Saturday Sundries

As autumn has begun, the IP world is buzzing with events, opportunities and news: don’t miss them!

Forthcoming events and call for papers

WIPO has launched the 2025–2026 Training, Mentoring, and Matchmaking Program on Intellectual Property for Women Entrepreneurs from Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities in Pacific Island countries. The program supports women in leveraging IP for their businesses. Hurry up! Applications are open until 30 September 2024. More information here and applications to be submitted here.

Herchel Smith Lecture 2024: the Honourable Mr. Justice James Mellor will deliver a lecture on Monday, 28 October 2024, from 18:00-21:00 BST, discussing how courts address FRAND royalty rate disputes. He will recap the various methods courts use to decide these rates and highlight the challenges encountered. He will also offer his personal insights on why setting FRAND rates is a relatively new and evolving area, along with tentative solutions that may or may not apply in future FRAND cases. You can register here.

On 5 November the CLTR 2024 Conference, organized by the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property in Basel, will focus on the future of Swiss cultural and artistic creation in the context of AI and digital platforms. It will address the legal and ethical challenges posed by these technological changes. Industry professionals, SME representatives, academics and policymakers will discuss all of this. See the program here and register here.

Harvard Law School will host its Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property Law Conference on 19 November 2024. This event will bring together prominent figures from the judiciary, academia and the private sector to explore some of the most compelling and urgent issues surrounding AI, with a special emphasis on its intersection with IP law. See the agenda here and register here.

LES Benelux will offer a Licensing Course on 18-19 November 2024 in Rotterdam, with an additional session on complex clauses on 20 November 2024. The course will guide participants through the entire process of drafting a licensing agreement, featuring presentations on IP basics and competition law, along with interactive workshops on negotiation, IP strategy and drafting of agreements. More details of the program and registration here.

Job opportunities

The Chair on the Legal and Regulatory Implications of Artificial Intelligence is seeking two legal researchers to join the team at the MIAI (Multidisciplinary Institute in Artificial Intelligence) at the University of Grenoble Alpes. More information here.

Other things of interest

The U.S. Copyright Office has released a report on “The Geography of Copyright Registrations”. The study examines the geographic distribution of copyright claims registered by individuals and organizations in the United States. The purpose of the report is to understand where the copyright system is used and how patterns of registrations differ across areas within the country. Read the full report here.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has extended the comment period for the notice entitled “2024 Guidance Update on Patent Subject Matter Eligibility, Including on Artificial Intelligence” to 16 October 2024. More information here.

The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and the European Commission have launched the IP training for influencers via the Influencer Legal Hub. This training helps social media influencers understand IP law, protect their creativity and respect others’ IP rights. It also highlights the importance of avoiding the promotion of infringing goods and services. More information here.

Image of the cat: ChatGPT