Monday Miscellany

Feeling the Monday blues? The IPKat has some treats to brighten up your day.

EVENTS 

Developing and Least-Developed Countries and Intellectual Property Rights: Colonialist Features of the TRIPs Agreement

Time: Tuesday, 19 November 2019, 4:45 - 7:30PM

Place: Room 3.1, Centre For Commercial Law Studies, 67-69 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, WC2A

Speakers:
Professor Gustavo Ghidini (Emeritus Professor, University of Milan;
Professor of IP and Competition, LUISS, Rome)

Chaired by: Professor Duncan Matthews (Director, Queen Mary Intellectual Property Research Institute)

The impact of the TRIPS Agreement’s rules on Developing and Least-Developed Countries (LDCs under Article 66) will be discussed, focussing on two normative profiles of the Agreement which bear on the position of the said countries, LDCs in particular, in international trade.

The first concerns the standard terms granted for complying with the TRIPS Agreement’s Western-designed IP rules. This marks a historic departure from the experience of modern industrially advanced countries which self-determined, to the measure of their own economic development in terms of when to adopt and enforce a significant level of IP protection.

The second is the introduction of the rule of Article 27.1, which inhibits a country’s ability to impose a local working requirement for patents, at present substitutable by mere import of patented products. Prior to TRIPS, a local working requirement was historically adopted by many countries in order to benefit (employment benefits aside) from the spill-over and sharing of advanced foreign technologies.

The author argues that the synergy between these two normative features objectively has the effect of maintaining Developing Countries and especially LDCs in the position of net importers of high-tech products, and exporters of low-tech products and commodities. This can be characterised as a colonial scheme of international trade, in contrast, inter alia, with the TRIPS Agreement’s declared aim (under Article 7) to foster the transfer and dissemination of technology. Hence, the author suggests two modifications of the TRIPS Agreement, specifically tailored upon Developing Countries’ and especially LDCs’ needs, and consistent with the ever growing need to design more balanced patterns of international trade, particularly as concerns IP-related issues.

Please book via EventBrite

IPAN Network Meeting: What is the Corporate value of Intellectual Property? 

Time: 4pm Thursday 21st November 2019 

Place: CIPA Hall, 2nd Floor, Halton House, 20-23 Holborn, London EC1N 2JD 

IP and related intangibles are now internationally recognised as the most valuable assets in global value chains (WIPO 2017 report). But is the value properly understood and secured by business particularly at board level?  How is this value assessed financially in IP rich businesses and what are the requirements for an investor value proposition? These are essential questions impacting investment, industry and commerce in the 21st century; the answers are important for individual businesses, the investor community and the UK economy and trade as a whole. John Ogier, IPAN Chairman, will introduce our invited speakers who will look at corporate value in IP and related intangibles from a business, investor, legal and wider society perspective. 

The speakers are: 

• Janice Denoncourt, Senior Lecturer in Law - Nottingham Law School 

• Negin Bemanzadeh, Principal - EEE Corp Group 

• Nigel Worth, Director - Innovation Support Services 

• Kelvin King, Director - Valuation Consulting

If you would like to attend please contact info@ipaware.org with your details.

Allegro et Andante, Op. 92 for ten paws
image credit: Classic FM 

BLACA: A calm sea and a prosperous voyage – How Felix Mendelssohn navigated the international copyright seas before Berne

Time: Thursday, 14 November 2019, 6:30PM

Place: St Magnus The Martyr, Lower Thames Street, London EC3R 6DN 

Speakers and Performers: Hubert Best & Brigitte Lindner 

Chair: Alison Firth 

This Copyright Lecture-Recital will focus on the contractual relations between the composer Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and his European publishers and in particular the question of how copyright protection could be secured for musical works across borders before the Berne Convention. In the beginning of the 19th century, when protection under national copyright law rarely extended to foreign works and bilateral agreements were still scarce, protection for a work across borders had to be secured by some other means. Authors, composers and their publishers had to be inventive and adopted a rather pragmatic approach: they chose to publish the work on exactly the same day in a number of given countries, in other words, they practised “simultaneous publication”. In this Lecture-Recital, Brigitte Lindner and Hubert Best will explore how Felix Mendelssohn reached a safe harbour by conquering the turbulent pre-Berne seas and perform some of his works on this journey.

Please book, using the password mendelssohnrecital, via Eventbrite. 

Research Seminar with Ruth Towse – Dealing with Digital. The Economic Organisation of Streamed Music

Time: 

Place: Room F204, Fusion Building, Bournemouth University, 52 Gillett Rd, Poole BH12 5BF

The intervention of digital service providers (DSPs) or platforms such as Spotify, AppleMusic and Tidal supplying music streamed music has fundamentally altered the way that song-writers and recording artists are paid and the operation of copyright management organisations (CMOs). Platform economics has emerged from the economic analysis of two- and multi-sided markets, offering new insights into the way business is conducted in the digital sphere and is applied here to music streaming. The business model for music streaming differs from previous arrangements by which the royalty paid to song-writers and performers was set as a percentage of sales; royalties now depend on many other factors. There is no direct interaction (as in a sale) between the consumer of the product and the producer as the platform intervenes, maximises its revenue by setting prices on different sides of the market. In the case of music streaming there are subscriptions and ad-based free services so payment is based on revenues from both. The streaming service sets a rate per stream with the various rights holders that varies according to the deal made with CMOs, with each of the major record labels, with representatives of independent labels and with unsigned artists and songwriter with consequences for artists’ earnings. The article discusses these various strands in terms of the underlying economics, with data and information from Norwegian CMOs, giving empirical support to the analysis.

Please click here for more information. 

Research Seminar with Ana Rutschman – Vaccines as Technology

Time: Wednesday 11 December 2019, 14:00

Place: Room F305, Fusion Building, Bournemouth University, 52 Gillett Rd, Poole BH12 5BF

This seminar focuses on the IP-related aspects of the development of new vaccines, with a focus on vaccines targeting emerging infectious diseases. It covers issues related to 1) the research and development (R&D) stages of vaccine innovation, with an emphasis on diseases lacking outbreak-induced funding spikes; 2) technology transfer, exploring both licensing and liability regimes for vaccine technology diffusion; 3) and vaccine commercialisation, including the use of 3D printing as a way to deliver vaccines, particularly across the developing world.

Please click here for more information. 

Pop Culture & Trade Marks with Associate Professor Yann Basire (CEIPI)

Time: Tuesday, 19 November 2019, 2-4PM

Place: Hörsal 9, Södra husen Universitetsvägen 10 Stockholm Sweden

Trade marks and pop culture: a happy relationship? Join this lecture with trade mark expert and leading academic Yann Basire (Director General of CEIPI - University of Strasbourg), who will discuss how and to what extent IP may serve to protect or hinder access to and use of pop culture products. The lecture will be held on Tuesday, 19 November, from 14:00 to 16:00 at Hörsal 9 (Auditorium 9) in Södra husen, Stockholm University. Attendance to this event is free but registration is required.

Please book via Eventbrite.

WEBINARS

Intellectual property from the perspective of a venture capitalist. Presented by Dr. Christian Schneider

Time: Thursday, 21 November 2019 04:00 PM (Brussels) 

Place: online 

Join this webinar to hear the perspective of an experienced venture capitalist on start-up selection and the role of intellectual property. Christian will draw upon his experience as a seasoned investor over 20 years to give a picture of common patterns and challenges inventors and entrepreneurs experience with regard to intellectual property. The webinar will draw upon experience and examples from the bio-tech sector but is relevant to people from all sectors. 

Attendees may want to explore 4iP Council's interactive guides on intellectual property types and benefits prior to the webinar. Visit: www.4ipcouncil.com. This webinar is part of our on-going IP educational activities.

Please register for the webinar here 

SURVEYS

For the first time ever, IP Inclusive is running a basic bench-marking survey to gauge diversity and inclusion levels in the IP sector.  This project, to mark IP Inclusive Week, will evaluate the initiative's future progress. The anonymous survey is open to all professionals who work in the IP sector.  It takes about 7 minutes to complete, and will be open from 4 to 24 November inclusive.

Please click here to take the survey and here to learn about the survey. 

NEW JOURNAL ARTICLE

PermaKat Eleonora has penned a new scholarly article, this time on the absolute ground for refusal/invalidity concerning signs that consist exclusively of “the shape, or another characteristic, which gives substantial value to the goods”.

The article, which will be published on the Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, can be read here in the meantime.

According to the abstract:

Among the absolute grounds for refusal or invalidity in EU trade mark law, there is one for signs that consist exclusively of “the shape, or another characteristic, which gives substantial value to the goods”. The ‘substantial value’ exclusion has received relatively limited attention and practical application. Some commentators have called for its abolition on consideration that other, clearer absolute grounds may perform its role without giving rise to those issues linked to its uncertain meaning and scope.
This contribution reviews relevant EU case law on the substantial value ground, in order to define rationales, scope, and functions thereof. It submits that the substantial value ground performs a role – primarily that of preventing or limiting a distortion of the role of trade mark registration – which cannot be subsumed in other grounds. However, clearer guidance on certain fundamental aspects, including the role of the average consumer, reputation, and the relevance of the behaviour of the trade mark applicant/owner, is still required.

LITIGATION UPDATES

Munich district court confirms anti-anti-suit injunction. This summer, The IPKat reported on the grant of an anti-anti-suit injunction in the context of a patent dispute between Nokia and Daimler/Continental [here]. Continental requested a U.S. court to stop Nokia from proceeding with German infringement suits until a global FRAND rate was set. In response, Nokia requested the Munich regional court to order Continental to withdraw this motion, which request was granted ex parte. This decision has now been upheld [here]. Among other things, the regional court held that a US order barring Nokia from bringing infringement suits in Germany would constitute an unlawful interference with Nokia's property rights (par. 61).