Monday Miscellany

The heat will not stop the IPKat from monitoring the most interesting updates, IP events and opportunities out there! Some of them are right around the corner in this hot August.

On August 11, 2022, from 7:15 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. (CDT), UIC Law is partnering with WIPO ADR and the IP Office of Singapore to organise a conference titled “Thinking Internationally about IP and Dispute Resolution: what every lawyer & corporate counsel should know.” The conference will be held online and registration is free. Full details, the list of panellists and the link to register can be found here!

The University of Turin has issued a new call for papers on “The Laws of Economic Sanctions and Innovation.” The call aims to collect contributions analysing the extent to which innovation and technology play a role in the regulation and implementation of economic sanctions imposed by states against other states, such as the restrictive measures recently directed against Russia. All information is available here. The deadline for submissions is August 31, 2022.

On August 1, 2022, the EUIPO will introduce a new electronic form for filing EU trade mark applications. The new form is part of EUIPO’s Digital Transformation Programme, which aims to modernise EUIPO’s online platform. For more information, including an in-depth webinar explaining the key changes, click here.

On September 9, 2022, at 09:30 (CEST), the EUIPO’s Grand Board will hold its first oral hearing in appeal cases: R 1613/2019-G,  and R 1238/2019-G, “Iceland”. The cases concern an application for invalidity filed by, among others, the Icelandic Ministry of Foreign Affairs against the British supermarket chain Iceland, and deal mainly with the alleged descriptiveness and lack of distinctiveness of the figurative and word marks shown above in relation to a range of goods and services in classes 7, 11, 16, 29, 30, 31, 32 and 35. Participants can already register for the hearing online via the EUIPO website by September 6, 2022.