Tuesday tiddlywinks

Shakespeare's Falstaff:
a 'lager than life' character ...

Yesterday, courtesy of Cat the Kat, we brought you the "no holds Bard" drama of Royal Shakespeare v Royal Shakespeare (here), in which the Royal Shakespeare Company succeeded in obtaining the cancellation of a Community trade mark for the words ROYAL SHAKESPEARE which was obtained by an enterprising Austrian company called Jackson in respect of (inter alia) beers and other alcoholic beverages.  Today, courtesy of the Berlaymonster, we bring you the General Court's ruling in iambic pentameter and Shakespearean sonnet form:

Sonnet T‑60/10 Jackson International Trading Co v OHIM

When companies like Jackson Trading Co.
Approach the trademark office for to own
The name of 'Royal Shakespeare', even though
There's already a brand that's quite well-known,

Macbeth: bags of fun
from the RSC

And when the RSC, for it is they,
Kicks up a fuss because they stake a claim
That's just in law so they can rightly say
They have a prior right to use the name,

And when the EU courts in their review,
Say people buying beer, they might confuse
The famous troupe for makers of the brew,
We know, that when it comes to drinking booze,

That which we call a beer, when all's complete,
By any other name, would taste as sweet.

Bravo, says the IPKat. Merpel however sniffily assumes that the spelling of "trade mark" as a single word in the context of the Community trade mark system has been done under a valid Poetic Licence.

Coffee capsules

Around the weblogs. There's a new anti-copyright weblog , Sharing is Liberty. Inspired by Thomas Paine and Lawrence Lessig, it doesn't seem to come with a Creative Commons licence, notes Merpel.  Meanwhile, unloved and neglected by connoisseurs of real coffee, the Swiss conflict over Ethical Coffee Company's NESPRESSO-compatible capsules continues, being noted for the MARQUES Class 46 blog by much-admired former Kat Mark Schweizer here.  Art & Artifice's Simone Blakeney relates the tale of two edible budgerigars and asks readers whether they think there's a copyright infringement. Still on copyright, the 1709 Blog hosts a guest piece from Lawrie Kaye's own blog on the UK's tentative pigeon-steps towards copyright reform.

Border
terrier

Border control, EU-style. Our friend Rainer Boeckelen (Patentanwalt, TBK) has written to tell the Kats of his great relief. He spotted that the European Parliament's Socialists and Democrats (S&D Group was going to promote a revision of the current draft of the Regulation concerning customs enforcement of intellectual property rights by excluding patent rights from border seizure.  He then found out that the original proposal passed the first reading without excluding patents. The version as passed can be found here, at pages 188 to 231.  Thanks, Rainer, for letting us know.

Digital Spark rekindled.  Following the success of this event last year, Digital Spark is being rekindled on 5-6 September 2012 and will cover a broad range of IP and related topics for the Digital Creative Industries. This conference is based on the premise that IP is a vital and dynamic aspect of the digital creative Industries -- but that it should be viewed in a practical and joined-up manner with the commercial and technical context in which it is used in these industries. The event is run by the University of Abertay, Dundee ("The UK's first national centre for excellence in computer games education"). Further details and registration here.

Webinar celebrates new book. The IPKat's friend and one-time IP Finance blog team member Dr Roya Ghafele has told him all about Oxfirst's forthcoming webinar on 'University Intellectual Property: A Source of Finance and Impact'.  The date? This coming Thursday, 12 July, from 3pm to 4pm BST (British So-called-summer Time). No umbrella needed.  Together with Professors Graham Richards (editor and contributor-in-chief), Sir Robin Jacob and others, Roya has just published this book on how to finance university research. This webinar presents some of its key findings.  Details of registration can be found here.  The IPKat adds that he intends to publish a review of the book (which has not quite reached him, it having been officially published only yesterday) later this year.