Friday fantasies

Forthcoming events.  As usual, the IPKat's list of forthcoming events is brimming over with good things to attend, special offers for readers etc. Please check it out.  You might also want to take a look at the Queen Mary Journal of Intellectual Property list of April events, here.

Fair use and trade marks.  Talking of forthcoming events, the Kats' friends at the Competition Law Association are holding an Evening Meeting at Pinsent Masons on 21 April at 6.00 pm [it's only just an evening meeting, sniffs Merpel, or is it really a late afternoon one? When does the evening start in the summer ...?].  The topic is "Fair use defence in trade mark cases”. Speaker and registration details can be found here.  The registration fee is based on your presumed earning power, but there is no discrimination when it comes to the entitlement to partake in the refreshments afterwards.

Want to participate? Still on the subject of events, you don't just have to sit there like a dummy, listening to others speak and waiting for the refreshments question and answer session to enliven your life. Why not be one of the speakers?  The eighth annual workshop of the European Intellectual Property Teachers' Network (EIPTN) at the University of Latvia, Riga, on Monday 29 and Tuesday 30 June 2015 and the organisers are looking for input -- perhaps from you. According to the call for papers

Given the informal nature of the workshop, we do not expect participants who are chosen to contribute to the programme to prepare a full paper to present at the meeting, but we are instead issuing this call for proposals to give 15 minute presentations on issues relating experiences of teaching IP, for example on teaching innovations, problems associated with teaching IP and emerging issues in IP teaching. We would encourage you to provide feedback from the students or evidence of any impact on teaching outcomes due to the issues discussed. Examples of presentations given at the workshops in previous years can be found on the EIPTN website.

The working language for the workshop will be English. If you want to get involved, further information can be found by clicking here. 

April Fools. The IPKat and Merpel always appreciate a good chuckle. While they naturally found their own April Fool's Day items immeasurably funny, they agree that the best of this year's bunch emanated from the fertile minds of their friends at Managing Intellectual Property magazine, whose Twitter account posted the following item:

	Managing IP (@ManagingIP)
01/04/2015 09:09 BREAKING NEWS: Arnold J dismisses #patent case in just 3 paras (incl validity & infringement) managingip.com/Article/344152… pic.twitter.com/CsxFWP1ypM

Around the weblogs. "No ifs, no buts - it is time to shine a bright and permanent light on the full workings of the EPO", posted to the IAM Blog by Intellectual Asset Management editor Joff Wild, is a recommended read on the issue of where we go from here in terms of governance of the European Patent Office.  The IP Finance blog hosts this guest post from Donal O'Connell on the IP dimension to assessing a supplier -- a topic that rarely if ever features on the IP blogosphere despite its practical importance.  The SPC Blog reports a recent AIPPI seminar on patent term extension in the European Union and what its Court of Justice has been saying on the subject. Dave Berry''s PatLit contribution highlights responses to public comments on possible revisions of post-grant procedures before the US Patent and Trademark Office. Fidel Porcuna, on Class 46, looks at the impact on IP of Spain's new criminal code.