Friday Fantasies

* IP Key and CEIPI Deliver Training to Chinese Judges in Europe

The European Commission and the Supreme People’s Court, with the technical support of IP Key, will partner in the organisation of a two-week advanced judicial training program in France (Strasbourg) between the 18th and 31st March. 

The training is part of a commitment between the EU and China that was emphasised in the memorandum of understanding that was signed during the 10 year anniversary of the EU-China IP dialogue in 2015. It brings together 20 Chinese judges from IP specialised courts and aims at strengthening Chinese judge’s knowledge and skills on intellectual property rights adjudication through peer-to-peer exchanges with experienced European IP judges. 

The training is organised by IP Key with the Centre for International Intellectual Property Studies (CEIPI) of the University of Strasbourg and will host contributions from specialised judges of national EU IP courts as well as senior academics and practitioners, addressing cross-subject procedural issues in the adjudication of IP disputes. For the full programme please visit the IP Key website.

Past activity with the LAC includes judges forum in Shanghai in 2016 and study visit to Europe in 2015.

IP Key is co-financed by the European Union and the European Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) under the framework of the new EU- China cooperation. It is implemented by the European Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) in partnership with the European Patent Office (EPO). For more information, contact info@ipkey.org.

* CopyrightUser.org: Going for a Song – Copyright Guidance for Music Writers and Composers

A new copyright education resource is available on CopyrightUser.org: Going for a Song. It offers authoritative and accessible sector-specific copyright guidance for music writers and composers. It is based around the video, Going for a Song, which tells the story of Tina and Ben, a (fictional) music composer and a lyricist who create an original song and discuss how to market it. 

"Going for a song 🎵"

The video was produced by Worth Knowing and directed by Bartolomeo Meletti (CREATe, University of Glasgow and BFI) and Prof. Ruth Towse (CIPPM, Bournemouth University and CREATe). It comes accompanied by seven ‘Tracks’: supplementary texts drafted by Dr. Kenny Barr (University of Glasgow) that provide guidance on how UK copyright law regulates different aspects of the journey of a song, from its creation to its distribution. Topics addressed by the texts include what constitutes a song, how to protect a song with copyright, sound recording rights, publishing and record deals, among others. The content of the resource was developed from an interactive workshop for music writers and composers, conducted by the Copyright User team on 19th March 2015. The workshop was part of the series Understanding UK Copyright Law, carried out in collaboration with the Digital Catapult and the Copyright Hub. 

Going for a Song was funded by CREATe and produced in collaboration with the global production music library Audio Network. The resource was publicly launched in Glasgow on 8th March 2017 at the CREATe Public Lecture ‘Stop Me If You Think That You’ve Heard This One Before: plagiarism in music copyright’ by Dr Simon Anderson. You can find the resource and its full credits here. 

* WIPO press release:

Record Year for International Patent Applications in 2016; Strong Demand Also for Trademark and Industrial Design Protection

GENEVA – China’s ZTE Corporation overtook its crosstown rival Huawei Technologies as the biggest filer of international patent applications via WIPO in 2016 and U.S.-based Qualcomm Inc. claimed third position amid another year of strong demand for WIPO’s intellectual property filing services for patents, trademarks and industrial designs. Read full press release here.

WIPO Cybersquatting Cases Hit Record in 2016, Driven by New Top-Level Domain Names

GENEVA – Trademark owners filed an all-time record 3,036 cases under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) with WIPO in 2016, an increase of 10% over the previous year, with over 1,200 new generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs) now operational. Read full press release here.

* EPO express:

The EPO is very pleased to announce its results for 2016, including a record number of patent grants thanks to increases in productivity.

The EPO published 96 000 granted patents in 2016, which is 40% more than in 2015 – and a new record. Find out more here.

* Conference call:

11 May, 2017 

“From Lab to Life – Regulations for New Developments in Stem Cell Research” 

Faculty of Law of the University of Basel, Switzerland

Further information can be found here.

* Summer school call:

University of Geneva is organizing the 4th edition of the Geneva Internet L@w Summer School from June 19 to June 30, 2017.

It offers a unique opportunity to gain hands-on experience in the framework of an Internet law clinic and to discuss cutting edge Internet law and policy issues with academics (including researchers participating in the Geneva Internet L@w Research Colloquium, see below), practitioners, representatives of global policy makers, international organizations and leading institutions, including (for this year again) the Berkman Klein Center, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), WIPO, and the Geneva Internet Platform (GIP), as well as from other prestigious academic or governmental institutions and global internet companies (Google and eBay).

Additionally, the 2nd edition of the Geneva Internet L@w Research Colloquium which will take place on 23 June 2017. Please note that the deadline for applications is May 1st, 2017 for the summer school, and April 14, 2017 for the research colloquium. 

Visit here to apply for the summer school and for further information on how to apply for the research colloquium. Feel free to contact the organizer at internetlaw@unige.ch if you need any additional information regarding the above.

* IP Inclusive wins inaugural Corporate Social Responsibility award 

IP Inclusive -- a pan-professional diversity movement committed to helping make the IP professions more inclusive – was last night awarded the inaugural Corporate Social Responsibility Award at the prestigious Managing IP Awards. 

The annual event, which took place at The Savoy in central London, saw over 250 IP professionals celebrate successes and achievements within the international IP world. Among the accolades this year was Managing IP’s first ever Corporate Social Responsibility Award, presented to IP Inclusive for its work in uniting professionals throughout the IP world in the pursuit of greater diversity and inclusivity. 

Andrea Brewster, ‎Immediate Past President of The Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys (CIPA) and founder of the IP Inclusive movement, collected the award, commending Managing IP for making corporate social responsibility “one of the benchmarks by which we can both measure and celebrate progress in the IP professions.” Andrea commented: “I am thrilled to accept this year’s award on behalf of everyone who has worked so hard to establish and grow the IP Inclusive community over the last couple of years. IP Inclusive has been a catalyst for change but we have also had incredible support from our founding organisations CIPA, CITMA, FICPI-UK, IP Federation and the UKIPO, and from a huge array of volunteers across the country. We are proud to have launched so many inclusivity initiatives, such as support and networking groups, events, learning resources, careers information and a community of signatories to our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Charter. My thanks to every single person who has chosen to become involved and thanks to Managing IP for recognising everyone’s efforts. I know that this award will spur us on to still greater things.” 

Lesley Evans, Chief Executive of European IP firm, Haseltine Lake and leader of the IP Inclusive Charter initiatives also spoke at the presentation, urging the audience of international IP practitioners to spread the word about IP Inclusive in their own jurisdictions. Lesley commented, “This has been an extraordinary week for IP Inclusive. Not only have we celebrated our 100th signatory to our EDI Charter, but now we have received this amazing and unexpected award, which recognises the importance of increasing diversity across the IP professions. The IP professions are generally very open and welcoming, but they can be stronger and better still if they reach out and make themselves known to the widest possible workplace demographic. IP inclusive is giving us the tools and the impetus to do just that.” 

For more information, please visit: http://www.ipinclusive.org.uk/

Photo courtesy of Guo si-te.