to find a happy medium between overregulating behaviour in their virtual environment and losing control of it completely. Also worth a read is the somewhat depressing survey of some recent US case law on the legality of linking by Margaret Esquenet and Danny Awedh (Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner). Says the IPKat, what we need now is a sort of legal SatNav to guide us through a morass of conflicting or unclear case law in flow-chart format. Any takers? You can see what else is in this issue here.


Trademark World's December 2007/January 2008 issue (see here for contents) doesn't deal with Second Life or making landlords liable. Its cover story comes from Nellie Jackson (Bristows) on the moral highground and how it makes an impact on OHIM (and UK Registry) decisions on trade mark and design registrability. This article was written and published too early to take note of one of the rulings that the IPKat is currently pondering over: Alvito Holdings Ltd's application, Case R 1461/2006-4 (one of two applications to register a sign containing the words "Not made in China": examiner refuses on public policy grounds; Board of Appeal finds mark unregistrable as being descriptive ...)