Monday miscellany

There were lots of answers along the right
lines -- and some good responses from Berlin

When the long way round is the shortest.  In a post last Friday ("Self-confessed online fake-trader: how to deal with him" here) the IPKat crowdsourced an interesting little strategic issue concerning the best way to approach the England-based eBay seller of goods who was infringing a US business's EU-wide trade mark, to nip his illicit venture in the bud.  A number of responses were received, some of which were highly entertaining (thanks very much, say the Kats in unison, as does their reader who asked the question in the first place.  But that's not all: no fewer than three responses came from the Berlin law firm Lubberger Lehment. The first response received, by a few short minutes, was that of Cornelis Lehment:

1. Document all offers of the vendor and the trade history. There are additional software possibilities to check the full turnover of the previous three months. Make a test purchase within the UK to find out name and adress of the vendor. Then contact eBay to find out their data about the vendor for verification but try to let them not delete the offers yet. Apply for a preliminary injunction for cease and desist plus disclosure of the distribution system. Commence criminal law prosecution and apply for seizure of the fakes. After disclosure, follow that route.

2. Since you have a Community trade mark, as before, but [and this is the ingenious bit, says Merpel] organize the test purchase from and delivery to Germany and profit from the unique speed and cost-efficiency of the German Courts to apply for an EU-wide injunction.

Cornelis's partner and long-time katfriend Andreas Lubberger independently provided very similar advice, while their colleague Martin Fiebig reminds us that a claim also lies against eBay for an order to provide information about the sellers' identity on basis of Article 8 of the IP Enforcement Directive (in Germany, that's §19 Trade Mark Act -- and in the UK, Martin notes, it's the Norwich Pharmacal Order). The IPKat salutes Cornelis and his colleagues, who unstintingly and generously gave of their own time in order to put their minds at the disposal of his reader.

Maybe it's something to do with the forthcoming
London 2012 Olympics but whenever this Kat
hears the words "pole" and "vault", they sound
to him like "poll" and "vote" ...

If you are a European patent attorney who has had interesting experiences of making a complaint -- whether you have dealt with with dignity, humour, efficiency, sympathy and common sense or whether (heaven forfend!) you have not -- there is still the best part of a week ahead if you'd like to respond to the IPKat's sidebar poll on how it was for you.  Over 100 busy patent attorneys from across the continent of Europe, and indeed from some of its more far-flung outposts, have already enriched our understanding by taking those few small minutes which are all you need.  Do add your answers to theirs!

Around the weblogs. Only one week from the end of his mammoth A-to-Z trek in search of official IP websites in Africa on behalf of Afro-IP, Kingsley Egbuonu reaches Zambia, where he has some encouraging news to report.   Meanwhile, after spending a week in the eye of the storm after posting her controversial views on moral rights and Creative Commons here and here, 1709 Blog guest Mira T. Sundara Rajan has calmed everything down with an upbeat account of moral rights in India.

Lifting the lid

Coming shortly. On Thursday, 28 June the Midlands Intellectual Property Society (MIPS) is holding one of its special little meetings. Speakers are Sam Bobo and Ian Lewis (SAMiAN Underwriting Agency), the talk being on "Lifting the lid on the ever changing world of IP insurance”. The venue, as ever, is the quiet private room at Opus Restaurant, 54 Cornwall Street, Birmingham B3 2DE. Drinks from 6.15 pm, eating commences at 7.00 pm, the serious stuff at about 8.15 pm. £50 inclusive of VAT; 1 hour's CPD on offer, and receipts are available to those who ask. Details from Andrew J. Clay, whom you can email here.

With its two humps, the
Bactrian camel can store
enough canapes for a month ...

"Intellectual property in the Middle East: Navigating through the desert" -- this is the title of a seminar on the laws and practicalities of dealing with IP issues in the Middle East, with a focus on trade marks. The speakers are the Clyde & Co LLP team of Rob Deans (Head of IP, Middle East) and Jon Parker (Head of Trade Marks, Middle East).  Date: Tuesday, 26 June 2012. 5.30pm Registration and refreshments; 6.00pm Presentation; 7.30pm Networking drinks and canapes. Venue: Faraday Room, Savoy Place, 2 Savoy Place, London WC2R 0BL. No charge, but click here to confirm your attendance.

He may have missed --
but you don't need to

Not missing anything.  The IPKat's friend Susan Keston, an electronics attorney at D Young & Co LL, is delivering a free webinar (on behalf of her firm) this coming Wednesday, 20 June, on “Smartphone Wars: Battleground Europe”. As might be expected, the topics covered include patents, standards and competition law, not to mention a smattering of European caselaw involving Apple and IPCom v Nokia. The important thing here is that Susan has put a lot of hard work into preparing it and she would dearly appreciate it if there were plenty of people plugged in to share it with her. To join Susan just click here to register. You have a choice of three times to webinate.  Football fans please note: there are no UEFA European Championship fixtures on Wednesday, so if you sign up for Susan you won't be missing anything.

Saints and sinners? When this Kat first saw the word "Hogarth" beside a banner reading "Scandals, Scoundrels and IP", he was a little surprised since he has many friends in Hogarth Chambers.  He thought he knew them quite well -- but obviously not well enough. Which of them are the scoundrels, he wondered, and what were the scandals? As it turns out, this was all a bit of marketing for the Hogarth summer seminar on Wednesday 18 July. Max Mosley is guest speaker (more sinned against than sinning?), plus a bit of local talent in the form of Gwilym Harbottle, Guy Tritton, Hogarth's very own saint -- Thomas St Quintin, that is -- and, well, that's it! You can hear the whole lot of them for just £47 plus VAT, which is only a fraction of what you'd have to pay to hear any one of them alone if they were representing you in court. Details here.