Monday miscellany

The IPKat practises
being refined ...

This Kat is spending a couple of hours today refining his thoughts -- and his words -- ahead of tomorrow's "A Kat Reflects" talk for the Union Summer Event at the Royal Society.  He understands that, since this event clashes with both the Greece v Czech Republic and the Poland v Russia EURO 2012 football matches, there will be fewer Greeks, Czechs, Poles and Russians present.  In consequence, there may be more canapes and Champagne for the rest of us.  There are still a few spaces left, so come and join us. Details and registration here.

Africa A to Z.  Kingsley Egbuonu's online trek round Africa's official intellectual property websites has now been running for an entire year -- and in its fifty-second week the series, hosted by the Afro-IP weblog, reaches Uganda.  The IPKat would like to pay tribute to the effort and cheerful persistence with which Kingsley has tackled this task, never missing a week.  Merpel wonders what he's going to do once he has finished: will he start back at the beginning again and see what changes (ideally improvements) have followed his visits and, in many cases, his gentle and contructive suggestions for improvement? Or will he launch into other projects?

Fast girls

Huffing and puffing. "Noel Clarke Furious Over Ban Of Word 'Olympics' In His Film 'Fast Girls' About Female Athletes Preparing To Compete" is a dreadfully long title for an article, and the Huffington Post will have to come up with something shorter and zappier if it wants to be as widely read as the IPKat [says Merpel], but this quaintly named and far distant publication with the plot-spoiling feature titles has a poll which might interest you. There's a "Quick poll" which asks "Do you think the word 'Olympics' should be banned from the film?" Your choice of answers is (i) Yes - it's a brand, like anything else... Pepsi, Starbucks... and they have the right to protect their property. or (ii) No - this is corporatism gone mad. At the time this Kat pressed paw to poll and cast his vote, public opinion was 6.34% in favour of the ban and 93.66% stigmatising the world's most ungenerous sports organisation as a mad corporatist.  Merpel is truly shocked that as many as 6.34% of those polled should have sided with the International Olympic Committee.

"Ze French response to
Ze IPKat ..."

Around the weblogs. One of the IPKat's best-loved comment-posters, the grumpily-perceptive Meldrew, has written to inform him that he has begun blogging in his own right, under that very nom de guerre, on the bee-in-bonnet topic of IP statistics, where a lot of rubbish is spoken ("90% made up on the spot – 10% quoted out of context", his blog quips. The blog, named IP non credere, is already being read by 16.67% of the IPKat's writing team.  Meanwhile, across the English Channel, ZeBlawg has been launched as proof positive that the French intellectual property profession has not just style but also a sense of humour. Powered by ten-strong team from Granrut Avocats, which includes this Kat's excellent friend Richard Milchior, this blog is definitely one to watch.

This is the EPO's
choice of artwork.
Today's students
usually use more
advanced note-
taking media ...

Manual for lost academics. Not content with telling inventors what their patent claims mean, the European Patent Office (EPO) is now telling academics how to compose their IP courses. A katpat goes to Sonja Raiber (Business Development Manager, Technology Transfer Department, Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany) for this link to the EPO's webpage which announces

"[a] handbook for setting up new teaching content. The European Patent Academy's intellectual property course design manual makes it easier for university lecturers to introduce intellectual property into various courses of study and educational programmes. The manual will be of particular interest to those studying business/economics, innovation management and law". 

The IPKat would be delighted to hear from fellow academics who have (i) taken a look at the manual and found it really helpful, (ii) modified it to fit their needs or (iii) written it off as a hopeless attempt by the EPO to second-guess what it is that academics need for their courses.  By the way, the Manual is free but you can't access it without filling in this form.

The Digital Public Domain. "The Digital Public Domain: Foundations for an Open Culture" is the title of a book which is being launched next week, on Monday 18 June, 6.30 to 8pm, inclusive of cocktails. The venue appears to be the European Parliament and the publisher of this title is COMMUNIA, The European Thematic Network on the Digital Public Domain.  The event is marked by presentations by  Ioannis Tsoukalas MEP and editors Melanie Dulong & Juan Carlos de Martin, followed by a discussion.  Further details are available from Amelia Andersdotter MEP, of the Pirate Party Sweden.  To attend, you should register with Amelia before June 14, indicating your full name, date of birth and ID number.  In case you're wondering, the book is published under a Creative Commons Attribution licence and the PDF can be downloaded here. This Kat suspects that he might not agree with everything in this book, but he welcomes every attempt to discuss the sensitive issues which modern copyright raises in an open and democratic context.