Friday fantasies

Forthcoming events. Do please remember to check the IPKat's ever-changing Forthcoming Events page for interesting bits and pieces that are coming your way.  One such event, about which this Kat will have more to say at the beginning of next week, is IBC's 6th annual conference on International Patent Litigation, which takes place on 4 and 5 December, and which is offering a pleasantly tempting 15% registration fee reduction for IPKat readers who quote the VIP KatCode FKW82525IPKE (click here for details). There are plenty of other events listed which offer special rates for blog readers and other privileged categories of humanity, so make the most of them!

Taking policy to Brussels? Talking of forthcoming events, fellow Kat and copyright star Eleonora, of e-LAWnora fame, is taking her increasingly popular current copyright issue seminars to Brussels. "The Wonderful Life of EU Copyright Law and Policy" is taking place there, in the very Citadel of Policy, on 28 October.  Spaces are limited, as ever, so don't forget to book quickly if you're attending. Further explanation and details can be found here.

Good for networking ...

Due diligence as you've never known it?  Despite years of familiarity with the Licensing Executives Society and almost as many years being schooled in the niceties of political correctness, this Kat still cannot look at the domain name of the British and Irish chapter of that excellent organisation (www.les-bi.org) without imagining that it has something to do with sexual orientation and a good deal of uninhibited partying. Though neither of those topics might be of prime relevance to its content, the forthcoming LES Scotland meeting, "The Benefits of an IP Audit?", promises to be an exciting, vibrant event with unparalleled opportunities for networking. Details are available here.

Patent Box event back on.  Management Forum's "Patent Box: Tips and Predictions" seminar was supposed to run earlier this month, but it was postponed till 22 October once it was discovered that the original date was just ahead of the crucial OECD report on harmful taxing practices.  The OECD report is now out, giving the UK's Patent Box scheme a pretty clean bill of health, and details of the reorganised seminar can be found here.  IPKat readers are entitled to a 20 per cent discount.

MOCA survey: please respond!  The MOCA, the Ministry of Copyright, Cultural, Creators' Assets, is a highly specialised consultancy agency that offers over 25 years expertise and media industry advice on copyright policy and legislation, rights management and business development. It's also a body with a mission:

"By October this year copyright legislation [in the United Kingdom] will change so that authorised legal entities will be able to reuse and collect payments for re-use of creators' works even if they are not members of a collecting society. This change in legalisation (ECL [= Extended Copyright Licensing, explained by the UK government here]) will affect all creators in the UK whether they have published their works or made these available via social media sites. Creators who are not happy with this arrangement will have the opportunity to opt out (a) all schemes prior to an ECL commencement or (b) specific licences which may or may not contain your work within 21 days from the published notice".

With this in view, MOCA is running a voluntary independent survey to give everyone an opportunity to have their say about ECL, what they would expect of an Opt-Out procedure and how they think it may affect their business. All information gathered from this survey will be reported back to relevant parties such as rights holders, collecting societies and the UK Intellectual Property Office. This questionnaire should take less than five minutes to complete [Merpel has just been sent to bed without her tea for daring to suggest that, the more often you complete it, the less time it takes. Naughty Kat!]. Surveys will be collected up till 25 October 2014.

Conference looking for a speaker. Might it be you?  The IPKat is currently looking, on behalf of a reputable international organisation, for a in-house intellectual property who is able to say something interesting about the issued faced by his or her company in coping with situations in which there is an overlap between trade mark rights and copyrights.  The conference takes place in early December on the European mainland; it will be well attended and the speaker will be treated to two very comfortable nights in a jolly good hotel.  If you think you might be that person, can you please email the IPKat at theipkat@gmail.com with the subject line "IP overlap", ideally giving a short explanation of why the speaker at this prestigious event should be you.  All applications will be treated in confidence and will be forwarded to the conference organisers, who will deal directly with you.  Thanks!

China, paper. IP Key is calling for abstracts of papers, of which the lucky ones that get selected will be presented at a conference, “Economic impacts of IP-centred government incentives in Europe and China”, in Beijing from 4 to 5 December 2014. This event is organised by IP Key in partnership with the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Policy and Management and all accepted papers will be combined into a published book. The exciting news, though, is this:

"Very limited research funding (maximum of 5,000 Euros per selected researcher) is also available for up to three researchers, to be awarded based on the relevance of the paper to the objectives of the conference, novelty of the research proposal, as well as subject evidence that the researcher has a strong record of producing relevant high-quality research. Researchers should indicate in their submission due by 26 September 2014 [in other words, next Friday] if they would like to be considered for such funding".

For further information and a chance to be one of the lucky few, click here.