Monday miscellany

Do please remember to check out the IPKat's Forthcoming Events page! Several new events have been added of late: some of them might be right up your street!

One such event is that which has been brought to our attention by Belinda at the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS).  Belinda tells us that IPOS’ premier IP event, IP Week @ SG 2014, takes place on 25-27 August 2014 at the Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre, Singapore.  The event's website, which has all the details, is here -- but if you want to know more, email Belinda at Belinda_Wong@ipos.gov.sg

The Patent Lawyer magazine for May/June has only recently emerged to see the light of day, but it has lots of pretty pictures and brightly-coloured advertisements for those who get bored with reading all that small print.  On the subject of small print, there's quite a bit on patents in India and Hungary, a focus on women's networking in IP and a small opinion piece, "A Stickly-Prickly Subject", by this Kat on the role (assuming that there is one) of mediation in the resolution of patent-related disputes. By the way, the publishers are keen to let prospective subscribers sample their wares. If you click on this link you won't find it hard to spot all those buttons with 'free trial' emblazoned on them.

Never mind the right to be forgotten: the Lords
Subcommittee on Dress Down Friday (above)
remains unable to achieve consensus ...

UK looks at right to be forgotten. This coming Wednesday, 9 July, the House of Lords Home Affairs, Health and Education European Union Sub-Committee will question Simon Hughes (the UK government's Justice and Civil Liberties Minister) as part of its inquiry into the consequences of the ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) that data subjects can require Google to remove links to information lawfully on the website [on which see earlier Katposts here and here]. The inquiry is part of the Committee’s scrutiny of proposals for a new EU Regulation and Directive on data protection. The CJEU said the current 1995 Directive gave data subjects the right to require search engines to remove links to information which was held lawfully on the website if they thought it was prejudicial to them – the ‘right to be forgotten’. The Lords Committee is considering how the UK government should respond when negotiations resume on the new Regulation.  The evidence session, which is open to the public, takes place at 11am in Committee Room 3. Meanwhile, you can read the EU’s proposed Regulation and Directive on the European Union’s website and make up your own mind.

Congratulations, Carol!  The UK-based organisation of major intellectual property owners, the IP Federation, has announced its new President, with effect from last Friday: it's Carol Arnold.  A UK chartered patent attorney, European Patent Attorney and Associate Member of the Institution of Chemical Engineers, Carol has over 30 years of experience in patents and has represented Shell on the Council of the IP Federation since 2008. Good luck, Carol, chorus the Kats. Merpel wants to know whether Carol is related to Katfriend and leading patent judge Richard Arnold, and whether there are any other Arnolds waiting in the wings ...

Around the weblogs. Over on IP Finance, fellow Kat Neil asks searching questions about cleantech: is it a concept that always has a future, but never a present -- and what is the message for investment in IP research and start-ups?  Afro-IP notched up 12 blogposts last week -- by far the largest number for a single week since that blog commenced its Africa coverage in December 2007.  For those of you who are transaction-minded, Mark Anderson on IP Draughts takes a "back to basics" approach to the drafting of indemnity clauses, here.  Finally, here's a curiosity on Michael Atkins' Seattle Trademark Lawyer blog which this Kat previously missed: a comment on a proposal in the US to impose a tax on the assessed value of trade marks, copyrights, patents etc relating to marijuana.