Around the blogs 2. For those who want to read something truly frightening and/or depressing, there's Neil Wilkof's account on IP Finance of TiVo's plan to finance its patent litigation through convertible bonds. Almost as threatening, if it wasn't so much fun, is Mikk Putk's IPInsiders' post here, this being his "Collection of amazing patent and trademark infographics". Oh, and let's return briefly to the 1709 Blog:
While the United States has its Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC: here, with links to earlier posts), most of Europe seems to be missing the point, assuming that the way to deal with the big anti-counterfeiting issues is for more pan-European cooperation between OHIM and national offices. It's actually cooperation and coordination at national levels which is needed, since it's at national levels that (i) counterfeiters are prosecuted, (ii) fines are levied and imprisonment ordered, (iii) procedural and substantive defences and loopholes exist and (iv) distributors and consumers buy, sell and use fakes. That's why the IKPat was greatly heartened to read this small item on the OHIM website, "Anti-counterfeiting commission for Slovak Republic", which reports that the Slovak Republic has adopted a proposal for the establishment of an inter-institutional Commission to coordinate the fight against piracy and counterfeiting. With the country's Industrial Property Office in the driving seat, the Commission, which became operational on 16 March, will steer the activities of "all the main government ministries ..., including justice and prosecution as well as finance, economy, agriculture, health, culture, interior and foreign affairs". Just think of all those damaged egos which result from having to cooperate with other government departments rather than ruling over one's own little ministerial domain, says Merpel -- who hopes that this experiment will be closely monitored: if it shows any sign of success it might prove a handy template for other European countries (and beyond) to follow.
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... and talking of ordinary IP rights, check and balances, a fascinating glimpse into the global future of trade marks online can be seen here, in 'Trademarks and the Internet', a document prepared by the Secretariat of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications which is discussing it this week. The current WIPO process (which is actually quite tame and is more directed at clarifying frameworks for resolving disputes than in actually directing how they should be resolved) has attracted the ire of Boingboing's Cory Doctorow here, which makes salutary reading for anyone who believes that a huge gulf does not exist between those who see the value of IP as a basis for protecting investment and creativity and those who don't (thank you, Mike Lynd, Mars & Clerk, for the links).
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