The most recent issue of Oxford University Press's flagship IP publication, the
Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice (
JIPLAP), is now published. IPKat team member Jeremy, who is fortunate enough to edit it, has just been reminding himself of its contents. This issue contains a good spread of items, including
* Louise Longdin giving one of the fullest and most powerful critiques of anti-ambush marketing provisions yet published, examining the impact on the IP ecosystem of public law solutions in New Zealand;
* A ten-year-on review of the UDRP by Tony Willoughby;
* Eddy Ventose considers the prospects of disclaimers of medical treatment under the European Patent Convention;
* Andrea Tosato discusses the progress of the UNCITRAL proposals for securitisation of intellectual property rights.
The editorial, "Fragrance brands face a
pot pourri", reviews what has been a good summer in court for the leading fragrance brands and asks whether their good fortune will continue. You can read it
here in full.
Contents list and abstracts of all items in the current issue
hereEditorial team
here; instructions for authors
here; free sample online or by hard copy
hereSubscription details
hereThe IPKat is most concerned that no enthusiastic would-be judges are lining up to replace the much-loved Michael Fysh when he retires from the Patents County Court (England and Wales) next year. He is however much relieved to see that the ever-practical
PatLit weblog has conjured up a poll as to which of a number of options might be adopted in the absence of any suitable applicants. Voting lasts for a week and the poll can be found iat the top of the right-hand side-bar.
The ActionAid 'pre-salted potato chip' item in last Friday's round-up has provoked a good deal of response: sharp tweets and curt emails were received from those who rushed to inform the Kat that this was old news (it goes back as far as 2002 according to some sources, which is before the IPKat started his weblog). Patently Rubbish has however
addressed the issue as any responsible patent practitioner should, by measuring the fanciful claims against the law and the reality.
The application in question is GB2384968 filed in the name of Salil Shetty. The application was (surprisingly?!) terminated back in 2006. The point of novelty appears to be that the chips are soaked in a 30% NaCl solution prior to deep frying. Since fish and chip shop owners salt their chips with NaCl crystals after frying there would have been no infringement problem anyway...
ReplyDeleteIt looks like the UK IPO quite reasonably tried to defuse the chip nonsense, or as the Guardian put it "Patents chief admits charity sabotage": http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4367125,00.html
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link, Jeremy.
ReplyDeleteOld the article may be, but it is still on the web with no acknowledgement that the application was terminated. There does seem to be a prima facie breach of section 111 of the 1977 Act, therefore.
Does anyone know who enforces s111?
While it would be amusingly ironic if the person complaining that there aren't sufficient safeguards for preventing abuses of the patent system fell foul of one of the safeguards for preventing abuses of the patent system, I don't think s111 applies here - it requires an "article disposed of for value", which I don't think there is in the present case.
ReplyDeleteIs there a breach? s111 requires a representation by a person that a patent has been applied for in respect of any article disposed of for value by him. Are ActionAid selling chips?
ReplyDeleteI'm revising for P2 so any clarifications gratefully received!!
The application was filed in February 2002, with great fanfare. CIPA issued a press release (I don't think anyone noticed) suggesting it was the stunt, rather than the chips, that should be taken with a pinch of salt.
ReplyDelete...in respect of any article disposed of for value by him...
ReplyDeleteGood point ... they do seem to be off the hook on that point.
Shame - it would indeed be amusingly ironic (a phrase that I think I like!).