Thursday Thingies

The IPKat's usual overview of various events and other IP related news!

Books

IPKat’s own Frantzeska Papadopoulou is the author of the freshly published book The Protection of Traditional Knowledge on Genetic Resources, published by Elgar. This book is the first of its kind to combine a novel theoretical framework with the practical applications of the combined theories of Rawls and Coase. A review of the book is forthcoming -- congratulations to Frantzeska!

Events

Questel, a company providing intellectual property databases, will organize two interesting events in the near future: a seminar + training event Stockholm from 29 to 31 May and in Frankfurt on 6 June to discuss IoT. For more information on the events see here and here.

The University of Warwick will host on 14 June Plant Variety Protection Debates: Connecting Law Science and Social Science, a forum where jurists, scientists and social researchers can meet and exchange their knowledge on the topic. The participants will also discuss the pending review of the plant variety provision of the TRIPs Agreement. For more information on the event and on registration, see here.

UNION-IP is delighted to announce that Baron Neuberger of Abbotsbury will be the speaker for their 2018 Summer Drinks Event on the evening of Monday 18 June at The Royal Society in London. Having presided over major decisions impacting both on IP law and practice, not the least Actavis v Eli Lilly, Baron Neuberger will be sharing his insights and reflections on “IP in the UK and Europe – a view from the top”. Full details and tickets can be obtained through Eventbrite - book early to avoid disappointment!

All the plant variety a Kat needs

On 19 June, J A Kemp will host an IP Symposium in Copenhagen on How to Protect and Exploit Pharmaceutical Intellectual Property. The event will offer both talks and workshops addressing the key issues affecting pharmaceutical innovation in both Europe beyond. The event is free. More information on the event and registration here.

The School of Law of the University of Geneva will organise the fist IP Researchers Europe Seminar (IPRE) on 29 June at WIPO. The seminar IPRE "aims to promote scholarly exchanges in the field of IP, to build the engagement between scholars and policy development, and to provide an opportunity for selected IP scholars to present and discuss their work-in-progress with IP experts and other IP researchers, with an emphasis on including European-based research of wider comparative and international interest". For more information on the seminar  see here.

To end the summer on a high note, the AIPPI World Congress will take place in Cancun from 23 to 26 September. You can find out more about the programme (subject to changes) here and additional information on the congress and registration here. 

The William S. Boyd School of Law (University of Nevada) will host the Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement at Trade Shows conference on 4 October. The conference will focus on discussing best practices for intellectual property rights enforcement at trade shows. For more information on the conference and for registration, see here. Marketa Trimble of the Technology & Marketing Blog also talks about the conference and this area of IP in general.

Papers/Initiatives

On 25 April, the European Commission published both the Study in Support of the Evaluation of the Database Directive, the second evaluation on the 1996 Database Directive and the Staff working document and executive summary on the evaluation of the Directive 96/9/EC on the legal protection of databases, discussing whether the results of the previous evaluation are still valid. The Database Directive will not be amended for a while, but the EC, in its Evaluation re-use of Public Sector Information (or, in short,"PSI") has clarified the relationship between the Database Directive and re-use of PSI.

On World Intellectual Property Day (26 April), the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore launched the new FinTech Fast Track initiative. Under this initiative, FinTech patents can be granted in as quickly as six months, compared to two years for normal applications. The objective is to support the growth of Singapore’s FinTech sector and help businesses bring their FinTech innovations to the market more rapidly. This will also help advance
Singapore’s Smart Nation agenda.

Also contemporaneous with the World Intellectual Property Day, Spinal Tap’s Fairness Rocks platform has been renewed as a Campaign, with the launch of its website. It is designed to be a useful source of information for journalists and the creative industry alike.