Monday miscellany

Around the weblogs 1. Kingsley Egbuonu's post on for the Afro-IP blog on the state of Nigeria's official IP office websites is the biggest and best so far: it also coincides with the arrival of that blog's long-awaited 600th email subscriber (congratulations to Afro Leo, say the little Kats). On the 1709 Blog, Ben Challis writes up a recent ruling in which a Deputy Judge in England and Wales tripled a copyright infringement damages award, having regard to the flagrancy of the infringement. Over on the jiplp weblog, Charley Macedo and David Goldberg explain when a patent infringement might find itself being transferred all the way from Delaware to North California.  Likelihood of Confusion, directed by the excellent Ron Coleman ("notional general counsel of the notional Media Bloggers Association") brings you the Rube Goldberg of sanctions motions ...  [Merpel explains: Rube Goldberg is the American cousin of Heath Robinson]. 

Around the weblogs 2: If you haven't seen it yet, take a look at PatentlyO's piece here on an action which is designed to fail pathetically, damage still further the somewhat tattered image of copyright and earn a whole raft of new enemies for the first-named plaintiff in particular [says Merpel, there were too many katpats here for everyone to be named, though indignation at this action was shared by the IPKat's correspondents ranging from the reactionary right to the radical left]. Jeff Roberts' commentary on this action in Paid Content also deserves a mention.  On a less exciting topic -- unless you are excited by money and the cost of patent litigation -- is PatLit's post on the dire consequences of a defendant raising all the grounds of invalidity it can think of, when assailing the plaintiff's patent, rather than just firing its best shots. Finally, the event the IPKat really, really wants to be at this year is the colloquium advertised on the left.  You can read all about the background to why this event promises to be so interesting in Howard Knopf's instructive post on Excess Copyright here.




For some of our trade mark and branding brethren,
the only chance of getting a square meal these days
is to attend a conference that offers one ...

 Some European trade mark conferences. Although it's only March, many trade mark professionals are already checking their diaries, blowing the dust off their passports and preparing themselves for the annual International Trademark Association Meeting which takes place from 5 to 9 May 2012 in Washington DC.  If DC is not for you, for reasons of time or temperament, the IPKat and Merpel (who will naturally be at INTA) beg to remind their readers that there are many fine trade mark conferences back in Europe too.  Here are three for starters: (i) the  ITMA Spring Conference 2012, takes place from 21 to 23 March in London, England. Full details and booking information can be found on the ITMA website here; (ii) if Olympic London leaves you cold, warm up at FORUM's 12th Trademark-Conference in sunny Alicante, Spain, which runs from 26 to 27 April. For full programme and registration details, click here; (iii) if you've not yet sampled the majestic splendour of autumnal Athens, this year's MARQUES Conference, which runs from 18 to 21 September, will be just right for you. Details, once available, will be accessible on the MARQUES events page here.

Belgian lawyer seeks commission.  The IPKat has just met a bright, mega-talented young Belgian-qualified lawyer who is currently living in London.  She is positively bristling with excellent degrees, functions in French, English and Italian and inhabits that exciting area which is occupied my intellectual property, media law and competition. She is currently looking for an interesting position in which her talents can be brought to bear. If you think you may have some gainful employment prospect for her, be it short-, medium- or long-term, please email the IPKat here and let him know: he will then forward your email to her.

Ireland becomes a PatRat. That sounds worse than it is. The Emerald Isle has opted to ratify the Patent Law Treaty, according to the World Intellectual Property Organization's PLT Notification No. 35 [Merpel gets very excited about this.  She collects WIPO Notifications and now she has nearly the complete set ...]. The Patent Law Treaty's function is to harmonise formalities and loosen the red tape a bit. The Treaty will enter into force, with respect to Ireland, on May 27, 2012. The Treaty (or "the said Treaty", if you prefer unnecessary formalities) will enter into force for Ireland, on 27 May 2012.