Star Wars? It's all Greek, but opposition succeeds in the end

As the doughty folk of the United Kingdom struggle to get through yet another public holiday, this Kat has every sympathy with all IP enthusiasts in their battle to keep up with the latest news and views from the IP blogosphere. That's why "Never Too Late" has been designed: in just a short number of minutes you can see at a glance what substantive Katposts you missed last week. In the wonderful world of IP there isn't such a thing any more as a quiet week in which nothing happened. 

If you were away last week, or too busy working to check us out, this is what you missed (courtesy of Jeremy together with Alberto Bellan):

Star Wars? It's all Greek, but opposition succeeds in the end

Case T‑521/13 Alpinestars Research Srl v OHIM, Kean Tung Cho and Ling-Yuan Wang Yu is a grand old General Court scrap in which everyone guesses how modern Greek consumers might view a word that orginated from Classical Greek.

Breaking News: PTAB declines Bass hedge fund IPR challenges in Ampyra dispute

The Coalition for Affordable Drugs (brain child of hedge-fund manager Kyle Bass) experiences disappointment as the USPTO opts not to review a couple of big-value pharma patents. The AmeriKat reports.

Rule of Reason curbs Basic Instinct as trade mark loses its appeal

Case C-400/14 P Basic AG Lebensmittelhandel v OHIM),  Repsol YPF SA intervening see the Court of Justice of the European Union dealing with the conflict of two figurative marks containing the word "basic".

BGH: not so fast, look-alike fasteners

Guest Kat Mark guides us through a fascinating German decision on the extent to which so mundane an object as a fastener for attaching electrical installations to walls might be affected by not just IP but the EU's unharmonised unfair competition law.

Armor, Glory and ... religion in a US trade mark clash

From guest Kat Nikos comes this account of the clash of two heavily-armoured brands in the US: Under Armor and Armor & Glory.

Fashion Law and Debates - from Balenciaga to DVF

Katonomist Nicola derives yet more blogging inspiration from her holidays -- but she still takes time out from her holidaying to ask whether the US needs more, or better, legal protection for fashion.

Does the EU want to get rid of geoblocking through a review of the SatCab Directive?

Another piece of bravura blogging from Eleonora, on some potentially unintended consequences of a review of the Satellite and Cable Directive.

Acquired distinctiveness of product shape marks: AG Wathelet does not “rely” on the UK approach – but on what else?

Recently the IPKat hosted a post on the subject of Nestlé's  application to register its chocolate finger shape as a trade mark: has this application been treated to a premature burial, he asked. That post's thrust has been bolstered by this guest post by Thomas Farkas.

Posting comments on the IPKat: a new policy

Don't go on and on being anon, the Kats say: people struggle to work out who you are. But you can still post comments in disguise ...

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SPECIAL SINGAPORE GFIP

 * “Simple Past, Present Continuous…Future Perfect?” GFIP Conference Report INeil provides this series of reports from the Global Forum on Intellectual Property 2015 (GFIP), hosted in Singapore by the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore and the Singapore IP Academy. The event’s theme was “Simple Past, Present Continuous…Future Perfect?” In the first plenary session, the focus was on the evolving architecture of the global IP system and the influence of national IP systems, along with the tension between the territoriality of IP rights and the global scope of IP exploitation.  

 * “Simple Past, Present Continuous…Future Perfect?” GFIP Conference Report IIThe second plenary session was devoted to the topic of ASEAN Economic Integration 2015 - Opportunities, Interoperability and Synergies in IP. ASEAN is a political and economic organization consisting of 10 member states—Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar. It really is a big deal, says Neil. 

 * “Simple Past, Present Continuous…Future Perfect?” GFIP Conference Report IIIThe second day of the programme moved from discussions on national, regional and international aspects of IP to a consideration of two main pillars of IP practice—the courts and the creation of value from IP. First came the courts … 

 * “Simple Past, Present Continuous…Future Perfect?” GFIP Conference Report IV…  and then a session entitled “IP Value Creation—Strategies for the 21st Century”. 

* “Simple Past, Present Continuous…Future Perfect?” GFIP Conference Report VTrade secrets and copyrights came under scrutiny here, not to mention a note on the contribution made to this event by another Kat, our very own Eleonora.

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PREVIOUSLY, ON NEVER TOO LATE 

Never too late 60 [week ending on Sunday 23 August] - Test-drive of the Unitary Patent Court, Parts V and VI |From food porn to porn with food: passion with Parmesan | USPTO Guidelines on patent eligibility | Red Bull fends off Crazy Bull in Greece | Biker Biker Biker Gang! Another offbeat look at IP from Katonomist Nicola | How to pay damages for a perfectly lawful customs seizure | Dallas Buyers Club copyright demands rejected in Australia. 

Never too late 59 [week ending on Sunday 16 August] - Fundamental deficiency in an EPO decision need not be a problem |Benedict Cumberbatch versus admiring audience | Emma Perot on graffiti as dress art | Location of London's division of the UPC | Cool, confident and healthy: Katonomy meets Jawbone and Fitbit |Planning permission and that London UPC venue |Partial priority and poisonous provisionals: questions for EPO Enlarged Board |Target TM parody in Australia | IP threats in the UK | Traditional knowledge and Nagoya | From Google to Alphabet | Co-branding and multiple brands.

Never too late 58 [week ending on Sunday 9 August] -  Teva UK Ltd & Another v Leo Pharma A/S | Traditional Knowledge Digital Library | Governance of the EPO Boards of Appeal |Atelier Eighty Two Limited v Kilnworx and ownership of copyright in logos | Productivity at the EPO | The Lone Inventor: a Katonomist report | Bradman Foundation v Sir Don's family| IP Inclusive |Michael Jordan in China | Stage fright and performances | Lookalikes and inactivity | Taking unfair advantage of exceptions to copyright infringement | Great Bake Off parody goes off-air.

Never too late 57 [week ending on Sunday 2 August] - French Law on out-of-print works | Swiss rule on delivery of scientific documents | Post-expiry patent royalties in the US | Confusingly similar wet-wipe packaging | Copyright infringement and Twitter jokes | Permission to link? | Criminalisation of IP and economics | Keeping count of blocked websites in the UK |Birkin Bags | Patentability of user interface designs in Germany |Smith & Nephew v ConvaTec | Report on IPEC litigation |does Twitter have a future? | New books on cyberespionage and patenting of life forms.