Wednesday whimsies

Nathan the Wise.  The IPKat is delighted to learn that his friend, the celebrated Alicante photographer Nathan Wajsman has been appointed Chief Economist of the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (OHIM).  Nathan has some very firm view on Alicante, which you can see or indeed purchase here.  Nathan, we all have our lenses focused on you ...

Hobrobs. From various kind friends, led by the illustrious Ruth Soetendorp, come these links to the vexed tale of a beatboxing routine which has either been borrowed or stolen by calorific giants United Biscuits from "beardyman", a.k.a. Darren Foreman for use in the marketing of its own Medley snackbar product.  Both routines can be accessed via Bec Hill's blog here.   This Kat is slightly embarrassed to admit that the term "beatboxing" was new to him, though he learns from the much-revered Wikipedia entry that this is an ancient Indian art, probably older than yoga itself.  He wonders whether India's Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (see here) has any recorded examples ...

Still on the subject of food, and via the IPKat's valued friend and fellow blogger Rossa McMahon, comes this link to yesterday's Irish Times piece, "McCambridge sues rival firm over 'lookalike' bread", which reports that the McCambridge bakery, which claims to be the leader in the market for traditional bread, is suing rival Brennans over alleged deliberate mimicking of its packaging to produce a “lookalike” brown bread product which, it says, has confused consumers. Mr Justice Peter Kelly has agreed to fast-track the proceedings, fixing the hearing date in the Commercial Court for 21 July 21. The action claims copyright infringement and passing off.  The illustration on the right doesn't suggest that there's much in common other than the script the words 'McCambridge' and 'Wholewheat' appear on the respective packages.  Perhaps the passing off action is based on 'post-sale confusion' in the basis that, once the bread is unwrapped and placed on a plate or inserted into a toaster, the origins of the competing products are impossible to identify ...

Big favour.  With each passing day, the publication of the UK's Independent Review of IP and Growth (the "Hargreaves Review") is getting closer.  Knowing the IPKat's luck, this event will coincide with every member of the blog team being in transit, indisposed or otherwise engaged at the time the news breaks.  Notwithstanding this, the IPKat pledges to cover the story as soon as any of his team members can get their paws on it.  He respectfully asks readers not to send him links to it, even if they spot the news first, are really excited about it and wonder there's nothing posted on the blog yet.  It's just that, despite Merpel's advice to the contrary, since he always feels obliged to write back and thank them and this takes a bit of time.

There had to be an explanation.  Several readers expressed their disquiet at the accuracy of the IPKat's report here on an interesting ruling from the Court of Justice of the European Union in Case 357/09 Prezes Urzędu Ochrony Konkurencji i Konsumentów v Tele 2 Polska sp. z o.o., now Netia SA, on the interrelation of the European Commission and national competition authorities when investigating abuse of a dominant position (something to which IP owners are occasionally prone). A helpful explanation has been forthcoming from a reader who explains:

“All that has happened here is that someone had a logic breakdown and put "not" in the wrong place. A finding that "we do not find there has been an abuse" would on the face of it been fine; a finding "we do find there has not been an abuse" is ultra vires. If people learned the difference between subalternates and contradictories, this sort of thing would not happen”.

Around the blogs. PatLit's PCC Pages series has resumed after the Easter break, with this piece on the effect of either party making an offer to settle proceedings before the Patents County Court. The 1709 Blog reports on the first Scottish conviction for illegal file-sharing, the culprit being a 58-year old lady with a history of depression and a penchant for karaoke.  IP Draughts discusses issues concerning royalties on unprotected products.  The Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice's jiplp weblog offers this piece on the winding up by the local trade mark registry of a Spanish company for infringement under national trade mark law.