Thursday thingies

Harry Potter? No, Ivan Cotter! The IPKat recently made mention of another work in what he now regards as the important cultural category of "iplit" -- works of fiction written either by or about intellectual property practitioners. That work was Ivan Cotter's novel, The Schmetterling Effect (see earlier Katpost here). Well, that redoubtable reviewer Anna Hescott has stolen a little more time from her real world activities (she's a doctoral intellectual property student at the University of Sheffield) to read and review this book for us. Anna's review can be read in full here. Note for dedicated followers of iplit: Anna's earlier review of Rhoda Baxter's Patently in Love can be read here.

Question: Was this photo of Merpel inAberdeen taken in January, April or July?
Answer: yes

Northern (de)lights? “Intellectual Property, Innovation and Entrepreneurship” is the title of a panel discussion which is coming up so soon -- next Wednesday 18 April from 1pm to 3pm -- that there's not enough time to  leave it on the IPKat's Forthcoming Events page and hope that people will spot it if they've not been shoved in that direction.  It's a slightly premature celebration of World Intellectual Property Day (which, you may recall, is 26 April) and it's being held at the Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen. Will this be the world's most northerly location for a World IP Day event, wonders Merpel.  Anyway, everyone's invited; the event is free, there's no need to register and there's plenty of room. Joint hosts are the university's Gray's School of Art and the Aberdeen Business School. Star performers are locally-based patent attorney Craig Watson, Professor Paul Harris who heads the Gray’s School of Art, and the Katonomist herself, Doctor Nicola Searle, who fills in as Senior Knowledge Exchange Associate at the University of Abertay when she's not fulfilling her real function as an IP-friendly economist.  Want to attend, or just to say hello? Email the IPKat's friend Thorsten Lauterbach at t.lauterbach@rgu.ac.uk -- and tell him the Kat sent you!

Destined for Munich --
but what do the Brazilians
get in return?

Around the weblogs. The May 2012 issue of the Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice is now out -- and there's a guest editorial by self-styled Ipvocate Marius Schneider on a golden opportunity to cooperate in some real research into the building of a better model for calculating the magnitude of infringement-related loss to industry here.  The 1709 Blog brings news of a curious EU initiative to find a solution to the problems caused by private copying and reprography levies in Europe.  You don't have to be Kenyan in order to be the next Director-General of the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO), but Afro-IP picks up a hint that it may help if you are.  Good news for techie folk who speak English but not Portuguese -- or Portuguese but not English: IP Tango reports the freshly-announced cooperation deal between the European Patent Office and its Brazilian counterpart will address language issues as well as the social stuff (better coffee for the EPO cafeteria?)  Meanwhile, over on Class 46, our much-loved former Kat Mark Schweizer posts on whether the Swiss courts are effectively invalidating trade mark registrations on the ground that registrants are claiming too many goods and services for them. Finally, for those who appreciate a drop of vitriol with their daily dose of blog-reading, "The Sound of One Shoe Dropping", is worth a read. You will find it on katfriend C. E. Petit's Scrivener's Error here. This helpful dissection of the action recently brought against Apple Inc and other online e-book sellers in the US makes depressing reading for anyone who confidently believes that (i) the open structure of the internet provides a natural barrier against anticompetitive practices or that (ii) 1980s economic theory provides a sound basis for antitrust enforcement in the 2010s.

The Badger awaits ...

The Old Nick.  IPKat team member Jeremy will be venturing through the portals of The Old Nick, just round the corner from London's historical High Holborn, this coming Tuesday, 17 April, [and not, as previously stated, Tuesday 18th] where he might be found between the hours of 5pm and 6.30pm.  He expects to enjoy the company of two distinguished visitors -- one from the United States, the other from continental Europe -- which means that he won't be hogging the conversation.  You can find The Old Nick here.

Distinctive features, African
flavour, big ears ...

"Let the people prevail!"  When it comes to invoking the will of the majority for his own purposes, the IPKat has few rivals in this little corner of the blogosphere.  He can now proclaim that, notwithstanding the fact that there was a week of public holidaying in the middle of it, his sidebar poll on the preferred name of the new South African intellectual property law journal delivered the following result:

• Aardvark 129 (87%)
• Intellectual Property Law Journal 20 (13%)

The Kat calls upon the publishers to be imaginative, to establish a bright and cheerful brand and to distinguish their title from the rank-and-file sound-alikes that we (and Google search) struggle to differentiate.