Saturday Sundries

INTA is holding a couple of educational events in Berlin back-to-back:

Time for some IP News!

-- A workshop on Free Trade Zones (November 29, Berlin, Germany) 

-- A conference on Brand Authenticity – a relatively new topic, where the focus will be on how sustainability, Corporate Social Responsibility and integrity impact a company’s bottom line (November 30-December 1). Details are available here and here.

INTA has also recently announced their 2018 educational calendar and the Europe Conference will be held in February (26-27) in London on the topic of designs (full calendar at www.inta.org/calendar).

Press release: Best practice code of conduct on SEP licensing

EU innovators have kick-started the development of a best practice code of conduct for licensing Standard Essential Patents for 5G and the Internet of things. The project started at a Cen-Cenelec Workshop held in Paris.

The workshop is being held against the backdrop of an upcoming communication from the European Commission on the system of FRAND licensing of Standard Essential Patents. Supporters of the FRAND system unanimously agree that it is essential to maintain the balanced benefits that open standards deliver to developers of connectivity technologies, the developers and manufacturers that use them, and European consumers.

An online version of the press release can be found here.

Press release: CENELEC Industry code of conduct launch on standards licensing

In the context of the European Commission’s ‘FRAND Communication’ (expected publication at the end of November) – a project will begin on Oct. 6, 2017 in Paris – under the oversight of the CENELEC standards body. It intends to establish an “Industry Code of Conduct for Standard Essential Patents (SEPs) licensing”. In particular, it will be relevant to the development of technology standards in the field of 5G and Internet of Things (IoT).

IP Europe – an industry alliance promoting standards innovation and intellectual property – believes that an industry Code of Conduct could help all stakeholders to harness the potential of the Internet of Things, without the need for further regulation.

A full press release – with quotes from the Cenelec President, IP Europe and Nokia, can be found here.

Upcoming events:

Question the Trade Mark Judges 2017

Wednesday 18 October 2017, 18:00 - 19:30, followed by a reception

J Z Young Theatre, UCL Anatomy Building, Gower Street

UCL Institute of Brand and Innovation Law (IBIL) and MARQUES, the European Association of Trade Mark Owners, invite you to meet and question some of the judges that are or were until recently deciding our trade mark disputes.

Further details can be found here. 

Patents in Telecoms and the Internet of Things

Thursday 9 - Friday 10 November 2017, Washington DC

The UCL Institute of Brand and Innovation Law and George Washington University’s Faculty of Law announce their 3rd Conference on Patents in Telecoms and the Internet of Things in November 2017 in Washington D.C. 

The conference will be a unique gathering of industry, the judiciary and regulators from the US, Europe and Asia, organised by Professor Sir Robin Jacob (the Sir Hugh Laddie Chair of Intellectual Property at UCL Laws) and Professor Marty Adelman, Co-Director of the Dean Dinwoodey Center for Intellectual Property Studies of George Washington University’s Faculty of Law.

View the full programme and booking details here.

Fresh study: Strengthening the Position of Press Publishers and Authors and Performers in the Copyright Directive

This study was commissioned by the European Parliament’s Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs at the request of the JURI Committee. It reviews Art 11 and Arts 14-16 of the proposed Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market. It outlines criticisms that have been made of the proposals, includes reports of research into the operation and effects of precursors of Article 11 in Germany and Spain, a summary of the cultural economics literature on legal regulation of authors’ contracts and analysis of the laws of 7 Member States to see in what way Arts 14-16 would “add value”. 

Further details can be found here. And the full text can be downloaded here.

Expression of Interest for a Junior Research Position: Legal and Policy Recommendations for Community networks

The Department of Engineering and Information Science of the University of Trento is recruiting a temporary junior researcher in media and telecommunications law (at the post-doctoral, PhD or master level) for a period of 12 months to produce legal information and policy recommendations for community networks, as part of the netCommons project.

Further details can be found here. 

Industrial Strategy: Intellectual Property Call for Views

Call for views on maximising the incentives of the Intellectual Property system to stimulate collaborative innovation and licensing opportunities. 

As the government sets out its plans for an ambitious new industrial strategy, the IPO is seeking views to form part of our contribution to the next phase of the strategy. We are looking for your views on a range of specific ways we can get innovators to work together more effectively and get the most out of their IP. The consultation will run for five weeks, closing on 15 November 2017.

Further details can be found via here.

Photo courtesy of Mr. He Gong and his lovely kitten Ruobai.