Never too late: if you missed the IPKat last week ...

Welcome to the IPKat's first "Never Too Late" feature of the month.  We say goodbye to February with some sadness, since it has been this weblog's busiest month for site visits since its launch in 2003.  February brought in 147,988 "hits", despite having just 28 days.  Thanks, all of you, for your support. And now, in case any of last week's Katposts passed you by, here's the 35th weekly "Never Too Late" summary of last week's posts, recorded once again by our friend and highly valued colleague Alberto Bellan, who writes as follows:

* EPO, SUEPO and a question of governance: why a word from the Baroness would be welcome

SUEPO called off its proposed march on the British consulate in Munich last Wednesday in the face of potential liability for breaches of obligations under the European Patent Convention and Service Regulations -- but the union has called for a fresh demonstration on Tuesday 25 March, says Merpel.

* Supreme folly? No muesli mix-up likely in the world where rabbits reign

Supreme Petfoods Ltd v Henry Bell & Co (Grantham) Ltd [2015] EWHC 256 (Ch) is another blockbuster judgment from Mr Justice Arnold in the High Court, Chancery Division, England and Wales. It is about a business that got a bunch of trade marks covering the somewhat unregistrable word "supreme", and then decided to bring proceedings against a defendant who wasn't using the word as a trade mark and whose use of it went back 20 years, recounts Jeremy.

* The EPO: privileged and immune says the President

Merpel re-sinks her paws in the hot story of the decision that Hague Court of Appeal issued in the sadly famous proceedings in SUEPO v EPO [on which see her earlier post here]. This time, the floor goes to nothing less than EPO's Emperor President Monsieur Benoît Battistelli.

* BREAKING NEWS: UK Government issues statement on EPO

Jeremy has just received a communication from a spokesman for the UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO). It is nothing less than the first public response of any national office to the current EPO unrest.

* The burden of proof in "double identity" trade mark disputes: rising to the Supreme challenge

After his earlier note on Supreme Petfoods Ltd v Henry Bell & Co (Grantham) Ltd, Jeremy hosts this post of guest contributor Tim Behean (Sipara, Oxford), which focuses on just one aspect of this multifaceted ruling: burden of proof in so-called "double identity" actions in which the mark used by the defendant is identical to that of the claimant and the goods or services of the respective parties are exactly the same too.

* Scents and sensibilities: how far can copyright stretch?

Jeremy reports on the joint BLACA-IPKat event on sensory copyright [on which see earlier Katpost here].

* "FAGE, Feta, Fontina": GIs come under scrutiny

Busy week of IP events for Jeremy, who this time recounts another tasty seminar entitled "Geographical Indications: FAGE, Feta, Fontina, and the battle for world markets".

* A  test-drive for the Unified Patent Court: Part III

Here Jeremy hosts the third in the series of posts from London-based law firm Bristows (where guest Kat Tom works) on its real-time experiment in litigating before the proposed Unified Patent Court (UPC). The first two reports are "A test-drive for the Unified Patent Court" (June 2014, here) and "A test-drive for the Unified Patent Court: Part II" (October 2014, here). This one too is masterminded by Alan Johnson and Alexandria Palamountain.

* Failure! What failure? Things to do with patent filing figures

The European Patent Office publishes some patent data on which Katfriends at the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys have already pounced. Note the headline assertion that British business is failing to protect innovation, then read on, says Jeremy.

* Dutch Minister trumps Court of Appeal ruling, reasserts EPO immunity

Following to the last events of the battle over the European Patent Office's governance, the Dutch Minister of Justice intervened with regard to the EPO's immunity from execution of court orders under international law, Merpel recounts.

* BREAKING NEWS: CJEU says that Member States are free to determine who must pay droit de suite royalty

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) issued its decision in Case C-41/14 Christie's France, a reference for a preliminary ruling from France seeking clarification as regards that peculiar creature of EU copyright known as artist's resale right, or droit de suite within Directive 2001/84 (the Resale Right Directive), and Eleonora is here to explain what that is about.

* Warner-Lambert v Actavis Mark 3: a "lyrical" solution to a painful patent dispute

After the Patents Court ruling of Mr Justice Arnold in Warner-Lambert Company, LLC v Actavis Group Ptc EHF & Others, which Darren reported here, Jeremy has got some news to break on that painful patent war.

* Blind faith not enough when proving bad faith: a case of Colourblindness

Valentina reports on a fresh trade mark dispute that the General Court has just decided, Pangyrus Ltd v OHIM, RSVP Design Ltd, Case T-257/11.

* Are smartphone patent wars in China on the horizon?

ZTE Corporation is ramping up to take advantage of the new legal environment that has resulted from the settlement between Qualcomm and the Chinese National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) over claims that the company’s licensing practices had violated the country’s Anti-Monopoly Law, recounts Neil.

* Groundless threats to sue for IP infringement: the end of an era?

The UK Government will improve protection to make sure businesses are not exposed to unnecessary and baseless accusations ... in response to the Law Commission’s Report, reports Jeremy. That's cool!, says Hogan Lovells' Katfriend Alastair Shaw.

* The next celebrity zoo animal? Polar bear Knut's little half-brother is looking for a name...

Birgit is back with one of her favourite topics: the interface between the naming of polar bear cubs and intellectual property rights.

* Subject Matter Relationships: the need for strictness, complexity and fuzziness

Valentine’s Day makes Suleman think about relationships: the cruelty, the complexity and the cuddles. It is all about patent law and how subject matter ‘relates’ to other subject matter, he explains.

*****

PREVIOUSLY, ON NEVER TOO LATE

Never too late 34 [week ending Sunday 22 February] – Bill Gates goes to China | Ms Swift's issue with trade marks | TMs and jurisdiction for on-line infringement cases | UK's Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys and the EPO | Divani & Divani | UK first in global IP enforcement | SUEPO v EPO | Enterprise v Europcar [2015] EWHC 300 | Again on Cartier International AG and Others v British Sky Broadcasting Ltd and Others | Googling inventor clients | Code of ISPs' practice in Australia | Specialised IP Courts in China.

Never too late 33 [week ending Sunday 15 February] –- Evoking Audrey Hepburn’s image is not OK in Italy | Reasonable royalty and moral prejudice: new reference to the CJEU | CoA for England and Wales on parallel importations in Speciality European Pharma Ltd v Doncaster Pharmaceuticals Group Ltd & Madaus GmbH | The Logic of Innovation: Intellectual Property, and What the User Found There and Tritton on Intellectual Property in Europe reviewed | Italian baked goods’ trade marks in foreign megastores | Belmora LLC v Bayer Consumer Care AG and Bayer Healthcare LLC, Article 6-bis in Northern Viriginia | EU TM judges get together in CET-J | Chancery division on Dude’s copyright in Fresh Trading Limited v Deepend Fresh Recovery Limited and Andrew Thomas Robert Chappel | Sound-alike litigation in the music industry | Informal AC’s get together at EPO! | To Kill a Mockingbird reloaded | Personalised medicine.

Never too late 32 [week ending Sunday 8 February] –- Brazilian PTO’s delays | The Research Handbook on International Intellectual Property reviewed | Laura Smith-Hewitt | IP, women and leadership: the poll responses | Decline of West’s trust in innovation | Wikipedia public domain photos |CJEU in Case C-383/12 P Environmental Manufacturing LLP v OHIM | The Nordic IP Forum | The future of EPO’s BoA | Warner-Lambert v Actavis Mark 2 | Dragons' Den: where entertainment meets mis-advice? | Hospira v Genetech Mark 1, the Appeal | Litigation-Proof Patents: Avoiding the Most Common Patent Mistakes and Patent Portfolios: Quality, Creation, and Cost reviewed | Italy and San Marino’s friendship on IP is over| Problems and imperfections in biotech patenting: realities on the ground and trying to fix the system.

Never too late 31 [week ending Sunday 1 February] -- Women in IP, a MIP’s perspective | Another linking reference to the CJEU | Catarina Holtz on Disciplinary authority over the EPO BoA | EPO pays to say that patent examiners’ life is truly cool | You can’t name your daughter ‘Nutella’ | CJEU in Arne Forsgren v Österreichisches Patentamt | Blocking injunctions in Greece | IPEC and bondage in Haiss v Ball | Present and future of patent profession | Belgium asks CJEU: does the Enforcement Directive allow cost-capping in IP litigation? | Dutch diverge with English as Novartis prevails on Zoledronic Acid in Netherlands | Slogan and TMs | The coffee capsule wars | Declining public trust in innovation | IPEC’s ruling in Global Flood Defence Systems& Another v Van den Noort Innovations BV & Others | Again on CJEU ruling in Case C-419/13 Art & Allposters | Biotech financing: the risk components, ‘going long’ and patents as knowledge currency.