Friday fantasies

Norman
(not actual size)

Welcome to a new guest Kat ... The IPKat and Merpel are delighted to announce the identity of the first of a number of guest bloggers who will be joining them for the first half of 2012: our new colleague is Professor Norman V. Siebrasse (University of New Brunswick), a distinguished Canadian patent blogger in his own right with Sufficient Description. Norman, who clerked at the Supreme Court of Canada for the Honourable Madam Justice McLachlin, currently teaches IP law, commercial law and remedies. His research focuses on patent law, as well as topics at the intersection of commercial law and IP, including one of this Kat's favourites, security interests. Good luck, Norman, we shall all be following your posts with excitement and interest.

Tufty the Cat

.. and a sad farewell to another Kat.  It is with the greatest of regret that this weblog records the passing of one of its former colleagues, Tufty the Cat, who was a popular contributor to this weblog between August 2007 and January 2011 before striding off to found his own patent blog, Tufty the Cat: Commentary on developments in UK and European patent law (here). A full obituary of Tufty, penned by his co-owner David Pearce, can be found here. David adds, "I am not yet sure whether he will live on in his eponymous blog, but I am hoping he will".  In Tufty's honour, donations may be made to Cats Protection, the National Cat Centre, here.

Colombia: not in the mood for a
Nice trade mark carnival just yet ...

Around the blogs.  The twelfth and final feature in the 1709 Blog's "12 for 2012" stars Russian literary giant Dmitry Merzhovsky. The IPKat has been asked to announce a new blog on the block, Trademark Law India. Subtitled 'Anything and Everything About Trademarks", it's  not actually brand new since its archive goes back to November 2011. Merpel wonders why it opts for the spelling of "trademark" as a single word, when the Indian statutes spell it as two, and it's not entirely clear who is writing it: more transparency, please, she says. The Kluwer Patent Blog brings us up to date on the latest developments in the Samsung/Apple battle, with a detailed post by Pierre Véron on last month’s order of the Tribunal de Grande Instance of Paris dismissing Samsung’s application for a preliminary injunction, primarily on the ground that Samsung's rights were exhausted. The post includes the full text of the decision, plus an English translation.

Writing for IP Tango, the IPKat's friend Patricia Covarrubia comments on Colombia's current reticence to adopt the 10th edition of the Nice Classification, since there isn't yet an official Spanish translation of it. Patricia has also just co-launched a new blog TK Totem, which focuses on indigenous rights, traditional knowledge, IP, land rights and human rights. Good luck Patricia, we say!  On Class 46, Gino van Roeyen reminds us that the dispute between G-Star and PepsiCo over the word RAW is still rumbling on, with the appointment of an expert to advise the court on, among other things, the effect of the lapse of time on the evidential value of survey evidence which, once fresh and relevant, has gradually grown a set of whiskers. Finally, SOLO IP's Barbara (Filemot) Cookson speculates on British developments regarding ABS (alternative business structures) and their likely impact on IP practitioners.

Munich: a great place
for a conference

Will you be at this year's Biotech & Pharmaceutical Patenting Conference, which is being held in Munich, Germany on 21 and 22 February? It's the 20th time that its organisers IBC Legal Conferences have been able to run it, which is no mean achievement (see the earlier IPKat post here for a bit of background). As usual, there's an all-star cast of speakers and the Kat wishes to remind his readers that they are entitled t claim a 10% discount against the cost of registration if they register here, quoting VIP Code FKW82256IPKL.