JIPLP-GRUR Int cooperation to continue

Following a teleconference earlier today between Oxford University Press's Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice team and their counterparts at Gewerblicher Rechtsschutz und Urheberrecht, Internationaler Teil (GRUR Int.), the two titles have reviewed their cooperation over the past two years and have enthusiastically decided to continue it.

Among the fruits of cooperation are the jointly hosted events, of which there have so far been two in London and two in Munich, at which speakers who in general represent essentially common law and civil law perspectives address IP topics of mutual interest from their respective standpoints, contrasting their approaches and sharing thoughts about their respective strengths and weaknesses.  The next joint event takes place in January 2015. This will focus on evidence and procedure in IP litigation.  Watch this space for further details.

JIPLP-GRUR Int partnership survey: closing date extended

Back on 18 February we reminded readers that we would greatly appreciate a little feedback from them regarding our partnership with the German Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (GRUR) and our content exchange with GRUR Int.  To this end, we ran a brief online JIPLP/GRUR Partnership Survey, for which the closing date was 28 February 2014.

While we have received a very gratifying 72 responses, Oxford University Press has decided to extend the closing date of the survey until Friday 14 March in the hope of receiving some more.  Do please participate if you can; your opinions are very valuable to us.  You can access the survey here.

For more details of the JIPLP-GRUR partnership, click here for details.

JIPLP-GRUR Int. partnership survey: can we borrow a little of your time?

Readers will know that JIPLP is partnering with the German Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (GRUR) to exchange content between JIPLP and GRUR Int. (if you don't know about this, click here for details).  This partnership has been running for rather more than a year and has already borne fruit.

We would greatly appreciate a little feedback from our readers. Accordingly we would be grateful if you could take a little time to participate in a brief online JIPLP/GRUR Partnership Survey, which you can access here. The closing date for taking part in the survey is 28 February 2014.

Secondary Protection for Innovation in Germany: would it work in the UK?

Secondary protection for innovations: if it works,
should we worry what it looks like?

Regular visitors to this weblog will now know, but new readers might not yet have learned of the cooperation between the Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice (JIPLP) with leading German intellectual property title GRUR Int.  Apart from an exchange of editorial content, which has already commenced this month, the two journals are inaugurating their relationship with two IP law seminars, one in London later this month, the other in Munich in March.

The Munich seminar, on the new European patent package and hosted by the German Patent and Trade Mark Office, is already fully booked, but there is still space for more registrants at the London event, details of which are as follows:

Secondary Protection for Innovation in Germany: Problem or Solution? 

Date and time: Tuesday, 22 January 2013 

Venue: the London office of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, 65 Fleet Street, London EC4Y 1HT. 

Programme: 

3.30pm: Registration  

4.00pm: Welcome from the hosts (Justin Watt, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP) 

4.05pm: Welcome from JIPLP (Jeremy Phillips, JIPLP editor-in-chief and IP consultant, Olswang LLP)  

4.10pm: Secondary protection of innovations in Germany: what are the advantages? (Wolrad Prinz zu Waldeck und Pyrmont, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP)  

4.40pm: Secondary protection of innovations in Germany: is there another side to the story? (Karsten Königer, Harmsen Utescher) 

5.10pm: Panel discussion, followed by questions from the floor. 

Panellists: Ian Karet (Linklaters LLP), Christopher Stothers (Arnold & Porter LLP), Darren Smyth (EIP) and Timo Minssen (University of Copenhagen), respectively representing expertise in litigation, competition issues, patent drafting and academia. 

6.00pm: Chairman’s closing summary, followed by refreshments. 

The seminar will probe the scope of protection accorded to innovations by the German Gebrauchsmuster, its advantages and disadvantages, its attractiveness to Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises ('SMEs') and its possible role as a model for adoption elsewhere in Europe. Regard will also be had to the experiences of other jurisdictions in which innovation patents, utility models and petty patents are available. 

Registration: all are welcome to attend and there is no registration fee. 

Training points: CPD points will be available.

To attend: please email Jeremy Phillips here, with the subject line "Secondary Innovation", stating your name and affiliation. Your email will be acknowledged and there are no further formalities. If you subsequently find that you are unable to attend, please let us know so that your place can be allocated to someone else.

Secondary Protection of Innovations seminar: an update

Here's an update on the JIPLP/GRUR Int London seminar on 22 January to mark the cooperation of the two journals (details are available here).

First, we are pleased to say that the number of registrants for this events has just topped the 50 mark.

Secondly, we can inform you that the discussion panel has been further strengthened by the addition of Timo Minssen. Timo (right), an Associate Professor at the University of Copenhagen, has taken a particular interest in the secondary level of protection of innovations and we are pleased to welcome him.

In the news: secondary protection for innovation

Today's publication of the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in Case C-180/11 Bericap Záródástechnikai Bt. v Plastinnova 2000 Kft., Szellemi Tulajdon Nemzeti Hivatala intervening, gave some high-profile coverage to utility model protection -- a species of secondary protection for innovation which has yet to be harmonised in the European Union, despite its manifest potential and, where the right exists at national level, substantial value.

Secondary protection of innovations is generally achieved through a registration system in which the innovation in question -- which may well be eligible for a full-scale patent -- is required to possess criteria of novelty and inventiveness, but is not not subjected to the laborious, slow and expensive examination process as a precondition of grant.  Accordingly, while the legal mechanisms that provide for secondary protection (petty patents, utility models, etc) do not confer the same level of presumptive validity as a fully-fledged patent, they can be a valuable market tool for businesses, especially SMEs, which may not have the capital or the patience to secure and exploit a full patent.  This device is also attractive for businesses that do not require protection beyond their own local markets.

Secondary protection of innovations is the subject of JIPLP's inaugural seminar to celebrate its cooperation with leading German intellectual property periodical GRUR Int.  Details of this seminar may be found on an earlier blogpost here.  Bookings for this free event are already coming in and we are hoping to provide an occasion to remember. Do join us!

Late news: CPD points will be provided ...

JIPLP-GRUR Int. team up to enhance content quality

Here's some breaking news about a development that will add extra value to JIPLP -- at no extra cost to the subscriber.  According to a media release just posted on the Oxford Journals News website:

"Oxford University Press (OUP) and the German Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (GRUR) are very pleased to announce a new partnership between the Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice (JIPLP) and Gewerblicher Rechtsschutz und Urheberrecht, Internationaler Teil (GRUR Int.), a publication of the GRUR.

The publishing partnership will be based on exchange of content between the two journals. Under this agreement, both journals will include a section in each issue which will be filled by content from the partner journal. There is no additional cost to the customer, and the only change for each journal’s subscriber base will be the benefit of additional interesting content.

Rhodri Jackson, Senior Publisher for Law Journals and Oxford Open at OUP, said: “We’re really excited about this new arrangement, which we believe will allow JIPLP and GRUR Int. alike to extend their reach into new markets in an immediately visible and original way. Best of all, the partnership will provide new and interesting content to all our subscribers. JIPLP has become a very successful journal since we launched in 2006, and the partnership with GRUR shows our continuing commitment to innovating with the JIPLP formula in order to make the journal as compelling as possible to readers internationally.”

Professor Dr Michael Loschelder, Secretary General at GRUR, commented: “Intellectual property (IP) law has become increasingly global in nature and has developed into one of the most vibrant and challenging areas of law. As an academic non-profit IP association, GRUR is genuinely interested in fostering the dissemination and perception of IP content of general interest within Europe and beyond. Partnering with the renowned journal JIPLP provides an excellent new platform for this and will contribute to raising the international profile of GRUR Int.”

The first issues of GRUR Int. and JIPLP featuring content from the partner journal will be published in January 2013".

GRUR Int. is a well-established, high quality publication with an enviable reputation. We at JIPLP are thrilled that GRUR has chosen to partner with us and we look forward to working with our colleagues from a jurisdiction which has long combined an active culture of IP practice with a notable tradition of legal scholarship.