Friday Fantasies

The start of March brings more events, an internship opportunity and a number of interesting guides.

Events

The School of Law of the University of Geneva (UNIGE), in collaboration with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the World Trade Organization (WTO), is pleased to announce that Second IP Researchers Europe Conference (IPRE), which will take place in Geneva on Friday, 28 June 2019 at WIPO and on Saturday, 29 June at WTO.

IPRE is an initiative created in 2018 to bring together IP researchers to discuss their scholarship in Geneva, the home of many international institutions. IPRE seeks to feature primarily European-focused or Europe-based IP research, but all researchers writing on IP law-related issues in European, International, and Comparative law are welcome to apply to present. As in 2018, the Second IPRE will be linked to the 2019 WIPO – WTO Colloquium for IP Teachers and the 2019 WIPO-UNIGE Intellectual Property Summer School.

The deadline to submit an application is 25 March 2019. The Organisers will offer a limited number of scholarships to cover parts of the costs of selected presenters, with particular attention to presenters from countries from the European region (non-EU) with economies in transition. Instructions to the Second IPRE are specified on the Conference website here.

Interested in injunctions in patent cases? Then you may want to attend this conference organised by LMU and to be held in Munich on 4 and 5 April 2019. According to the traditional doctrine in many continental European jurisdictions, the patent owner has an unqualified right to an injunction in the case of an infringement. In US law, on the contrary, in the aftermath of eBay v. MercExchange, it has become difficult, at least for non-practicing entities, to obtain injunctive relief. Under EU law, injunctions must be available, but only subject to the principle of proportionality. In some areas there is a growing consensus that injunctive relief may have to be restricted. When owners of standard-essential patents (SEPs) make FRAND commitments, they are under a duty based on contract or antitrust law to grant licences accordingly. The owner of a patent to a second medical use cannot prohibit the sale of the substance as such. Restricting injunctions to infringing acts may turn out to be a challenge. The speakers of this conference are experienced judges, academics and lawyers from continental Europe, the UK, the US and Asia. They will look into the economic and historical background and will discuss the impact of the proportionality principle. The second day of the conference will be dedicated to specific issues of both doctrinal and practical relevance. Should injunctions be drafted as specific orders or as general obligations? Does the general duty to abstain from infringements also extend to a duty to recall? How should injunctions be drafted in cases involving second medical use claims? Is there an emerging international consensus on how to deal with FRAND cases? Full information is available on the link above.

UNION IP are hosting their first dinner of 2019 on Tuesday 26 March at the Royal Over-Seas League in London.  The speaker will be Queen's Counsel, Appointed Person and Bar Council EU Law Committee member Emma Himsworth QC. Emma's talk, entitled ‘It always seems impossible until it’s done’ (Nelson Mandela) will be a discussion in two parts:

(i)   Diversity and inclusivity – the IP Bar and Bench past, present and future - a personal perspective; and

(ii)  Where are we now with IP and Brexit – have we yet got beyond ‘I haven’t got the foggiest idea what is going to happen . . . ask Mr Blobby’ (Chris Mason, BBC political correspondent)?

Full details and tickets can be purchased here.

Dr Jose' Bellido (University of Kent) is hosting a seminar at The City Law School (City, University of London), on the 26th of March, 6-8 pm. Seminar from Dr. Jose Bellido  on “Radio, Television, Enterprises: Merchandising at the BBC”. The talk will explore not only the atypical character [of] merchandising contracts but also the institutional and media-technological settings that conditioned their legal lives and disputes. Details can be found here.

  

TPRC are hosting their 47th Research Conference on Communications, Information and Internet Policy on the 20th and 21st of September 2019 at the American University Washington College of Law. Proposals for papers are open until 15 March. For more details, check the event page.

LES have a couple of upcoming events this month. First, on the 7th of March there is the Irish Chapter Reception at The Spencer Hotel in Dublin. The purpose of the event is to encourage members across the Irish IP community to come and learn more about the society and to provide input into future plans and events for the Irish chapter.

The second LES event is the B&I 2019 Legal Update Meeting at Vue Cinema Picadilly in London on 14 March. The focus of this meeting is to try and bring everyone in the business of IP and IP transactions up-to-speed with a series of talks focussing on what’s new and relevant, delivered by a panel of expert speakers.

UCL have two upcoming events themselves. Firstly, a course on IP Transactions: Law and Practice convened by Mark Anderson (Anderson Law LLP) and Prof. Sir Robin Jacob (UCL). The course is directed to drafting, negotiating, interpreting and advising on intellectual property (IP) agreements. The course runs from 8 to 12 April.

After that, there is a conference on IP and ADR on 1 May organised by UCL IBIL, WIPO, Munich IP Dispute Resolution Forum (IPDR), and the Center for Intellectual Property and Competition Law, Zurich University (CIPCO). This conference addresses the key aspects of IP ADR in the SEP/FRAND and the Life Sciences area in a high-level setting.

The Intellectual Property Awareness Network is hosting an event at CIPA on 7 March 2019 on Genetic Resources, who benefits? In particular, how established IP systems can work in a dynamic access and benefit sharing (ABS) environment. Full details and booking can be foud here, and booking is available by emailing event@ipaware.org.

  

Internships

Nike are advertising for a Legal Intern from the 1st of May to the 1st of September. The deadline for any applications is 25 March and full details can be found here.

Guides and Blogs

On January 4, 2019, the Chinese Congress published their draft 4th Amendments to the Chinese Patent Law and requested comments from any interested parties. The European Chamber of Commerce in China have collected comments from their members. The English version is an unofficial translation, and if there are any discrepancies with the Chinese version the Chinese will prevail.

Wend Wendland, Adjunct Professor at the University of Cape Town has posted an interesting blog on the challeneges and oppotunites regarding the international prection of traditional cultural expressions. In a derivative culture, where should one draw the line between legitimate inspiration and unlawful misappropriation? Between appreciation and appropriation? 

The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore's Hearings & Mediation Department have published the latest revised Trade Marks Case Guide. The Trade Marks Case Guide, first launched in Jan 2017, is targeted at IP practitioners acting for clients in contentious trade marks proceedings at IPOS. It touches on two main areas: (1) practice & procedure; and (2) legal and evidential points of relevance to IPOS proceedings.