More Monday Miscellany

The IPKat's readers have now had their say. The result of last week's poll is a clear win for the Neuro as the name for the newly-rebranded Euro. The full results (below) still reflect some strong underlying support for the BizMark, but the early leader Tenax tailed off badly and the highly-tipped Ecu made a poor showing despite its historical pedigree.

Neuro	75 (37%)
BizMark	60 (30%)
Ecu	34 (17%)
Tenax	30 (15%)

Well done, David Kuper. You win the prize for suggesting the winning entry! Do please contact the IPKat with a postal address to which your prize copy of the Butterworths Intellectual Property Law Handbook, 10th edition, can be sent.

The IPKat's friend, IP expert and masochist Bratin Roy tell him that he's running in the London Marathon on 22 April 2012. Bratin's using this opportunity to raise money for two charities, both of which are close to his heart and, this Kat expects, will be increasingly close to some of our pockets too (Macmillan Cancer Support and Kankhal Medical Aid).  You can sponsor Bratin by clicking here. The IPKat recalls that, in previous years, various folk have participated in this event. To avoid saturating readers with news of their athletic colleagues, he proposes to give each IP-oriented runner one plug and then, shortly before the Marathon, to publish a little list of those brave souls who risk life and limb to raise cash for charity.

IPSoc is the society for junior IP practitioners in the United Kingdom. Readers will know that the Kat is highly approving of this organisation.  He feels that, just as the success of Barcelona Football Club is largely due to its excellent youth policy, catching and training small children in their tender youth and cultivating their skills in order to prepare them for the harsh reality of grown-ups, so too the British profession will owe its future success to bodies like IPSoc, which help nurture the delicate, precocious talents of tomorrow's leaders of the profession while they are still in need of encouragement, support and some jolly good parties.  Remarkably, in the two years since its formation, IPSoc has attracted over 300 members, made up of patent and trade mark attorneys, solicitors and barristers, from private practice and in-house. Now for the important bit: the membership year runs from 1 December [only IPSoc would think of something as ingenious of making people sign up just ahead of the end-of-year festivities].  Anticipating that people will be clamouring to join or renew their memberships, IPSoc respectfully reminds them that applications are now being accepted for the 2011-2012 membership year: details of how to apply can be found on the IPSoc website. The Kat understands that, while all the events so far have been held in London, the draw is such that they are often oversubscribed and members have been attracted from as far afield as Scotland. This makes him feel that perhaps the time has come for IPSoc to hold meeting that are further afield too ...

All good IP treaties call for a celebration ...

3 February 2012 is a red-letter day in Lithuania, says the IPKat, who only wishes that he would be there, dancing in the streets with the best of them as the small but significant Baltic republic celebrates the date on which the Patent Law Treaty comes into effect there.  If you don't believe it, this news comes from World Intellectual Property Organization itself: you can check it out here.  Actually, this Kat would be dancing even more if, when it issued its official announcements like treaty accessions and ratifications, his friends at WIPO cut out all the pompous verbiage of diplomatic life and added two things: (i) a link to the text of the treaty in question and (ii) a link to the list of countries that have signed up to it.  If WIPO did that, the organisation would instantly make new friends and would set this Kat dancing in the streets ...