Wednesday whimsies

Lord Atkin: once a
judge, now a Building

There's another event looming up which has the IPKat's sympathies, both because it seems to have been organised at short notice and because it's a debate.  The motion under discussion is "Is the 'fit and proper person' test in broadcasting inadequate?". This event is organised by the City University, London, and takes place on 23 November -- in other words, next Wednesday -- from 6pm till 8.30pm. Admission is free. The venue is the Atkin Building, Grays Inn. Debaters include the IPKat's excellent friend Ashley Roughton. Click here for details and registration.

Yesterday's IPKat event, kindly hosted by London law firm RPC, was the double-header on why bad things happen to bad IP licences -- and even good ones. The venue is situated in St Katharine's Dock (left), a coveted location for those lawyers who travel to work by yacht and need somewhere wet to park. This Kat enjoyed himself and has reasonable grounds on which to believe that he was not alone.  You can now access the PowerPoints from Paul Joseph (Senior associate, RPC, speaking on licences, here) and from Neil J. Wilkof (Of counsel, Dr Eyal Bressler & Co, speaking on sublicences, here).

The IPKat's friends at Premier Cercle are getting all excited about their IP Week & Open Innovation 2011 conference, which takes place in Brussels, at the Hotel Crowne Plaza Le Palace, from 6 to 9 December (details here). IPKat readers who register to attend this conference are entitled to a 30% discount on their registration rate so long as they fill the “Promotional Code” box in the registration form with the word “IPKat”. This entitles them to the untold delights of a bottom-rock price of 666 euros for the four days of conference (instead of 999 euros), as well as the chance to rub shoulders with cast of famous IP personalities including Francis Gurry (Director General of WIPO), David Kappos (Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of USPTO), Wallace & Gromit, Elvis Presley ...