Passing off and Unfair Competition seminar: an update

This year's British event
is quite full up ...!

Next week's JIPLP-GRUR Int seminar on Passing off and unfair competition (on which see our previous post here) is still oversubscribed. One of the reasons why this is so is that, when I posted a request that people who found themselves unable to attend should let me know, so that we could reallocate their place to someone else on the reserve list, we received a small number of cancellations -- but a larger number of emails from people asking if they too could be placed on the reserve list! We appreciate the enthusiasm of our readers, but it would really be a good idea if we sealed the reserve list so as not to raise further the hopes of last-minute applicants for registration.

Richard Hacon

Regarding the same event, there's a change of cast in the composition of the discussion panel.  We regret that Mr Justice Arnold will not after all be able to join us and chair the panel.  However, we are pleased to inform you that an admirable replacement has been found in the shape of Richard Hacon QC, who was recently appointed as the first member of the judiciary in England and Wales to be termed an Intellectual Property Enterprise Judge, presiding over the  Intellectual Property Enterprise Court, the IPEC. Richard is no stranger to issues relating to passing off or unfair competition. Cases in which he acted before his ascent to the judiciary include such classics as Case C-143/00 Boehringer Ingelheim KG and others v Swingward Ltd and Dowelhurst Ltd (here), Joined Cases C-414 to 416/99 Zino Davidoff SA v A & G Imports Ltd and Levi Strauss & Co. and Others v Tesco Stores Ltd and Others (here) and Samsung Electronics (UK) v Apple Inc (here).

In the next day or so, we will be bringing news of the second of this year's cooperation seminars between JIPLP and GRUR Int, which will be held in Munich on 10 March.

Passing Off and Unfair Competition: a seminar reminder

"Passing Off and Unfair Competition", the joint seminar between JIPLP and GRUR Int, takes place in the London office of Baker & McKenzie LLP on Thursday 23 January 2014.  Here's a reminder of the programme:

3.00 pm Registration

3.30 pm Welcome

3.40 pm Chairman’s introduction (Professor Jeremy Phillips)

3.45 pm Ben Allgrove (partner, Baker & McKenzie, London, and JIPLP contributor) looks at the operation of the UK's passing off law

4.15 pm Gert Würtenberger (partner, Würtenberger Kunze, Munich, and JIPLP editorial board member) gives us his perspective on Germany's unfair competition law 

4.45 pm Break

5.00 pm Panel discussion, featuring Mr Justice Arnold (whose judgments in the Och-Ziff and Vodkat cases have taken British passing off law to the next level), plus JIPLP editorial board members Dr Birgit Clark and Professors Phillip Johnson and Christopher Wadlow

5.30 pm Questions from the floor 

6.00 to 7.00 pm Reception

The seminar, which will carry at least one CPD point, is fully booked.  In the event that you are registered for the seminar but find that you are unable to attend, please email Jeremy Phillips at jjip@btinternet.com at your earliest convenience so that your place can be reallocated to one of the names on the reserve list.

This weblog will carry a report on the seminar and it is hoped that the speakers' papers will be turned into articles for publication in JIPLP.

The next JIPLP-GRUR Int. seminar takes place in Munich on Monday 10 March 2014.  Details will follow shortly.

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 ...

Secondary Protection for Innovations: The first JIPLP/GRUR Int seminar

The Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice (JIPLP) is thrilled to announce the first tangible results of its cooperation with leading German intellectual property periodical GRUR Int.  The two publication teams have already exchanged editorial content and the fruit of this cooperation will become apparent in the January 2013 issues of each.

The second tangible result of this international cooperation is the promotion of two celebratory seminars, one of which is being organised by JIPLP in London, the other being organised by GRUR in Munich.

Details of the London seminar are as follows:

Title: 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 (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 who have already agreed to participate are 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: it is hoped that CPD points will be awarded for attendance at this event. Further information will be provided once it is 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.

Infringements in transit: current law, future prospects

If the contents aren't on sale, or intended for sale,
in the EU, they can't be counterfeits, can they?

The Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice (JIPLP) is delighted to announce a seminar on Wednesday 18 January 2012, from 3pm to 6pm, on the topic "Infringements in transit: current law, future prospects". This event is kindly hosted by law firm Olswang LLP in its London office, 90 High Holborn.

The speakers are Marius Schneider (Eeman & Partners, Brussels), Olivier Vrins (Altius, Brussels) and Phillip Johnson (Visiting Senior Fellow, Queen Mary, London), and panelists are Michael Edenborough QC (Serle Court), Paul Stevens (Olswang LLP) and Lucy Nichols (Nokia). Jeremy Phillips will be in the chair.

Marius, Phillip, Paul and Lucy are members of the JIPLP editorial board, and Olivier is the author of a deep analysis of proposed reform, "The European Commission's proposal for a regulation concerning Customs enforcement of IP rights", which was published in the November 2011 issue of JIPLP. Marius and Olivier are the editors of the authoritative Oxford University Press publication Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights through Border Measures: Law and Practice in the EU, the second edition of which will be published shortly.

The programme is provisional at this stage, but it is envisaged that Phillip will explain the framework of EU legislation on the suspensive detention of goods, Marius will discuss the Nokia and Philips rulings and Olivier will address prospects of reform. The final version of the programme will be published in due course.

Admission is free, refreshments will be provided and it is expected that there will also be CPD points.

If you'd like to book yourself in, please email me here with the subject line "Fakes in Transit seminar".  Please don't expect an instant acknowledgement, but I'll do what I can.