Thursday Thingies

We have reached the end of this long year and will now hopefully take a well-deserved break. We wish all our IPKat readers the best for the coming year! The last miscellany post of 2022 contains some announcements for the blog's contributors as well as some IP news and four professional opportunities - which you should definitely look out for in January!

NEW INTERNKAT

The IPKat welcomes a new InternKat for the next six months! His name is Benjamin Goh. Benjamin is a future trainee solicitor at a commercial law firm. He is based in London and hopes to specialise in trade marks and brands. He holds degrees from the University of Oxford and King's College London, where he studied IP subjects and realised that he would like to pursue this field of law. You can read more about Benjamin here.

OPPORTUNITIES

Bayes Business School - City, University of London | PhD completer - Assistant on the Intellectual Property Management module (DL: January 9, 2023)

Bayes Business School, City University of London is looking for a PhD completer, a recently qualified practitioner, or graduate who is keen to get a foot in the door of IP teaching, and who is able to step in and assist on the Intellectual Property Management module. The IPM module is delivered to 2nd year BSc business and management students, commencing 3 February 2023. Growing student numbers means extra tutorial groups (1 hour every other week over 11 weeks duration of the module) for which assistance is sought, and paid for. There is also paid coursework marking.

If you have the necessary knowledge, attitude, aptitude and time to fit the bill, send a message of interest which includes an A4 response covering:

1. Your grounding in IP Law

2. Your experience of IP management

3. Your suggested best learning experience for students in 50 minute tutorial would be achieved by....

to Prof. Ruth Soetendorp at ruth.soetendorp.1@city.ac.uk by 09 January 2023.

The successful candidate will join Prof. Ruth Soetendorp and Ms. Agathe Michel de Cazotte (Partner at Carpmaels & Ransford). The latter has held the position for four years and writes:

"The students that select this module often have very specific reasons, they have their own app, they post their music online, they have a start-up idea, they want to fight counterfeit drugs or understand the value of luxury brands or the IP related risks on social media platforms. This means explaining the most important IP concepts in a way that they can engage with and apply. This has been an amazing opportunity to see the world through their creative and entrepreneurial eyes, and make sure that the nature of the IP rights as well as the impact on any business strategy is clear. Working with Ruth, who has been teaching IP very successfully for a long time, and involves IP practitioners who share their knowledge with the students, provides a great chance for anyone wanting to pressure test their ability to anticipate how IP rights will be used in the future by engaging with the next generation of business leaders."

The deadline for applying for this opportunity is 09 January 2023.

IViR | Call for participation: Researcher Access in the Digital Services Act (DL: January 16, 2023)

The Institute for Information Law (IViR) and the Digital Services Act (DSA) Observatory are organising a workshop at the University of Amsterdam on the afternoon of 15 March 2023 on the DSA. The workshop will bring together an interdisciplinary group of experts to fully unravel the implications and tensions of DSA regulation of access to data held by major platforms and search engines, and allow participants to network and develop future collaborative projects. Participation is open to researchers from all career stages and disciplines. In addition to legal scholars interested in the DSA and its data access provisions, IViR is also particularly interested in connecting with empirical researchers in the field of social media studies and related disciplines. Further information and the application form can be found here. The deadline for applications is January 16, 2023.

Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition | Junior Research Fellows/Doctoral Candidates (m/f/d) in Economics or Management (DL: January 31, 2023 and February 5, 2023)

The Department of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Research at the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition researches the incentives, determinants and effects of innovation and entrepreneurship processes as well as their behavioural foundations. The department, led by Prof. Dietmar Harhoff, Ph.D., invites outstanding and motivated young researchers to apply as Junior Research Fellows/Doctoral Candidates (m/f/d) in Economics or Management. Further information can be found here. The application deadline is January 31, 2023 for candidates in the Economics Track and February 5, 2023 for candidates in the Management Track.

Google | Google's Inclusive Copyright Thesis Award (DL: January 31, 2023)

For the third year in a row, Google is holding its "Inclusive Copyright Thesis Award". This contest grants a prize of USD 5,000 for the best master thesis written in the area of copyright law, and submitted (in English) in 2022. Applicants from underrepresented groups (race/ethnic minority groups in countries where that group is minoritized or non-dominant; women; people with disabilities; LGBTQIA2S+) are especially encouraged to apply. What's new this year is that papers from JD students from the US are also eligible to apply, provided they send in a research paper of publishable quality that was submitted for course credit and are nominated by the Professor of that course. More details and the application form can be found here. Applications are open from January 1, 2023. The deadline for applying is  January 31, 2023.

NEWS

Copyright Office and USPTO Announce NFT Study and Roundtables

The United States Copyright Office and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), at the request of Congress, are conducting a joint study of intellectual property law and policy issues arising from the use of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The offices have published a notice in the Federal Register seeking public comment to help prepare for the study and announcing public roundtables for patents, trademarks, and copyrights to be submitted by February 3, 2023. The notice with more information can be found here. 

European Commission and EUIPO Observatory - Counterfeit and piracy watch list 2022

On 1 December, the European Commission published the "Counterfeit and Piracy Watch List 2022". The purpose of the list is to identify both online service providers and physical marketplaces outside the European Union that are reported to commit or facilitate significant IPR infringements, in particular through counterfeiting and piracy. The EUIPO, through its Observatory on Infringements of IP Rights, has supported the creation of the watch list with several internal studies. The watch list is based on information reported through a public consultation process and can be found here.

Food for Europe Podcast | Geographical Indications: Protected local delicacies for Christmas!

A new episode of the Food for Europe Podcast was released on 21 December 2022. The topic is Geographical Indications: Protected local delicacies for Christmas! You can listen to the podcast in English, French or German here.

European Commission | DSA: Commission launches public consultation on methodology and procedures to calculate supervisory fee

On 22 December last, the Commission published a draft text for public feedback on the methodology and procedures for calculating the supervisory fee under the Digital Services Act (DSA). The feedback period will last one month and will help shape the Commission's final Delegated Regulation. All interested parties can submit their views on the draft until 19 January 2023 on the Commission's "Have Your Say Portal" (here).