Friday fantasies

Friday again, and it's time to check the IPKat's side bar for news of fresh seminars, conferences and other ways of improving your grasp of IP in the company of friends, peers and prospective clients/lawyers. Check it out!

Brand-y blogs. The IPKat notes two weblogs which, both relating to branding, are likely to be confused with one another. One is US attorney Cheryl Hodgson's Brandaide blog, which has been up and running since May 2007. The other is The Brand Aide blog, driven by sales and marketing man David C. Anderson since June 2008. Neither of these blogs is to be confused with Brandaide Communications, the Australian online collective intelligence organisation, or the UK-based Brand Aid corporate identity service -- or Brand Aid creative solutions for the healthcare industry. Says the IPKat, there's a rumour around that Johnson & Johnson are to change the brand name of their celebrated product from Band Aid to Merpel Aid in order to escape the shackles of a name that has been borrowed to the point of becoming a cliche.

A chance to chat. US-based IP weblog Madisonian.net ("Law, technology, society") is driven by a 13-strong multi-university team under the captaincy of Professor Michael J. Madison from the University of Pittsburgh. It's definitely worth a look, says the Kat. Michael will be in London next week, where he will be enjoying a refreshing pint of ale with IPKat team blogger Jeremy next Tuesday, 18 May, at The Old Nick, at some point between the hours of 4.30pm and 6pm. If you'd like to join us for a chat, please do so. We'll be in the back room.

Around the blogs. Patent litigation weblog PatLit is welcoming two new members to its team. The first, Richard Milchior (Granrut, Paris), is a well-known figure in European IP circles. The second, Gena Mason (right), works in the United States with General Patent Corporation and is also a talented bicoastal rocker: you can watch her perform here. Meanwhile, IP Finance's request for further information concerning the recent US$20 million award against a counterfeiting ring in favour of Versace has passed without any responses at all, so the IPKat wonders whether his readers can be more helpful. Please email the IPKat here with any useful information.


The Advocate General's Opinion in Case C-467/08 Sociedad General de Autores y Editores (SGAE) v Padawan S.L. (see the IPKat's earlier posts here and here) is now available here in English too. Thank you, Curia, says the IPKat, and thank you to my Hungarian friend who spotted it ... and who thinks I don't know who she is.