Monday miscellany

Ending soon. Last week's Wednesday Whimsies mentioned that Edward Elgar was running a World Intellectual Property Day Celebratory Sale of books in its Research Handbook in IP series. This Kat noted that the publisher didn't mention when this special offer ended.  He has now learned from Edward Elgar that the offer remains open till close of play this Friday, 2 May.

Coming soon. Katfriends Toe Su Aung and Chris Oldknow are setting up a new venture, Elipe [Wow, says Merpel, there are so many ways you can pronounce it: is it two syllables or three?]. Elipe is billed as a dedicated service that nobody else is providing in IP –  helping companies to get much more out of their IP portfolio, cases and anti-counterfeiting strategy through active government and media engagement. Says Toe Su "We are not an IP law firm, we are not a broad public affairs firm – we support IP issues through focused engagement with government bodies, other companies and media".  More details are promised. 

Handy in the office, too!

Soon to be yours? Calling law firms in England and Wales: can you offer an opportunity to an ambitious, focused Katfriend and IP enthusiast who is looking to transfer the remainder of a training contract to another law firm? Storm-toss'd by recent events within the highly competitive legal services sector, this efficient and capable soul is looking for a minimum one year contract in private practice or in-house, in which to continue to develop a career in intellectual property (copyright, trade marks, designs), media, and branding. This particular Katfriend has an interesting and varied background, providing strong commercial awareness of branding and rights exploitation, coming with two years of genuine experience as an Assistant Trade Mark Attorney practising in trade marks and copyright, a Post-graduate Certificate in Trade Marks and Intellectual Property Law, experience as a Record Label Assistant, marketing for a book publisher and an international film festival, and Music Editor for a tween magazine [yes, really!]. As a trainee solicitor, this deserving case has already completed a six month seat in contentious work, and the compulsory core modules/assessments of the Professional Skills Course. If you think that you can assist this Katfriend, and would like sight of full CV and references, please email the IPKat at theipkat@gmail.com and details will be duly supplied.

Around the weblogs.  The jiplp weblog features not just the full list of contents of JIPLP's Special May Edition on indigenous intangible property rights but also the guest editorial by Keri Johnston and Marion Heathcote.  Elsewhere, the 1709 Blog hosts a guest post by Valentina Torelli on a Spanish ruling that will leave copyright owners wondering why everyone thinks they are so over-protected -- it's the same case that the IPKat hosted Carlos Garcia Berned's little note on, here.  There's also a gentle plug for Information Influx from Joao Quintais and Christina Angelopoulos. IP Draughts harbours a thoughtful piece by Katfriend Mark Anderson entitled "Introducing Background IP to a research project: what does it mean?" If you don't know what it means by the time you've read it, demand your money back.  Finally, SOLO IP has fired off a trilogy of fresh posts which you can check here ('Colouring in Trademarks'), here ('Licensing as a Solo Occupation') and here (''The Secret World of CTMR Article 82).

Prometheus bound -- to cause interest in patent circles, that is. This Kat has it on good authority that, a little over a week from now, his good friends at the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys are holding a seminar, "Update on the USPTO practice in the light of Myriad and Prometheus". Subtitled "Practical advice for The New World in US Biotech" [now that's daring, says Merpel. Can you imagine any organisation in the US running the strapline "Practical advice for The Old World ..." and getting away without a gentle roasting?], the venue is CIPA Hall, 95 Chancery Lane, London, WC2A 1DT, and the cast consists of Kristina Cornish (Kilburn & Strode, in the chair), Simon Wright (J.A Kemp & Co.) and Mercedes K. Meyer (Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP). Details are available here.

Steaming or streaming? When Fire's too hot to handle. Via veteran katpat-ee Chris Torrero comes a link to "Amazon under Fire: Porn firm sues retailer over the name of its TV streaming device", spotted in the Daily Mail, here. It seems that some poor innocents might come to confuse Amazon's Fire TV with a steaming porn streaming service.  Damages for trade mark infringement are apparently being sought in what Fyre's publicity (left) suggests will be something of a litigation novelty: a Three-Day Free Trial. Better than cost-capping ...