Shock, horror - OHIM appealsFollowing the IPKat's recent comments on independence of the OHIM Boards of Appeal ("The IPKat reminds readers that the Boards of Appeal are not an independent judicial forum. They are part of OHIM and serve as an administrative filter as well as an arbiter of the rectitude of registration/oppositions on the facts of individual cases"), the Kat has received a rocket from an outraged reader who writes:
"I am distressed to see this error perpetrated on your website. The Boards of Appeal are indeed an independent judicial forum: in this context may I direct your attention to Article 131 of the Community Trade Mark Regulation. The Boards are not in fact are not an admistrative filter; they are a truly independent filter, lodged within the adminstrational framework of the Office".The IPKat wonders whether there is a distinction to be drawn between de jure independence (recognised by Article 131) and de facto independence. Comments from readers are exceptionally welcome, either through Comments posted below or by email.
Wake up and smell the baristas
The IPKat doesn't normally spending his time and effort eulogising other blogs, but he would certainly recommend the series of posts (four to date) that have appeared on Patent Baristas, demystifying HR2795 (the US Patents Bill 2005). Well done, Stephen, Karlyn and Co.
Hungary for IP
The IPKat has just received a copy of volume 32 of the Proceedings of the Hungarian Group of AIPPI (2005). This publication has improved from year to year, both in terms of topicality of its coverage and in terms of its scholarship, as Hungary's AIPPI members have increasingly become part of the mainstream IP community.One item that caught the eye was the obituary for Professor Endre Lontai, for whom he had reserved a soft spot in his heart. IPKat co-blogmeister Jeremy writes:
"I first met Endre when I was a postgraduate student at the University of Kent, which Endre briefly visited in the Bad Old Communist Days of the early 1970s. I was instantly taken by his passion for Shakespeare, whom he would quote to great effect in support of whatever argument he happened to be pressing at the time. We met again at the inaugural meeting of ATRIP, when Endre impressed me even more with his vast international repertoire of expletives. As a man who was always closer to philosophy than to law, Endre entertained my positivist assertions and market-leaning interests with polite tolerance and amusement - and sometimes, I suspect, with not a little sympathy. I shall miss him".Details of AIPIP (that's the acronym for the Hungarian group of AIPPI are available from its President, Dr Istvan Godolle (contact by email here).