Friday fantasies

Survey in need of respondents: can you help? The European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property has let it be known that it is currently undertaking a project that is designed to assess the cost of infringement of intellectual property rights to business and government. To this end, the Observatory has contracted market research company GfK to carry out a survey on its behalf.  The survey itself is a simple questionnaire which is largely comprised of multiple choice questions. It can be accessed here and is addressed to a sample comprising the following Member States, in their own language(s): Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Lithuania, Hungary, Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The closing date for responding is 4 December 2015, which is not very long away.  If you, your clients or your professional representatives can be persuaded to participate, this would be much appreciated

Listening with rapt attention to the keynote
address by Peter Groves ...

Look who's coming? A quick look at the list of worthies attending next Wednesday's IP Publishers and Editors Meeting shows that some highly distinguished enterprises will be represented.  These include, and are therefore not limited to, C. H. Beck, the CIPA Journal, Edward Elgar Publishing, Globe Law & Business, Informa, LexisNexis, Managing Intellectual Property, Music Law Updates, Newton Media, Oxford University Press, Thomson Reuters and the UK Intellectual Property Office. Various law firms, bloggers, editors and dignitaries will also be there, together with a selection of Kats.  Will you be there too?  Just in case you are still teetering on the brink of committing yourself but haven't yet signed up, details can be found by clicking here.

Around the weblogs 1.  On Afro-IP, Caroline Ncube reflects on what a busy month for IP the first two-thirds of November has been.  IP Tango hosts a guest piece by Vicente Zafrilla Diaz-Marta (IP expert, Latin America IPR SME Helpdesk) on the Trans-Pacific Partnership and what it might mean for European businesses doing business abroad  (in Latin America, for instance?)  The Aistemos blog points readers to the ORoPO initiative, the establishment of an open register of accurate records of patent ownership that was launched six months ago and which looks forward to gathering momentum in the New Year.

Around the weblogs 2. Trade mark enthusiasts -- even those of the non-US variety -- are urged to take a look at "If infringement falls in a forest ...", Ron Coleman's Likelihood of Confusion post on, well, likelihood of confusion --one of the most thought-provoking items this Kat has seen on the subject in more than a little while.  The SPC Blog, having recently posted a review of Japanese patent term extension law and practice by Seigen Tsukuda, has just hosted a sequel in which the Japanese Supreme Court affirms office practice on this valuable topic.

Write an essay, win an award and have some fun.  The European Communities Trade Mark Association (ECTA) takes pleasure [so far as any organisation can experience pleasure, one imagines] in inviting students and professionals to take part in the ECTA AWARD 2016.  The deadline for receipt of papers is 15 March 2016.  According to ECTA, the idea is to grant an award to an individual who has written an article or an essay of importance for the development of European Trade Mark Law. All being well, the Award will be presented in Dubrovnik at a special ceremony during the Association’s 35th Annual Conference on Friday 24 June 2016. Criteria for entering the competition can be found here. The synopsis for the student category can be found here. The synopsis for the professional category can be found here.  Places to have fun in Dubrovnik can be found here ...