Friday fantasies

Not everything the Kats find themselves reading can ever be described as enjoyable, but this Kat still chortles over some of the entries in the multi-talented and always charming Colm MacKernan's International Technology Law & Business: A Practical Glossary (reviewed by the IPKat back in May 2006).  Well, Colm has just let him know that this lovely work has been republished as an online creative commons glossary with search at Technology and IP Law Glossary. Do take a look, and let Colm know what you think.  This Kat is amused to see that the definition of Easter Bunny remains -- though in his innocence, or is it ignorance? -- the only place he has ever come across this expression is in Colm's compendium [Merpel is slightly miffed at the fact that the IPKat gets a mention while she doesn't, but she's delighted to see that 'Hargreaves' isn't there either].

"I am Shravan", announces Shravan, the current administrator of India's SiNApSE intellectual property blog. He then goes on to tell us that SiNApSE has recently completed five years of existence, and that this is the cause of an outbreak of celebration of both survival and success, through various initiatives and free give-aways. Adds Shravan, "Dr Kalyan, one of the founders of SiNApSE Blog, has kindly agreed to make his best selling work, FUN IP, available for free download on the blog". This book may be downloaded in PDF format, on the SiNApSE home page at www.sinapseblog.com. It's also available in numerous other formats.  Happy birthday and congratulations, chorus the Kats.

There's a well-worn proposition that the problem with Chinese meals is that, half an hour after you've had one, you feel you could do with another one.  Now, says the IPKat, if you substitute "deals" for "meals", you're probably right.  The recent high-level UK China initiative [Beggars to Beijing, murmurs Merpel] brought in not only £5.6 billion in trade deals but a new UK-China patent agreement, described as "a boost for UK businesses".  According to a media release from the UK Intellectual Property Office:

"UK businesses can now obtain faster intellectual property protection in China after a new fast-track patent agreement was signed with the State Intellectual Property Office of the People’s Republic of China this week.

The Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) agreement allows applicants to request a quicker processing of a patent application at one intellectual property office if the corresponding patent application has been found to be acceptable at the other participating office. The second patent office can then use the work undertaken by the first office, thereby reducing duplication.

The agreement will reduce patent processing times, the costs associated with registering a patent and most importantly it will increase the level of intellectual property protection businesses will have in China [says Merpel: if the PPH is a reciprocal arrangement, it will presumably make it much quicker for the Chinese to gain patent protection in the UK too -- and don't the Chinese generate a great many more patent applications than the Brits?]. ...

In addition to the agreement with China, the UK has PPH arrangements with the United States, Japan, South Korea, Germany, and Canada [the odd country out is Canada, says Merpel: all the other countries file far more patents annually than does the UK.  The only country that files more patents annually than the UK but isn't in a PPH arrangement is France]".

Around the weblogs.  SOLO IP reports on the launch of the annual Fellows & Associates IP salary survey.  PatLit brings news of the excellent and persistent Ingve Björn Stjerna's attempts to secure access to documents on the legality of the new European patent court structure which have been shamelessly and inexcusably kept from the IP community by those who are our servants but believe themselves to be our masters.  On the 1709 Blog Patrick Goold reveals how the US postal service has got itself into trouble with yet another copyright-infringing postage stamp (see illustration above).  Meanwhile, the jiplp weblog's efforts to promote a readers-and-writers LinkedIn Group are clearly more popular than its efforts to persuade readers and writers to respond to its sidebar poll on the rights and wrongs of lawyers writing about IP cases in which they participated.  Finally, the Class 99 design blog writes up a decision involving two beer glasses which are virtually indistinguishable once you've had a pint or two to drink ...