Monday miscellany

The Kats like chocolate,
but KitKat?

1. IPKat's own Mark Schweizer will be hosting a webinar for the EUIPO Academy on the fallout of the Court of Justice's decision in the "Kit Kat shape" mark dispute (C-215/14), and the developments since (T-112/13 is certainly interesting and seems to contradict Arnold J's interpretation of the Court of Justice's judgment). The webinar is based on the article "Break for or blow against three dimensional trade marks? The fallout from the Court of Justice's decision in the Kit Kat shape mark case" in ABA's landslide magazine. The webinar will be held on Tuesday, 14 February 2017, at 10 am CET (9 am GMT), and you can register for free here. The slides can be downloaded here, but as usual, the interesting stuff is not on the slides.

2. GOLDING ESSAY PRIZE 2017: The CLA is offering a prize of £1000 to be awarded for an essay submitted by a student, trainee solicitor, pupil barrister, devil barrister (from Scotland) or trainee patent and trade mark attorney on the following topic: How can owners of EU trade marks effectively maintain their rights following Brexit, and what implications is this likely to have for trade mark litigation and licensing? Will any assistance be needed by way of legislation to preserve rights of such owners in the UK?

3. IP Out are holding a drinks and networking event, hosted by Marks and Clerk, on Thursday 23 February. Full details here.

4. Call for Papers: The Centre for Cross-Border Commercial Law in Asia (CEBCLA), School of Law, Singapore Management University, is pleased to announce the first Future of Law Conference: The Internet of Things, Smart Contracts and Intelligent Machines, to take place on 26 – 27 October 2017 in Singapore. Tentative topics include: 1) Privacy and information security 2) New transacting & marketing models, e.g. apps, platforms, sharing economy, smart contracts, ubiquitous computing 3) Paperless trade 4) Legal technology & computational law 5) FinTech, Banking Regulations, Crypto-currencies. Interested scholars should submit their request to present by emailing their contact information including their academic affiliation, a short bio (not exceeding 300 words), a title and an abstract of their paper (not exceeding 500 word) as a Word or PDF attachment to CEBCLA to the following email address: futureoflaw@smu.edu.sg.

5. The Global Advertising Lawyers Alliance (GALA) informs us that Israel’s Ministry of Health recently announced new rules on the marketing of unhealthy foods. The new rules include Red warning markers must be placed on the packaging of foods that are high in sugar, salt, or fat; Product packaging must be marked with spoons that show the amount of sugar contained in the product; and Unhealthy foods may not be marketed to children. "...Now is the time for food manufacturers to consider whether to reformulate their products and what changes may be necessary to their packaging," said Jeffrey A. Greenbaum, GALA's Chairman and Managing Partner of Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz in New York. 

6. The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) has recently launched the 1st edition of the Trade Marks Case Guide, which is targeted at IP practitioners who act for clients in contentious TM proceedings before the Registrar at IPOS. A PDF copy of the Case Guide can be found here.

7. Preparing for World Intellectual Property Day – April 26, 2017? This year’s theme has been announced: Innovation – Improving Lives.

8. Call for Papers: “Art in Law in Art Conference” is an interdisciplinary conference investigating the broad themes of law relating to visual art including intellectual property issues, and how visual artist perceive the law. Papers from any discipline may engage with any aspect that explores these general themes and may embrace a broad definition of both visual art and law. Scholars, practitioners, artists, and artistic and cultural institutions are invited to submit late abstracts to conference-law@uwa.edu.au more information here. The conference will be hosted by the University of Western Australia law school, and held at the Art Gallery of Western Australia during 4 and 5 July 2017. 

9. The Parasol Foundation Trust International LL.M at tel Aviv University offers a Law & Information Technology Track, with a focus on IP. The 10-month program takes place at Israel’s leading Law School and commences in early September, more details here.

10. Call for papers: The seventh annual Patent Conference (PatCon 7) will be held on Friday April 7th and Saturday April 8th at the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law. Please submit abstracts to David Schwartz (david.schwartz@law.northwestern.edu) by February 15, 2017.  

11. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has released its 5th annual International IP Index, rating 45 world economies on patents, trademarks, copyright, trade secrets, enforcement, and international treaties. According to the Index, the three countries ranking highest in Overall Economy Scores were US (32.6), UK (32.4), and Germany (31.9). A summary and key findings can be found here.