Monday miscellany

The Court of Justice of the European Union is now on its holidays and won't be visibly back in action until Tuesday 14 April.  The Kats collectively and individually wish the EU's top judiciary a pleasant break and hope that it will give them an opportunity to repent of their aberrant intellectual property rulings take a fresh view of the issues on which it is so important for them to rule correctly, particularly when they are de facto harmonising European law by filling in gaps left by the slowly-growing web of IP Regulations and Directives. Easter is a very special period in the calendar, when many Europeans have the custom of eating non-distinctive chocolate rabbits wrapped in gold and with a red ribbon.

The IPKat's friends at Bristows have been supplying this weblog with regular reports [so far here, here and here] on that firm's real-time test-drive experiment in litigating a patent dispute under the new Unified Patent Court regime, using the most-up-to-date set of rules.  They have just let him know that the firm's new real-time UPC Action moot page is now live. The Bristows text is the original version of the edited text published on this weblog, with the substitution of its own home-grown test-drive themed cartoons. The next episode in this saga is expected towards the end of April.

European Patent Office: something to read. Following last week's Administrative Council Meeting of the European Patent Office [noted by Merpel here, followed by Merpel's own comments here], the Administrative Council and the European Patent Office's staff union SUEPO have each issued statements. That of the Administrative Council can be read here; that of SUEPO can be read here. Merpel tells the IPKat that she will be continuing to monitor the position.

Around the weblogs. Mike Mireles has rounded off a good week for the IP Finance blog with weekend posts on whether IP might be the key to Kodak's comeback and on what sort of impact Patreon might be expected to have on innovation crowd-funding. On Class 46, former guest Kat Laetitia Lagarde writes on a recent somewhat paradoxical General Court ruling that "force" is weak, at least when it comes to evaluating the distinctiveness of Community trade marks. The 1709 Blog is garlanded with a Ben Challis special on the litigation over copyright protection (or not) in the song "Happy Birthday to You" in the US and Turkey.

WIPO experts roam, but not to Rome ... On 21 April the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is taking its Roving Seminar team to Turin for a one-day seminar which it is putting on with the support and cooperation of the Italian Patent and Trade Mark Office. WIPO's Roving Seminars are one of the best initiatives the organisation has ever undertaken,  To see how businesslike and productive it is, click through to the programme and you will discover that the three welcoming speakers have been allocated only 15 minutes between them, the rest of the day being dedicated to informative and interactive sessions.  If you are in the area, or fancy a trip to a fascinating city which has a wonderful culture ana a two-week chocolate festival every year, do register!

CEIPI Newsletter. Issue 31 of the Newsletter of CEIPI -- the Centre for International Intellectual Property Studies in Strasbourg, France -- was published on 25 March. Among other things, it advertises that the Centre is looking for an intern to assist noted scholar and Katfriend Christophe Geiger in a research project on human rights and intellectual property. Excellent research and drafting skills are required, so only apply if you are really good.  Details are available here.

Can you help? The IPKat has received a request from a student who is looking for a productive IP experience. He has so many readers that he is sure that there must be at least one or two of them who can help.  This student writes:

I am a final year Master’s degree student in International and Comparative Law at the Tallinn University of Technology (Estonia). My thesis project concerns compulsory licensing of patented pharmaceutical products from the perspective of the TRIPS Agreement and the Doha Declaration. Currently I am living in London and am actively looking for an internship, graduate scheme or entry level position in the IP field.

My deep interest in IP law stems from my belief that IP protection promotes development and progress. Driven by this belief I started my working experience in the National Intellectual Property Office of Georgia (Sakpatenti). My role there equipped me with many skills which are essential to work efficiently in this field. As a Chief Specialist at International and Project Management department I developed good organizational, communicational, reporting, team-player skills, as well as deepening my knowledge ( I hold several certificates in IP Law). I acquired my organizational and team-player skills by organizing number of regional and international projects and conferences, including an International Conference “Focusing on Geographical Indications: Legal Insights and Branding Strategies”, Tbilisi, 2014. I increased my communication skills while negotiating with representatives with a number of international organizations (including WIPO and the EPO) and expanded my network while participating in the International Copyright Conference, Chengdu, China in 2014. I believe that my skills and knowledge would be of substantial benefit to a future employer.

I also studied IP Law, Company Law and Contract Law while during my exchange studies at Chester University, UK (ranked 2:1).

If you would like to contact the student concerned, please email the IPKat at theipkat@gmail.com, quoting the subject line "IP Intern" and your email will be forwarded. The person concerned will happily send you a cover letter, CV and letters of reference.