Monday miscellany

ACTA: whether it's needed or not,
it struggles to escape the shadow
of its mysterious antecedents

ACTA update. Earlier this month, on 4 April, the European Commission agreed on the form that would be taken by the question which, it was decided, should be put to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU):  "Is the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) compatible with the European Treaties, in particular with the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union?" The broad scope of the question should allow the CJEU to examine in detail and pronounce on whether ACTA is compatible with European Fundamental Rights such as the freedom of expression, information or data protection and the right to property including that of intellectual property (katpat to Magali Delhaye).  A ruling that ACTA is legal will not necessarily result in its adoption by the European Union, though: last Thursday, 12 April, a European Parliament rapporteur called for the controversial treaty to be rejected (Inquirer here; ZDNet here). The story continues ...

Riga seminar reminder. If you happen to be in Latvia later this month and are looking for a pleasant blend of education, excitement and networking, there's a neat little seminar coming up in Riga on Friday 27 April. It's called "IP Protection in the Digital Environment" and it is the brainchild of the AIPPI Latvian National Group. The seminar team consists of two members of the IPKat team (Jeremy and Annsley, both of whom have written chapters in the freshly-published Google and the Law, here), as well as 1709 Blog team blogger Eleonora Rosati. If you want to join us, check out the programme here and register here.

Around the weblogs. Kingsley Egbuonu's 44th foray into an African country takes him to Somalia. Hell hath no fury like an academic whose empirical research is criticised in circumstances in which he has no obvious right of reply; bearing that in mind, Martin Kretschmer's firm but measured response to comments by PRS for Music's Chief Economist Will Page, hosted on the 1709 Blog here, makes for good reading and will, it is hoped, raise the standard of debate on the delicate topic of copyright levies.

There's a new online intellectual property journal, the Journal of Public Interest IP, which has just been launched by Public Interest Intellectual Property Advisors (PIIPA). Its website is here and Volume 1, number 1 is subtitled "IP and Development - Current Trends and Future Scenarios". The IPKat, who has watched with curiosity and not without a certain admiration the work done through PIIPA, wishes this venture well. Merpel can't understand why, in these days of instant online delivery, electronic journals still come out in volumes and issues rather than just posting their material online when it's ready for people to read.

Talking of journals, the latest issue of the University of Edinburgh's excellent SCRIPTed has just been published; do check it out!  There's also plenty to attract the reader's attention in the April issue of Intellectual Property Magazine: patent cliffs, prediction of patent litigation costs, the virtue of pursuing infringers through criminal rather than civil proceedings, new ways of combating infringement online -- and even a human interest story involving a day in the life of a US Customs and Border Protection Officer.  Finally, the Kat's attention has been drawn to a title with which he was not familiar: Generic Bulletin ("the business newsletter for the generic medicines industry"). Apart from the slightly odd feeling he gets when he considers that "generic" is the brand name of the bulletin, he notes that its coverage unsurprisingly covers patents ("what's nearing expiry and who's suing whom").

Nice job going ... if you fancy being an Administrative Assistant to the London-based IP Federation, that is. Permanent or part-time, with 15 hours a week that can be spread over two or three days a week, you have to be basically literate, numerate, sensible and able to handle the Federation's correspondence and website. If you're interested, email David England at david.england@ipfederation.com by this coming Friday, 20 April.