Monday miscellany

There is no truth in the rumour that
the copyright debaters will ht
wearing togas ...

Registrations for the Big Copyright Debate, which the 1709 Blog is hosting in conjunction with the IPKat, continue to rise. With just over two weeks to go, we are now expecting a remarkable total of 187 people to cheer on our speakers as they endeavour to persuade us to bury copyright or to praise it without actually setting the venue on fire.  If this is the first time you've seen news of this event, it's on Tuesday 12 July at the lovely offices of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. Booking (and other) details, including how to gain access to the venue, are available here.

All these top levels
have the Kat
in a spin!

Those "creative" ICANN gTLDs (eg .merpel) have attracted a lot of attention since their launch was announced last week (for background see comments of the IPKat and Class 46).  They've not attracted much positive response from readers of this blog though.  With just a few hours to go before the end of the IPKat's sidebar poll, just 3% of the 160 votes cast are generally supportive of the widening of top-level domains; 57% consider it to be "no big deal" and that, a decade from now, we'll wonder what all the fuss was about. The balance, a little under 40%, consider the opening up of the internet in this way to be a disaster for businesses and consumers alike.

Europe before surgery

What shape is Europe? We may get a partial response to this question soon, thanks to our friends in Hungary. A media release just issued by the Hungarian Presidency on the Unitary Patent Litigation System states that the 25 Member States that are not Italy and Spain are said to have agreed upon the "shape and form of the future European unitary patent, including its translation regime". Michel Barnier, employing the horse-racing terminology so favoured by hardened gamblers, says "We are now entering the home straight".  He adds: "a unitary patent in Europe could be a reality within the next two years".  Well, yes, says Merpel -- but isn't this one of those statements which would be just as true if you stuck the word "not" into it?  Thanks go to Paul England for being first to spot this.

Artichokes: possibly the only
commercially sold product in which
there might be a market for
a loose-leaf version ...

The IPKat's annual Intellectual Property Publishers' and Editors' Lunch takes place almost every December and it's a great chance for publishers, editors, those who work closely with them and even some conference organisers to get together and speak together on matters of mutual interest.  The 2012 Meeting -- which as usual is free -- is being moved forward to Wednesday 7 December.  Further details will be circulated in the autumn.  Meanwhile, if you have not been invited to this event in the past but feel that you and/or a colleague should be on the list, email Jeremy here and let him know, using the subject line IP PubLunch.  Also, if you either want to be the keynote speaker or want to nominate someone else who might not mind speaking on an aspect of IP publishing and/or editing for not more than 15 minutes, do let Jeremy know. He has a speaker pencilled in for 2012 but his list of 'possibles' is running out.

"No thanks, if I can
get a drop of Champers ..."

Why Vickers like Champagne. At a time when many countries are abandoning their great and noble traditions and culture, sacrificing its quintessential icons on the altar of political correctness if they refuse to die by themselves, the French are jealous guardians of all that is French.  And few words are more evocative of France than Champagne, which is not merely a region but a word that conjures all that is magic about eating, drinking and celebrating without keeping a miserly eye on the bill or a miserable thought for tomorrow's hangover.  It's not easy to use the word 'Champagne' for any purpose without the custodians of the name taking action of one sort or another -- so it's pretty rare to find someone using this word and getting away with it. The Kat's vigilant friend Bob Boad did however spot this WIPO ruling, in which one Steven Vickers prevailed in his dispute with the Comité Interprofessionnel du vin de Champagne over the champagne.co domain name.