The Football World Cup, there is no escape at the moment, not even on this blog. The sport, the excitement, the drama and... the IP?!
On its website, the German Patent and Trademark Office (DPMA) has published a surprisingly detailed collection of information relating to football, technology and patents:
"a selection of typical inventions from patent literature and a brief historical overview of the technical development of football."
What's even better, the DPMA offers this delight not only in a German version but also in English. The DPMA's football special offers to direct links to patents (DE, WO, FR, US, etc.) relating to all things football, from pitch, goal, footwear to players' clothing to stadium construction and match analysis. So, in the words of the DPMA, if you "wonder how football and technology fit together" and if you are keen "to look at the history of football from a different angle", then this is the link
for you.
Click
here for the English version and
here for the German version. Start by reading the "introduction" part of the website - the whole thing is rather fun.
FIFA's website can be found
here.
The website of Swiss FC Trubschachen , a club clearly in favour of cats on the field, can be found
here.
Since we won't escape the subject... The Berlin Water Works published graphs showing the instantaneous water consumption during the games. The data for the June 18 DE:AU slaughter are especially telling. Could this be considered a form of ambush marketing? Will FIFA go after them for associating another competing beverage (as well as spent non-sponsoring beer) with their wares, or, for that matter, after you for showing this poor little endangered kitty standing near an undoubtedly trademarked good? (IMO, that would rather be a matter for the SPCA).
ReplyDelete"CB" is the gong for that rank (for a well thought of career civil servant). The more interesting gongs are lower rung gongs, (which, after all, have to be accepted before they are given) sort of self confirming that the recipient was indeed an idiot.
ReplyDeleteCan someone please translate the comment from June 23, 2010 6:02:00 PM into English?
ReplyDelete