Friday fantasies

Happy Friday, everyone! It's time to check the IPKat's sidebar for forthcoming events, of which there are some choice ones in the pipeline. See you at one of them, perhaps?

Too many proverbs delay the prize! The IPKat's Proverbs competition proved vastly more popular than he expected, so he hasn't finished agonising over the best entries yet. Please be patient, the winning entries should be posted by not later than Sunday night, so you've not too long to wait to discover if you've won a complimentary registration for CLT's Annual IP Update conference on Thursday 28 January.

Following the recent feature on the dispute over registration of the PUFFIN POO trade mark (here), the IPKat has encountered REINDEER POO candy dispensers (Kat reader Mary Wyburn was confronted with one at an Australian Copyright Council staff Christmas party), CHOCOLATE DOG POO, SHEEP POO chocolate raisins and BEAR POOP chocolate covered peanuts (warning, contains peanuts ...). There's also the Swedish PLOPP chocolate, which many readers apparently hold close to their hearts. Enough, cries the IPKat!

Rupert bears all. If you love IP litigation and wonder what the future has in store for you, the latest proposals for litigation reform in England and Wales, as articulated in the authoritative and well-supported Review led by Rupert (a.k.a. Lord Justice) Jackson, are summarised on PatLit here. Some early responses from IP litigators can be seen here.

Aaron bares all. Solo trade mark practitioner has bravely exposed to the cold light of day his motives for leaving "normal" private practice within a firm and setting up as an independent practitioner. You can read his little piece here on SOLO IP, a weblog which is keenly searching for two things: (i) enjoyable and interesting content and (ii) more contributors. You have been warned ...

Charitable souls take note. Three valiant young ladies are climbing Mont Blanc this August in aid of three deserving charities. At this week's SPC Blog Seminar on supplementary protection certificates and patent term extension a bear-mouse (plus ancillary naming rights) was auctioned to help raise cash for them. It seems that the pharmaceutical sector is a bit hard up these days, since the knock-down price was somewhat short of the £15,000 target. Let's see if IPKat readers are more generous: please give generously! (Full details, plus photo of bear-mouse, are available here).