Sunday Surprises

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This week’s miscellany post brings new conferences and announcements.

Conferences, Seminars and other Events

UCL – Question to Trade Mark Judges

The UCL Institute of Brand and Innovation La (IBIL) and MARQUES, the European Association of Trade Mark Owners, will host the event “Question to the Trade Mark Judges” on the 7th March 2023. The event will give the opportunity to the attendees to question some of the judges involved in recent trade mark disputes. The speakers include: The Hon Mr Justice Meade (High Court), Al Skilton (Senior Hearing Officer, UKIPO), Stev Sturmann (Chair of the 2nd Board of Appel, EUIPO) and Professor Dr Vespa Tomljenovic (Judge, General Court of the EU). The event will be chaired by The Rt Hon Professor Sir Robin Jacob. More details here.

City University of London – IP and National Competitive Identity – ‘Made in’, ‘Made by’, ‘Made of’

On the 14th March, Dr Natalie Corthésy (PhD from CCLS Queen Mary University of London, Associate Dean at Mona Law, The University of the West Indies, Jamaica) will deliver a seminar on what a nation brand is and what its correlation is to IP. The analysis will begin from the fact that nation-branding strategies have vested country names with a valuable, intangible interest protectable under the multilateral intellectual property (IP) framework. However, this framework currently provides insufficient defences against the unauthorised exploitation of country names as a commercial springboard. More information on the lecture here.

UNION-IP Dinner Meeting

On the 14th March 2023, UNION-IP will host a Dinner Meeting at le Cafe du Marche (Grenier Room), London, and the duo behind the UK Intellectual Property Office, Adam Williams (CEO) and Andy Bartlett (Deputy CEO) will talk about the UK IPO role since the UK‘s departure from the EU, considering the UK Innovation Strategy and the Retained EU Law Proposals. Info and registration here.

International Trademark Association – ‘The Business of Data’ Conference

On the 22nd and 23rd March, the International Trademark Association is hosting its 2023 New York Conference. Entitled ‘The Business of Data: Innovation, Regulation, Security, and Ethics’, through the work of speakers from major brands such as Citigroup, Mastercard, L’Oréal, Uber, and WeWork, will lead participants through the many-layered and multi-disciplined nature of data. A particular focus will be given to the regulatory landscape governing data and consumer protection in the European Union, in the United States and globally. More details here.

UCL – 3D Shape Marks – a 360 Degree Analysis

On the 23rd March 2023, UCL will host the Inaugural Lecture on ‘3D Shape Marks – a 360 Degree Analysis’ by Professor Ilanah Fhima (Faculty of Laws, UCL) and chaired by The Rt Hon Lord Justice Arnold (Judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales). The Lecture will consider the 3D shape marks filed at the EUIPO in the five-year period 2017-2021 in order to answer the question on whether the general consensus that it is impossible to register a shape mark as a EU trade mark (EUTM) can be demonstrated. More information on the event here.

AIPPI Spring Meeting & AIPPI Trilateral Meeting (IT – FR – ES) 

The International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property is hosting two events, the AIPPI Spring Meeting and the AIPPI Trilateral Meeting (Italy – France – Spain) on the 30th and 31st March 2023 in Venice. The Spring Meeting will feature workshops hosted by specialists on the latest trends and advancements in IP. The Trilateral Meeting, organised by the AIPPI Italian, French and Spanish Groups, will consider IP issues in relation to sport, fashion, and design. More information here.

ECTA 41st Annual Conference – Exploring IP Magic 

The 41st Annual Conference organised by the European Communities Trade Mark Association (ECTA) is taking place from the 28th June to the 1st July 2023 in Prague. The theme for this edition is ‘Exploring IP Magic‘ and the speakers will consider IP issues in the online world, the EU design reform and other topics as anti-counterfeiting, bad faith, brands and sports, non-agri GIs, works of applied arts and geographical names in trademarks. More details here.

Calls for submissions

Call for submissions: Special Issue of LAWS MDPI - sister journal of Sustainability MDPI 

Guest edited by Associate Professor Dr Janice Denoncourt, the special issue of LAWS MDPI (ISSN 2075-471X), an open access, sister journal of Sustainability MDPI), together with members of Nottingham Law School’s Intellectual Property Research Group. LAWS MDPI is tracked for impact and indexed in SCOPUS and it is entitled: Intangible Corporate Intellectual Property Rights Assets: Finance and Governance for Sustainability Transitions. Submissions are open for manuscripts until the 31st August 2023. Special Issue information and submission portal here.

Call for abstracts: EIPTN 15th Worldwide Annual Conference Copenhagen (CBS), Sustainability and Diversity in Intellectual Property Teaching

The IP Teaching Agenda was profoundly re-shaped by the emergence of online/distant/remote teaching. This Call for Abstracts is focused on recent substantive publications, or teaching programs and substantive IP issues that consider the following topics: (a) Sustainability and Diversity in Intellectual Property, (b) Climate Change and Promotion/Protection of Innovation, (c) Cultural Diversity in Intellectual Property/thanks to Intellectual Property, (d) Ethics in Intellectual Property, (e) Social Diversity in Intellectual Property. The deadline to send abstracts is 30 May 2023. More information on the call for abstracts and on the conference itself (6th-7th October 2023) here.

Other IP-related information

Museum Plagiarus – Innovation vs Imitation

The Museum Plagiarius in Solingen (Germany) shows the Plagiarius prize winner products from 1977 until today, including more than 350 product units. The product units comprise originals of all sectors and their brazen plagiarism in direct comparison. More information here.