Patents as Incentives and Trade Marks as Adverts: Two Upcoming Events

Nestled within the IPKat’s forthcoming events pages are two little nuggets of IP delight brought to you by UCL’s Institute of Brand and Innovation Law. One is directed at the trade mark junkies among you, and the other is for those that like their IP a little more patent shaped (whatever shape that may be). Starting with the latter:

To pique your patent interest, UCL is hosting a special all star debate on 6 April 2011 featuring two Nobel laureates and a selection of the great and good from industry and academia. There’s even a judge on the panel that some of you may recognise… The title of the session is “Do Patents Incentivise or Inhibit Innovation? A Scientific and Legal Panel Discussion”. Participants include: Sir Sydney Brenner (2002 Nobel Laureate for Physiology or Medicine); Professor Sir John E. Sulston (2002 Nobel Laureate for Physiology or Medicine, Chair of Institute for Science, Ethics & Innovation, University of Manchester); Professor Salvador Moncada (Director, Wolfson Institute for Biomedical Research, UCL); The Rt Hon Lord Justice Jacob; and Patrick Vallance (Senior Vice President, Medicines Discovery and Development, GlaxoSmithKline). Joshua Rozenberg, journalist and Presenter of the BBC’s Law in Action, will be in the Chair. You can book here.

For the more trade mark inclined, comes the enticingly entitled “Trade Marks: The Future of the Advertising Function”. The date for your diary is 23 March 2011. An international panel of speakers has been assembled, which consists of Jerome Gilson (Attorney, Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione, USA), Dr Ilanah Simon Fhima (co-Director of UCL’s Institute of Brand and Innovation Law), and Professor Annette Kur (Max Planck Institute of Intellectual Property). The Chair will be taken by The Hon Mr Justice Arnold. The panel will consider what is meant by the advertising function, its history and the extent to which it should be protected in the context of European and US developments. The panel will take a critical look at recent cases which have acknowledged the advertising function, including L’Oreal v Bellure, Intel, Google France and L’Oreal v eBay, and will consider how much protection really is being afforded to the advertising function in Europe. To book a place follow this link.

Further details can be found, along with details of a whole host of other events, on the IPKat’s forthcoming events pages: here.