Wednesday Whimsies

Happy Wednesday IPKat readers! Here is a list of upcoming events and some news to start the week:

Events

The University of Southampton will host in Paris on 9 November 2018 the event "The New Modes of Online Platform Responsibility". This conference will discuss the recent attempts to strengthen the legislative framework targeting online platforms, in order to question the validity and the effectiveness of these new modes of platform responsibility. The conference will consist of 5 Parts: Fundamental rights and platform responsibility; Intellectual Property and platform responsibility; Traders, consumers and platform responsibility; Data protection and platform responsibility; Which platforms? IPKat's own Eleonora Rosati will be one of the speakers. For more information on the programme, see here. 

On 28 November 2018, LES Britain & Ireland will host the event "Aspects of IP Licensing" and Sir Robin Jacob, LES Honorary President, will be the guest speaker on what promises to be a most engaging topic! The evening will start with a networking reception followed by a three course dinner and Sir Robin’s presentation. Full details can be viewed here.

News & Call for papers

Calling all fashionistas! The Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice (OUP) has just released its fashion law special issue, edited by IPKat's own Eleonora Rosati together with Carina Gommers (Hoyng Rokh Monegier) and Sarah Harris (OUP). This issue also contains a number of contributions by IPKat team members, including Mathilde Pavis, Tian Lu, and Nedim Malovic. The entire issue will remain freely accessible for a few weeks: enjoy!

The October Issue

Call for papers: The Journal of International Business Policy has issued a call for papers for a special issue on 25 years of TRIPS: Patent Policy and Emerging Economies. Nearly two and a half decades after TRIPS came into effect, much has changed in the global innovation landscape.Technology trade has flourished and more technology has been transferred to emerging market subsidiaries by MNEs. This special issue is aimed at an inter-disciplinary audience in a genuine effort to bring together research that wants to understand the experience of TRIPS and what it offers in terms of IPR policy as the world heads towards de-globalisation.  Deadline for extended proposals: December 15, 2018. More details here. 

The Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation has appointed Stephen Rowan (UK), Christoph Ernst (Germany) and Nellie Simon (Austria) as the next vice-presidents of the European Patent Office (EPO). The three new vice-presidents will take up their positions on 1 January 2019 for a period of five years. The IPKat wishes the three new vice-presidents all the best with their new role.You will find the press release here.

Stephen Rowan (Patent Granting Process)

The Bulgarian Patent Office has recently launched a new online database. It gives access to protected plant varieties and animal breeds in Bulgaria. This will allow everyone who has an interest in to do a search online. The database has a version in English too although you have to bear in mind that to search for protected plant varieties and animal breeds you need to do that using their names in Cyrillic. The database is accessible here.