Friday fantasies

In visionary mode ...

It hasn't attracted as much publicity as the previous contest, but this Kat is delighted to congratulate World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Director-General Francis Gurry on his reappointment for a further six years. The WIPO coordination committee nominated Kafriend Francis by consensus and the nomination is set to be ratified by the General Assembly when it meets in early May. Francis was preferred over nominees from Estonia, Nigeria and Panama. As WIPO tells it:

"Mr. Gurry prevailed in that round of voting with 46 votes, with 20 votes for Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama of Nigeria, 10 votes for Panama’s Mr. Alfredo Suescum Alfaro and seven votes for Mr. Jüri Seilenthal of Estonia. According to the rules, the candidate with the least number of votes after the first round is eliminated. 

Before the second round of voting began, the candidacies of Mr. Suescum and Mr. Onyeama were withdrawn and Mr. Gurry was selected as the consensus nominee by delegates signaling their acclaim with a round of applause".

This Kat thinks that Francis has done a jolly good job so far and wishes him the best of luck in the next six years.  Merpel offers her condolences to the other candidates and reminds them that they did a lot better than she did.

Don't litigate, mediate!  The Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (OHIM) is running its first ever IP Mediation Conference on 29 and 30 May, for which you will find the not-quite-yet details on the conference website here.  This Kat is particularly excited about this event, not only because -- as readers will know  -- he is a keen believer in the virtues of consensual settlement of IP conflicts but also because he has been invited to take part as a moderator of one of the sessions.  Further information will be provided when it's available.  In the meantime, save the dates and prepare for a trip to sun-drenched Alicante!

Little-known statistic: 100% of European
Patent Offices massage their filing figures

Around the weblogs 1.For connoisseurs of intellectual property facts and figures, few blogs can deliver more gratification than that rara avis "IP - non credere - A sceptical view on IP related statistics".  In its most recent post, "Pangloss strikes again", here, the author, an anonymous Katfriend, writes: "In a recurring ritual the EPO has announced in a press release today "Patent filings at the EPO reach all-time high". As mentioned in previous posts EPO press releases excite more than inform. A more nuanced picture can be gained by looking to the raw data which can be found here. So let us analyse some statements in the press release" -- which is exactly what the author does.

Around the weblogs 2. Meanwhile, two solid posts have emerged from MARQUES's spring team meeting in Amsterdam, one of them being Camille Janssen's BOIP and Benelux-tinged overview of how Court of Justice trade mark decisions trickle down into national case law and office practice, the other being on the part-majestic, part-manic presentation given by Dutch trade mark guru, genius and amicable pracademic [that's short for an academic who also works in practice] Dirk Visser. This treat is the second in the series of annual Kay Uwe Jonas Memorial Lectures, the first having been given by Judge Joachim Bornkamm: the Kats are most excited to know who will be the third.  Elsewhere, the jiplp weblog is offering a further four IP books for review, making it nine this week.