Wednesday whimsies

The Jewish New Year begins tonight and the IPKat team wishes every reader, regardless of their religious persuasion (or lack of it), political preferences, brand allegiances and domestic copying habits, a happy and prosperous year -- a year of peace, of enhanced understanding and appreciation of the tangled ecosystem in which we are all somehow connected. On a related topic, the Jewish members of the IPKat's blogging team will be on-blog less frequently over the next three weeks or so, which coincide with the autumn cycle of fasts and feasts -- so if they're not there tto comment on one or more of their favourite topics, don't be surprised!

Around the blogs.  The IPKat's recent call for good blogs on film and media copyright has trawled in another potential useful source: IP Media Law which, as Hans Brems tells the Kat, "seems to write about IP and media, and films sometimes".  Congratulations are due to MARQUES's Class 46 weblog, which has just topped the 1,500 mark for its email subscribers.  The jiplp weblog has just commenced a series of short biographical posts on regular contributors to the Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice (JIPLP), in an attempt to 'humanise' them for the benefit of readers.  First up is Charley Macedo, who carries a big stick if the accompanying illustration is anything to go by ...

Paul Frater has been telling the IPKat excitedly about a new website for inventors, www.inpama.com, where inventors can promote their invention without fear of either visible cost or no hidden commissions and fees. He says, "In just two minutes, a webpage with photos, videos, and related documents for each invention can be easily created. Inventors can find investors, manufacturers, and distributors on inpama.com". The site sets out to prospective licence-ready technologies which can be quickly implemented into a finished product. If (i) it works and (ii) it doesn't cost inventors anything more than the price they so often do have to pay-- raised expectations followed by dashed hopes -- it can't be bad.

The IPKat's friend, IP Dragonista and China analyst Danny Friedmann tells him that, while lots has been written about social media and copyright, not so much has been penned on the relation between social media and trade marks. Fortunately Danny gave a presentation at the Asia Pacific IP Forum in Hong Kong on social media and the challenges trade mark holders are facing in which proposed a solution: he then answered some questions, having uploaded the presention on to Slideshare.  What he'd like is some feedback: do his proposals have any value? Are they feasible? You can email Danny here and tell him what you think.

Jody Giesser has just given the IPKat a new source of fun (thanks Jody!): the United States Patent and Trademark Office's Data Visualization Center (here).  Whoever had this idea deserves some sort of IP medal for services to information display.  Merpel adds, will the USPTO be so kind as to license the software to the European Patent Office, so we Europeans can at least get a buzz from seeing the size of the backlog and the speed at which it's being processed ...

Less than a day after the end of his "How to Write an Effective IP Press Release" seminar, the IPKat is harvesting and excitedly reading the email responses from some of those who participated in it.  It seems the event was appreciated -- some good folk even found it useful -- and some special praise went to the ongoing contributions made by Adam Smith, reporter for World Trademark Review (WTR), who reminded those present that press releases were only one of a variety of means by which law firms, IP owners and others can impart information, and by which the media pick up the data and the comments they find most useful (if you want to contact Adam regarding press releases and other content for the WTR, you can email him here).  This seminar will be repeated on 5 October (details here) at the London office of Olswang LLP and the Kat, following one suggestion, is contemplating putting on a special version of the seminar for small IP practices and entities, which have different needs and fewer resources but still strive to make their press communications as effective as possible.