Wednesday whimsies

Some IP surveys for your delectation.  Here's a call for a bit of reader participation in our little corner of the intellectual property blogosphere.

(i) The IPKat's sidebar carries a poll as to what readers think of "King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin" as a brand name for the merging practices of a global law firm; 

(ii) Afro-IP is running its own sidebar poll to guide the World Intellectual Property Organization as to where in Africa that august UN agency might wish to locate its much-discussed regional office(s) [at present there are four front-runners, but there are still 18 days to do, notes the Kat]; 

(iii) the jiplp weblog, which is attached to the Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, offers a sidebar poll on what you understand the term 'Greek Yoghurt' to mean;

(iv) On PatLit you can find details of Kingsley Egbuonu's survey on the effect of the Jackson Review of Civil Litigation Costs in England and Wales upon IP litigation, especially in the Patents County Court.  This Kat is pleased to report that, after a slow start, Kingsley is now beginning to build up a respectable body of data -- but it's not too late to add your own!

Do let these polls have the benefit of your opinion.  As a community we may never achieve consensus, but it's always good to know if our views are reflected by the views of others.

Around the weblogs. Ever entertaining and informative, Mark Anderson's IP Draughts weblog has a great post on 10 tips for people applying for IP jobs.  Over on the jiplp blog, Emma Linklater explains how a German court, considering exhaustion of copyright, distinguishes between computer software and ebooks. Liability for wrongfully threatening to sue some poor soul for patent infringement crops up not once but twice (here and here) on PatLit.  Meanwhile, on Class 99, Australian design law scholar Jani McCutcheon seeks guidance from readers as to whether "graphic symbols" -- in this case a famous Louis Vuitton desin (left) -- really constitute a 'product' for the purpose of Community registered design law.  Finally, over in Canada, Howard Knopf's Excess Copyright blog reports that Access Copyright (the Canadian copyright licensing agency) is undertaking a survey of its "creator affiliates"; this leads a Kat or two to wonder whether it wouldn't be better if the creator affiliates were undertaking to survey Access Copyright ...

New edition. This Kat has learned that his friends Peter Watchorn and Andrea Veronese have just published the third edition of their highly useful Procedural law under the EPC-2000. What do you get for your 75 euro?  This:

"This third edition (2013) is updated to all of the most recent legal changes. It covers, in particular, the reorganisation of the EPO Guidelines, the abandonment of the legal advices and their incorporation into the EPO Guidelines, the changes to the procedure for grant under amended R.71 and new R.71a and the new sanction provided by amended R.53(3) for failure to translate the priority; as well as various new decisions of the Enlarged Board of Appeal and new developments in Board of Appeal case law. 

The book is written in a practical way and deals thoroughly and systematically with the different topics, but is also structured to fit all parts into "the bigger picture". It is hoped, that after getting accustomed to its format, readers will find the book a useful tool in their study and daily work".

The easiest way to procure your copy is to visit the Kastner website here and click around a few times.

The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) has taken the inspired step of filming our dear brother Kat Darren, together with a few other hand-picked [should this be 'face-picked', wonders Merpel] personages for their Faces of Chemistry series. Interested readers, their friends, followers and supporters can access this series on the RSC website here.  The series is intended to help students considering whether to pursue a career in chemistry and the RSC is keen for these to be publicised in legal way that Kats and others can conjure up.  So please so spread the word!