Friday fantasies

Thank you again, say the IPKat, Merpel and the rest of the crew, for your continued support of this weblog. According to our web counter, we have oh-so-nearly welcomed today our two millionth visitor since the blog was launched in June 2003 (we should hit that magic figure tomorrow, but Saturday is a day on which Kats tend not to do much blogging, while Friday is propitious for every form of celebration).

We do appreciate your support -- especially from those kind souls who, having visited us once, take them trouble to call back again. We don't take you for granted since we hugely value the comments and insights you have shared with us, and we'll do whatever we can to maintain our existing standards and improve upon them.

In addition to the usual weekly checking of his side bar for fresh new events, the IPKat begs to remind readers of two special blog-backed events which are being held in honour of World Intellectual Property Day, Monday 26 April 2010. The first, hosted by the IP Finance weblog, is a lunchtime seminar on "Brands and the Cost of Corporate Finance" (full details are available here). The second is the IPKat's own Cheese and Wine Celebrity Poetry Reception, a pop-in-and-enjoy-yourself event from 5pm to 7pm (full details are available here). Both events are organised for Central London and both are free, so long as you contact the organisers to say you're coming. As we write this, the Cheese and Wine event has just secured a further sponsor: the IPKat's long-time friend Aaron Wood (of trade mark and design practice Wood) has stepped forward to sponsor the Alternative Beverages (will we be seeing the Darling BUDs of April, wonder the Kats ...). Do join us on the day, and/or email Jeremy here if you're interested in further sponsorship opportunities for either event.

Now for a good moan and a call for support. This Kat is also a member of the blogging teams of two regional weblogs: Afro-IP (which covers IP events in Africa) and IP Tango (which does the same for IP in Latin America). In this capacity he attended the relevant regional sessions of last year's International Trademark Association Meeting in Seattle. He was delighted at the quality of the talks and the enthusiasm of the speakers, but very, very disappointed at the pathetically small audiences. If the INTA goes to the trouble of hosting regional sessions and our colleagues give up valuable time to prepare for these sessions, the least that INTA registrants can do is to support them. Remember: what goes around comes around. One day YOU may be delighted to be invited to speak at an INTA session, and you can be sure that you'll expect an audience to come and listen to you. Click for moans concerning Africa and Latin America.

"Good artists copy, great artists steal" is the title of this post on Jonathan I. Schwartz's What I Couldn't Say" weblog. The author, till recently CEO of a little outfit called Sun Microsystems, writes candidly of his experiences in facing off the IP posturing of other businesses. Thanks are due to the watchful Paul Jakma for the link, which the IPKat is delighted to commend to all his readers.

Are there any good write-ups of case studies on how intellectual property rights have been handled in mergers and acquisitions (M&As ) [or "emannaise", as they're called -- sounds like a species of mayonnaise ...]. If you know of any, can you please let the IPKat know, since there's an earnest postgraduate student out there who is working very hard on some research in the area and would really like to know.

Around the blogs. The IP Finance weblog welcomes Louise O'Callaghan(left) back into its team. London barrister Louise, formerly at Hardwicke when she wrote a series of articles on IP and insolvency issues in the UK, has now migrated to 1 Essex Court where she looks forward to developing her IP practice. IP Tango has kept us up-to-date on the big IP non-story of the week: Brazil's seeming reluctance to retaliate against the United States by targeting its intellectual property rights (see here for details).