• Thank you, Neil!

    http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2023/06/thank-you-neil.html The IPKat demonstrating a future of napsand relaxing for Neil in his Kat retirement  Readers will have seen PermaKat Neil Wilkof’s au revoir message this morning (here).  The IPKat, Merpel, the AmeriKat and the entire pride of Kats wish to take this opportunity to express their thanks for the... Continue reading

     
  • [Guest Post] Long walk to copyright reform #6: South Africa’s National Council of Provinces participate in the long walk

    http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2023/06/guest-post-long-walk-to-copyright.html The IPKat is pleased to host the guest contribution below by Katfriend Sanya Samtani (University of Witwatersrand) on the fate of South Africa’s Copyright Amendment Bill at the National Council of Provinces (NCOP).  Readers may recall from this Kat’s post back in February that the NCOP had begun the... Continue reading

     
  • Farewell

    http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2023/06/farewell.html This is my last day as a member of the IPKat team, ending a 15-year journey. During that time, I have been grateful for the opportunity to share with the IPKat community my thoughts on IP within its broader cultural, social, philosophical, commercial, and historical contexts. No other platform... Continue reading

     
  • First patent revocation actions before the UPC have been filed

    http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2023/06/first-patent-revocation-actions-before.html On 2 June 2023, the Unified Patent Court (UPC) received its first patent challenge of its existence. Here is a quick recap about the UPC, and a bit of info on these proceedings!   What is the UPC? The UPC is a new patents court which came into force... Continue reading

     
  • Can a GI owner register a domain name with that GI?

    http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2023/06/can-gi-owner-register-domain-name-with.html This Kat has come across a curious case (curious even for a Kat) on the use of a geographical indication (GI) in a domain name by a producer, which is part of that GI producers’ association. The case concerned the use of “Piment D’Espelette” and it was recently decided... Continue reading

     
  • Saturday Sundries

    http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2023/06/saturday-sundries.html Summer has officially started, and here are the latest news and events. Advocate General Medina’s Opinion  A Kat looking for new IP opportunitiesImage via Pexels  The IPKat is happy [while Merpel is a little bit jealous] to see its name cited in Advocate General Medina’s Opinion (22nd June 2023)... Continue reading

     
  • #MajeMyDogandI: No copyright protection for a selfie in the lift

    http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2023/06/majemydogandi-no-copyright-protection.html The issue of copyright protection in photographic works is a classic one. Throughout the years, it has featured in plenty of case law [e.g. here, here and here]. A recent decision of the Paris Court of Appeal provides a new illustration. More specifically, the dispute in question concerned copyright... Continue reading

     
  • Mathematical shapes and intellectual property – a legal perspective on the “einstein tile”

    http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2023/06/mathematical-shapes-and-intellectual.html Former Guest Kat Peter Ling brings us a fascinating discussion about the overlap of two dimensional geometric planes and intellectual property. Sadly, this former GuestKat lacks absolutely basic DIY skills to enable him to tile his own bathroom floor. He has nonetheless been long fascinated by various unresolved mathematical... Continue reading

     
  • Unpacking IDC v Lenovo (Part I): The approach on unpacking and comparing prior licence agreements

    http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2023/06/unpacking-idc-v-lenovo-part-i-approach.html Following IPKat’s breaking news on the Interdigital v Lenovo FRAND Judgment, this Kat finally managed to digest and analyse the detail of the Judgment.  This is Part I of the detailed reporting on that Judgment. The Judgment is divided into three sections. First, the comparables case, second, the top-down... Continue reading

     
  • Keeping a digital poker face: Assessing witness credibility in the ViCo age (T 423/22)

    http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2023/06/keeping-digital-poker-face-assessing.html The Board of Appeal in T 423/22 considered whether a witness’s credibility can be adequately assessed when proceedings are conducted by video conference (ViCo). The Board of Appeal concluded that body language is only ever a small part of an assessment of witness credibility. ViCo was therefore found to be a... Continue reading