Midweek Miscellany

CIPA Signs Declaration for harmonised Global IP System
The Japanese Patent Attorneys Association hosted a meeting of ten national and international intellectual property associations, including the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys, resulting in the signing in Tokyo of a declaration committing to an alliance to help shape, promote and improve global patent initiatives.  The organisations involved are:

•All-China Patent Attorneys Association (ACPAA)  
•American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA)
•Asian Patent Attorneys Association (APAA)
•Association of Singapore Patent Attorneys (ASPA)
•Fédération Internationale des Conseils en Propriété Intellectuelle (FICPI)
•Intellectual Property Association of Thailand (IPAT)
•Japanese Patent Attorneys Association (JPAA)
•Korea Patent Attorneys Association (KPAA)
•The Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys (CIPA)
•The Institute of Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys of Australia (IPTA)

You can read more about this on CIPA's press release.  The IPKat welcomes any development to simplify and harmonise IP systems, because the most confusion and misunderstanding arises in those areas where national practices diverge the most.

Survey on planned online archive of EPO legal texts
Katpat to Chris Torrero for informing the IPKat the the European Patent Office has launched a short user survey regarding the planned improved online archive for legal texts on the EPO website.  The survey can be accessed here: https://de.surveymonkey.com/r/MSZG3TR.  The survey apparently takes about 10 minutes to complete.

UK IPO consults on fee reduction for Registered Designs
The UK Intellectual Property Office wants to make Registered Designs cheap - very cheap.  They are consulting on a proposal whereby, for online filing:

• The cost of a single online application will be £50
• Multiple online designs will cost £70 for up to 10 designs
• To introduce a fee of £20 for every 10 online thereafter (i.e. 11-20)

You can see the consultation here, and responses are due by 29 January 2016.

(If you had missed that the UK IPO allows you to file designs online - this was introduced on 30 September 2015 for single designs, and expanded to allow multiple designs on 13 October 2015.  But you can only pay by credit or debit card.)

New publication from INTA on GIs
INTA has announced the launch of a new resource, “Geographical Indications, Certification Marks and Collective Marks: An International Guide”.

This Guide is described as—
 “[c]overing eighteen jurisdictions to start (with plans already underway to include more), this cutting-edge database is a searchable guide that traces the treatment of all three concepts in a structured format. Details regarding protection, opposition and cancellation procedures, availability of enforcement mechanisms and more are available in a concise form within a few clicks. Such detailed treatment of these concepts in one publication is unprecedented.”

Past experience by the IPKat attests to the care and detail that INTA takes in producing these informational resources. That is the good news, and with the launch of this new International Guide, INTA members will be enriched by its contents. The less good news, at least for persons and organizations that are not members, is that access to the Guide, as well as the other Guides produced by INTA, is limited to the organization’s members only.

The IPKat thanks Kat friend Latha Nair, of K & S Partners, Gurgaon, India, one of four project team editors for this Guide (along with Emmanuel Baud, Edouard Fortunet,  and Anne Glazer) for this information.

News from Cambodia
The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) has started to issue first-office-action search and examination reports for patent applications filed in Cambodia.  Cambodia is poised to ascend to the Patent Cooperation Treaty, and this cooperation between both countries is testament to the progressive integration and development of IP within ASEAN.

New from Bulgaria
Katfriend Ventsi Stoilov informs the IPKat that the Bulgarian Patent Office has launched brand-new IP databases - apparently more user-friendly than the old ones, and allowing searching in English.  You can access them here.

Forthcoming events
As ever, don't forget to check the Forthcoming Events page, which is frequently updated.  The IPKat would like to draw readers' attention to a number of events in particular.

UCL offers course in IP Transactions
UCL Faculty of Laws is running a course on IP transactions - Law & Practice from 11 to 15 April 2016.  It is convened by Professor Sir Robin Jacob and Mark Anderson (of IPDraughts fame).  You can read about the course "designed to focus on the legal and practice issues that are directly relevant to transactional IP practitioners" here.

MIP International Patent Forum 2016
This will take place on 9-10 March 2016  at the Hotel Pullman London St Pancras.  In-house counsel attend for free; for others it is £1095 + VAT if booked before 29 January 2016.  The packed programme includes sessions looking at IP in many jurisdictions worldwide, as well as technology-specific issues in Europe and the USA.  There is something for everyone!  More details can be found here.

EPLIT 3rd Annual Meeting in Amsterdam
For litigation enthusiasts, the European Patent Litigators Association will be meeting on 11 April 2016 in Amsterdam at Sofitel Legend The Grand Amsterdam.  EPLIT is mainly intended to promote the Unified Patent Court, and the programme focusses on the preparations for the UPC.  More details can be found here.

European Policy for IP Conference, Oxford UK
Looking ahead to 3-5 September 2016, The Oxford Intellectual Property Research Centre (OIPRC) is hosting the 11th Annual Conference of the EPIP Association in Oxford, UK. Scholars and practitioners interested in the economic, legal, political and managerial aspects of intellectual property rights are encouraged to attend the conference.  At this stage, submissions of Full Papers, Extended Abstracts and proposals for Themed Sessions of 3-4 papers are solicited, and the deadline is 13 March 2016.  More details can be found here.

‘Stop me if you think that you’ve heard this one before: music, copyright and plagiarism’
Taking place on 10 February 2016 at the University of Westminster - The interactive discussion will include audio and musical illustrations and an invitation for delegates to vote on and discuss each example. By Simon Anderson, recent LLM graduate from the University of Westminster.  See here for more details (free to attend, but registration required).

"Enter the Matrix: the Effects of the CJEU's Case Law on Linking and Beyond"
Taking place on 3 February 2016 at City University London.  By Dr Peter Mezei (University of Szeged, Hungary).  More details here (free to attend, but registration required).

"Geographical indications: global and local perspectives" Geneva (Switzerland).
This is a full day Seminar by the Law Department of the University of Geneva, in collaboration with the European Communities Trade Mark Association. For further details just click here.

Midweek Miscellany Midweek Miscellany Reviewed by Darren Smyth on Wednesday, January 20, 2016 Rating: 5

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