Monday miscellany

Anxiously, the mouse seeks assurance that
"termination", in a termination clause, applies
only to the contract and not to a party to it ...

The Institute for Brand and Innovation Law (IBIL), University College London, deserves a katpat or two for launching "IP Transactions - Law and Practice", a five-day course running from Monday, 11 February to Friday 15 February 2013.  IBIL's blurb introducing this course, for which the Kat's friend and fellow blogger Mark Anderson has been pressing for many a year, reads like this

We are delighted to announce a new, five-day course, Intellectual Property Transactions: Law and Practice, which will run from 11th to 15 February 2013. 

The course has been designed to meet the needs of junior practitioners (0-3 PQE) who are starting a career in IP transactions. Written and presented by experienced IP practitioners from leading IP firms, departments and chambers, it will look in detail at the main types of IP, IP transaction and industry sectors, including life sciences, IT, media, universities, government contracts and M&A. The course aims to combine a rigorous discussion of legal topics with a practical focus on how transactions are structured, drafted and negotiated. 

The course includes both formal lectures and workshops in which IP contracts and other documents are considered. After the course is completed, there will be a 2-hour examination. Students who complete the course and pass the exam will receive a Certificate in IP Transactions from the Institute of Brand and Innovation Law of UCL’s Faculty of Laws.
More information on the course content and details of how to apply are set out in the course brochure.

To register your interest and download the course brochure, click here.  The IPKat's predictions are that (i) this course will be hugely popular, (ii) it will be oversubscribed and (iii) within three years IBIL will have worked out a means of licensing the format and content of the course so that it can be taught in other institutions and in other countries under the IBIL brand, thus putting into practice the principles of IP transaction that it will be preaching ...

Watching ... for
spurious comments

No, no -- it it SEO?  The IPKat has become increasingly plagued by attempts to populate the comments facility of this weblog with promotional comments, often semi-literate and/or nonsensical, accompanied by links to businesses. Most of these businesses have little or nothing to do with intellectual property: they range from Florida Real Estate companies, through car washing services and Indian alternative therapies, to special offers on adventure holidays, kitchen goods and computer accessories.  Typically the person seeking to post the comment is the holder of a Google+ account, for whom no personal details are provided.  On a number of occasions the link leading from these spurious spammy comments leads to a business or law firm providing intellectual property legal or commercial services. On each occasion that the Kat has contact the IP enterprise in question and objected, the firm in question has denied any knowledge of this activity but, following the complaint, it instantly stops.  The Kat's theory is that the people who are posting this spam, possibly not realising that the IPKat's comments are moderated, are the same folk who answer advertisements promising them hundreds of dollars a day for "writing jobs", working at home, and that they are being paid by search engine optimisation (SEO) operations.  It would be good to know if this were the case, and the Kat welcomes comments from readers who have better information about this irritating practice.  Merpel proposes to go one better and publish a monthly Hall of Shame list of IP legal practices and business that seek to build their practice by attempting to post electronic trash on this weblog in the mistaken belief that it will be of any assistance to them.

Holborn Bars De Vere -- presumably shot by a
photographer who had just emerged from one
of the bars. The building itself is perpendicular
to the pavement in front of it

Handbags at Dawn, The Intellectual Property in the Fashion Industry Conference 2012 takes place in exactly three weeks time, on Monday 24 September. The venue is London's lovely Holborn Bars De Vere, built in the days when planning permission was unheard of and when all the best buildings were liberally spread with magnificent staircases and corridors the width of roads.  IPKat team member Jeremy, who is again chairing this annual event, has heard from the organisers that bookings are going well -- which augurs well for a day of excitement, enjoyment and instruction.  Fellow Kat Nicola Searle (the Katonomist) ventures across the border from Scotland to speak, while 1709 Blogger Iona Harding comes from even further afield as she returns from Canada to make her contribution. There are plenty of other star speakers too, so don't forget to join us!  Programme details and registration can be accessed here.

The Godfather:
another sequel

Around the weblogs  Revisiting Cape Verde for the Afro-IP blog, little Leo Kingsley Egbuonu laments the fact  that there is yet another African state that has not improved its official intellectual property online services since his previous visit last year.  The IPKat sees something of a pattern here and feels it's time for a call to arms.  If each of the most online-savvy developed nations were to partner with just one African nation in helping to develop its online services, within a short time we could solve this problem.  Back on PatLit, David Berry considers liability for "divided" patent infringement -- and how a recent US Court of Appeal for the Federal Circuit decision in BMC v Paymentech has avoided tackling it full-on.  On the 1709 Blog Iona Harding looks at a little spat over The Godfather and asks: "Can you copyright a film character?"  Finally, fellow Kat Neil writes for the IP Finance weblog on the strategic use of branding that keeps Apple ahead of its technologically enabled competitors regardless of who wins each round of its patent battles.

To sensitise CJEU judges to the unique
importance of accurate interpretation of
EU provisions, Curia requires them all|
to undergo intensive training in the game
of Scrabble at the hands of the IPKat

Now that the summer is all but over, the clouds return and winter draws on -- but the real evidence that the time for fun and games is over can be found on Curia, the website of the Court of Justice of the European Union (embracing the Court of Justice itself and its junior tribunal, the General Court).  There may not be a imminent storm brewing, but the furrowed brows of the European Union's most influential judges indicate that there will be some thunderous noises emanating from Luxembourg soon (even though the CJEU's judgments don't usually come with lightning speed). Guest Kat Kate has already alluded to some forthcoming cases here, and others have since been added to the diary. One is a long-running dispute relating to Anheuser-Busch's applications to register BUD for beer, one of which was filed when OHIM opened its doors for business on 1 April 1996. This case has already been to the CJEU, which remitted it to the General Court, which is re-hearing it next week.  Anyway, the IPKat team welcomes the Euro-judiciary back and promises its readers that it will do its best to make the CJEU's decisions as exciting, intelligible and relevant as it can.