Unpaid costs re-revisited

The IPKat didn't really expect the issue of unpaid costs in contested IP proceedings to disappear (see earlier post, "Unpaid Costs Revisited", here). That will only happen once there are no more unpaid costs. He has however been giving some thought to the letter, below, from Andy Bridle (Bridle Intellectual Property Limited, Canterbury), who has acted on behalf of a client who was awarded costs following a vexatious trade mark opposition by a competitor and who has been unable to recover the costs award that was made in his client’s favour.  He writes:

"...  It occurred to us that the attorneys for the other side could be considered to be liable for their client’s costs, as they are acting on behalf of their client. On this basis, a complaint could be raised with the relevant regulatory body for the attorneys in question (e.g. the Intellectual Property Regulation Board, IPReg, in the case of UK attorneys), if the costs award was not paid by the attorneys for the other side, on behalf of their client. This should represent a cost-effective method of recovering a costs order, as firms would not relish the idea of being dragged before the body responsible for regulating their industry for alleged non-payment of costs incurred by their client. It would then be up to the attorneys in question to recover this cost from their client in the same way that they would recover the cost of an official fee paid on behalf of their client.

I suspect that most firms would start to ask clients for funds to be held on account when asked to represent them in such proceedings, to cover the possibility of a costs award being made against their client. This should make parties think seriously before proceeding down the opposition route.

Of course, there exists the possibility of a party bringing proceedings without having professional representation. In such cases, it would be a relatively straightforward matter to increase the official fees in such cases to provide for a proportion of the fee being held by the Office in the event of a costs order being made against that party. Thus the fees payable by a party represented by a professional representative would be £X (or Euros) and the fees payable by a party representing itself would be £X+Y, where £Y would be refunded in the event that the party in question is successful or used as payment (or part payment) of the costs order in the event that a costs order is made against them. If the party is defending an opposition filed against them, then they would simply pay £Y when filing their counterstatement if they choose not to be represented.

The USPTO seems to be able to cope with a two-tier charging system (small entity fees and large entity fees), so such a system which charges different fees depending on the nature of the party in question should not be overly difficult or expensive to manage.

In terms of our experience, we are seriously considering raising a complaint with IPReg that the firm of attorneys representing the other side are breaching their professional duty by failing act on behalf of their client in settling the costs award that was made against their client".

Both Andy and the IPKat (who is mildly annoyed that he didn't think of putting this on the list of options in his recent poll) would like to hear from readers in the UK and beyond as to whether they think this might be a viable remedy to a problem which, though small in global terms, has a disproportionate power to annoy and frustrate successful parties in opposition proceedings.

Meanwhile, from Graham Burnett-Hall (a partner in Marks&Clerk Solicitors LLP) comes the following suggestion:

"With regard to the non-payment of costs relating to Community trade marks, I suggest a procedure by which, if any costs order was not paid within 28 days, the creditor could have the details of the debtor added to a list to which all credit rating agencies would be notified, or at least have access. The prospect of being given a bad credit rating should encourage prompt payment".

This Kat, who has at times been infuriated by the difficulty of raising credit even though he is the proud possessor of a perfect credit rating that stretches back into the mists of antiquity, would hate this fate to happen to him, but he wonders whether it would have the desired effect.  Again, readers' thoughts are welcomed.

Vicky Vette Learn Indonesian via twitter account

Bintang porno Norwegia Vicky Vette siap memberikan BJ atau seks oral pada semua follower-nya di Twitter, jika timnas Indonesia memenangkan pertandingan melawan Filipina.

“Jika Indonesia berhasil memangkan pertandingan, saya akan beri semua follower saya BJ,” tulis Vette di Twitter. Sejak pertandingan dimulai, Vette nampaknya mengikuti jalannya pertandingan semifinal tersebut.

“Skor update, Indonesia 1 Filipina 0, berharap INA menang,” tulisnya lagi. Bintang porno ini bahkan meng-update status pertandingan Indonesia melawan Filipina di akun Twitter miliknya.

Selain itu, untuk memberi semangat pada timnas Indonesia ia menulis, “Baru saja menggoyang payudara saya untuk keberuntungan Indonesia”. Akankah Vette benar memberi BJ?

Bintang porno kontroversial asal Norwegia, Vicky Vette kembali melayangkan tulisan-tulisan humornya pada akun Twitter pribadinya.

Namun yang berbeda kali ini adalah, Vicky menulis pesan tersebut dalam bahasa Indonesia dan sesekali masih terlihat menggoda Menteri Komunikasi dan Informasi Tifatul Sembiring. Nampaknya Vicky telah mempelajari beberapa kalimat dalam bahasa Indonesia, walaupun konotasi kalimat tersebut memiliki arti negatif dan menggoda.

Baru-baru ini Vicky menulis, "Selamat pagi to the #sange Indo followers... a quickie pic for them :)"

"@tifsembiring Pilih Saya sebagai Miss Freeones? Kisses!
http://www.*********.com! < vote here #tiffie terima kasih! :)"
"Sexy #sange Indo followers > Pilih Saya sebagai Miss Freeones http://www.*********.com> vote & retweet please :)"
"Indo followers... Vote for me please terima kasih!
http://www.*********.com & retweet to your friends :)"

Tweet dengan bahasa Indonesia terbaik:

Dan terakhir ia menulis,
"Selamat pagi (malam I guess)
to my #sange Indonesian followers > my toket & p***ng are yours".

"Funny, I look nothing like Michelle... but I give a better 'hand'

Masih terkait dengan peristiwa jabat tangan kontroversial Tifatul dengan Michelle Obama, Vicky pun menulis opininya dalam akun Twitternya, "Funny, I look nothing like Michelle... but I give a better 'hand' shake (Lucu, saya melihat tidak ada yang seperti Michelle Obama...tapi saya bisa memberikan 'xxx' tangan yang lebih baik)."

"Just email after you join... example Tiffie, you have the biggest I have ever seen," tulis Vicky yang maksudnya ditujukan untuk Tiffie (panggilan Tifatul Sembiring di Twitter).

Kemudian muncul pertanyaan dari salah seorang pengguna Twitter yang bertanya, "Arielpornstar or tiffie??"

"As for who is cuter... #Ariel Peterporn or #Tiffie? Ariel has great sex tapes... until I see one from #Tiffie it is hard to decide," jawab Vicky Vette dengan santai.

Sebelumnya, Vicky menulis pesan dalam akun Twitter, "@tifsembiring Come to the USA and shake anything you want :)"

Vicky juga menulis bahwa Tifatul dapat menyentuhnya kapan pun ia mau di depan umum.

"Hmmm, saya ingin menjadi orang yang 'berguna' juga bagi Menteri Komunikasi Indonesia!" tambah Vicky .

Godaan-godaan tersebut tidak juga mempan. Tifatul belum merespons atau menanggapi pesan Vicky Vette yang ditujukan langsung kepada bekas Presiden Partai Keadilan dan Sejahtera itu dalam Twitter. Padahal, Tifatul selama tergolong aktif nge-twit. source

Patent conferences: what are they worth?

What cats do in autumn when they're
not attending patent conferences ...

Autumn is traditionally a very busy time for intellectual property conference organisers, with the weeks from mid-September to early December being increasingly crammed with meetings of international and regional organisations, industrial and professional associations and with events put on by the conference "private sector": commercial companies.  The latter cannot routinely rely on the loyalty or commitment of members, service providers or lobbyists when they're looking for speakers or seeking participants to register and make the event a viable one. Private sector conference organisers have to succeed on the merit of each programme. If they cannot provide something fresh and stimulating, something to prise participants from their daytime activities, they do not succeed.

Over the years this Kat has spoken in, chaired, participated in panels of, written programmes for and even gatecrashed a large number of private sector conferences, and has had ample opportunity to consider what makes them tick.  Essentially there are four things that most paying participants want, in varying proportions: (i) the stimulus of fresh ideas and perspectives on old topics, (ii) indications as to where the subject of the conference is going, in terms of general trends, (iii) a chance to evaluate speakers (whether judges, lawyers in practice or anyone else) with or against whom they may be working, and (iv) a chance to network. Quality of the papers presented is never irrelevant, though most speakers' subjects can scarcely be exhausted in the time allocated for them and, in terms of post-event benefit, the shelf-life of even the best lectures is unlikely to outlast the long-term benefit of a good professional relationship forged over a congenial lunch.

This Kat has been taking a particularly close look at three forthcoming private sector events, each of which is organised under the brand of IBC Legal Conferences.  There are two reasons for this scrutiny: the first is his longstanding fascination with event programmes, which double as a valuable source of ideas for articles in journals and people who can be invited to write them. The second is that IBC has kindly agreed to offer a 10% discount to IPKat (and PatLit) readers who register for them. Since this weblog has frequently expressed its concerns about the high price of conference registration, any reduction for its readers is greatly welcomed.

The first of the three events is Standards and Patents 2011 (16 to 17 November, Millennnium Hotel London Knightsbridge), a subject which has been discussed at some depth on the IP Finance weblog, mainly through the medium of a series of seven guest posts by Keith Mallinson (WiseHarbor).  This is the fifth annual conference IBC has run on this topic and this Kat, having participated as a speaker in an earlier one, remembers coming away from a feeling that this was a subject that was growing more quickly than it could conveniently be caught up with.  The number of standards bodies is vast and their provenance is ancient: the International Telecommunications Union's roots go back to telegraphic standards in 1865. As the quest for global standards comes increasingly into conflict with perceptions of both public interest and self-interest, this looks like one growth area that is likely to grow.

• For further information concerning this programme, click here.  To claim your 10% discount, remember to quote the VIP Code FKW82242IPKE.

The second event is the US Patent Reform Congress 2011, which is being held at the same venue as Standards and Patents but a day later (18 November).  Since this event is preoccupied with the recently-passed America Invents Act, it goes without saying that this isn't (yet) an annual event.  The object of this exercise is to present the results of several years of anguished debate to a European audience which will have to advise and and act upon the basis of unknown, untried legislation in what is still the most prized single domestic market for patented products and services.  It will be good to hear what Q. Todd Dickinson (former  US Under-Secretary for Intellectual Property and now Executive Director of the AIPLA) has to say on the subject -- both on and off the record.

• For further information concerning this programme, click here.  To claim your 10% discount, remember to quote the VIP Code FKW82243IPKE

Last in time, but by no means in terms of importance, is the third annual International Patent Litigation conference, which takes place at London's Bloomsbury Hotel on 8 December.  This event is conveniently close both to Christmas and to London's fabled West End but, if you're really feeling demob-happy at the end of a long, frustrating year, it's a great chance to see and hear Professor Sir Robin Jacob in action. Another speaker who long ago won this Kat's admiration for his sheer brilliance was Brinkhof's Richard Ebbink. Having said that, no speaker should be more important than the event itself, and the programme presses all the main buttons in terms of topics of concern. Damages for patent infringement would come out top of this Kat's priorities, since he is being asked about their assessment increasingly often in a Europe in which harmonised law does not lead to homogenised outcomes. Where is the stream of references to the Court of Justice on the interpretation of the damages provisions of the IP Enforcement Directive, he wonders?

• For further information concerning this programme, click here.  To claim your 10% discount, remember to quote the VIP Code FKW82249IPKE

Can There Be an E-Book Library?

The recent demise of the Borders book chain reminded this Kat once again of the ambivalent position of the consumer within the ecosystem of the book and magazine industries. Popular wisdom holds that the Borders chain failed because it did not adjust to changing reading (or non-reading) habits and the migration from physical books to the e-book platform. Whether Borders was simply a book company that lost its way (unlike, say, Barnes & Noble), or whether it is the canary in the coal mine of the ultimate demise of the physical book store business, is still being played out. The Nook e-book reader here has at least bought Barnes & Noble more time to test the ultimate answer to this question.

So how does the consumer of books fit into this? I was a Borders loyalist (I largely eschewed Amazon, since I hate to pay the delivery charges). This meant that, whenever I came to the U.S., I made a special effort to find the local Borders store in whichever city I found myself. I reckon that I purchased 5-10 books a year on that basis, although I admit that my usual pattern in the store was first to find the Specials tables and only thereafter to consider full-priced titles. In so doing, was I good for Borders and/or the book publishing industry? Did Borders fail because of, or rather, despite me?

Be that as it may, I like to think that, as a reader, this Kat is unequivocally in favour of supporting the content-creating industry. Aren't we taught that copyright is principally about providing incentives for the creation of more and more contents. But that is the rub--contents for whom, and at what price? As a consumer of contents, I want to obtain books as cheaply as possible, subject only to the unqualifiable psychic benefit that I may derive by walking throuogh a book store.

But I am also an author, and not a mass-market one to boot. Wearing that hat, I have both my own interests as an author and those of my publisher at heart. As such, the person I least want to meet is my cash-conscious alter ego as he careful paces along the aisles of Borders and its ilk. Say what you want to say, this is hardly a full allignment of interests between all of the relevant actors in the physical book ecosystem.

These ambiguities were brought home again by a recent report that appeared in The Wall Street Journal (September 12th) entitled "Amazon in Talks with Publishers Over Fee-Based Digital Book Services." The gist of the report is that Amazon is considering the launch of a service (described as "Netflix Inc.-like") whereby customers will pay an annual fee for access to online contents. Based on the report, Amazon would offer publishers "a substantial fee" for signing up to the program, which is described as "a library of content". Amazon may limit the number of titles that it will for free via the service.

As reported, however, publishers "aren't enthusiastic about the idea because they believe it could lower the value of books and because it could strain their relationships with other retailers that sell their books." The article goes on: "Publishing executives would rather have people buy their books, and they are concerned that participating in the program could create the impression among consumers that books have little inherent value."


Public libraries may be great in providing access to books (and thereby encourge reading and create a more knowledgable citizenry) for a token modest charge. However, a private form of online lending library, where the delivery platform is a source of revenue for the platform that has the affect of crowding out potential purchasers of the book themselves, seems to be less desirable, at least for the content owners.

Looking at this as a consumer, the plan seems attractive. After all, provided that the fee is not prohibitively expensive, it would seem to offer access to contents without having to engage in the repeated purchase of individual titles. For at least certain kinds of subjects, it is the contents and not the books per se that are of interest, and the plan seems to offer a nifty way of accessing such contents in a manner that favourably resonates with my experiences with libraries over the years.

But this distinction between contents and books must certainly be a nightmare scenario for publishers. It is not enough that they must contend with the challenge of finding a workable pricing model for e-books here. Now they face the threat that, for certain categories of titles, providing access to contents in the form of online lending, rather than ouright purchase of the book for display on an e-reader, will be the norm. Can the parties find a pricing model that satisfies all parties involved -- publisher, online distributor, and consumer? Stay tuned.

More on Borders here.
More on Netflix here.

Marissa Anita, Metro TV news anchor

Marissa Anita, news anchor or news reader Metro was born on March 29, 1983 (28 years). Completing a master degree in the field of Media Practice at Sydney University, Australia, and his bachelor degree in education at the University of Atma Jaya, Jakarta.

First join the metrotv, Marissa Anita is a field reporter like most news anchor at the beginning of his career. Later he became a news anchor in several programs Metro, Metro Morning, This Morning and of course Indonesia Headline News.
Currently Anita Marissa King with Tommy Tjokro and 811 events of the Revolution brought SHOW.

In addition to the Indonesian language, Marissa Anita is fluent in English and also Italian, Japanese, Mandarin and French.
This sweet girl is also a theatrical and film writers remain on alert Online column.

Gallery Photo's Marissa Anita :

Agnes Monica Login Nominations MTV Europe Music Awards 2011

Jakarta - Singer Agnetha Faltskog back making achievements in the international music scene. The name Agnes nominated in MTV Europe Music Awards 2011.

Agnes nominated in the Best World Wide Asia & Pacific Act together six artists from other neighboring countries. Agnes is a Kpop star rival the Big Bang, Exile (Japan), Gotye (Australia), Jane Zhang (PRC), Jay Chou (Taiwan) and Sia (Australia).

The list was announced 19 September 2011 last. Agnes is a category that achieved the new nominations are added MTV Europe Music Awards 2011. The highlight will be held at the Odyssey Arena, Northern Ireland on 6 November.

Agnes also has to know about it via Twitter, which sent his fans. Agnes, who had been a presenter of the 2010 American Music Awards were endlessly grateful to the fans that support it. Agnes also praise thanksgiving to God.

"It's about You and only You, Lord Jesus .. Everything That I've achieved in life is all for the glory of Your Kingdom. Teach me more .." wrote Agnes, on Tuesday (09/20/2011).

Bios and photos have been posted on the site Agnes official MTV Europe Music Awards. If you want to support Agnes, just click here.

Febry Putranti, Section of Lip Up Leg

Jakarta Born with a naturally beautiful body is a fortune to be grateful. Therefore, many artists have to pay dearly to obtain the desired beauty. One that did not have to pay it is Febry Putranti.

Movie stars 'Pursue Jodoh You catch' was admitted due to be born lucky sexy. Although, when asked which part of a sexy body, he himself confused.

"I'm sexy? Hmm ... Maybe the thigh times yes, a small and long legs. Then maybe think I like the lips too. I do not know too deh, please its own value," he said while talking in the office detikhot in Warung Buncit, South Jakarta.

Febry did have a proportionate body and a strong aura of sensuality. Naturally, before plunging into the world of the film owners of 172cm height and weighs 45kg it's worked as a model and still they do today.

Febry experienced many interesting experiences when diving filming 'Pursue Jodoh You catch'. He admitted the difficulty when having to memorize dialogue, let alone play while the expression must be acting in front of the camera.

"Look at the camera does not groggy. Precisely groginya was told to fit the dialogue and the need to memorize a lot of text pages. If for example one scene or expression, must be repeated constantly. That's still hard," he explained.

Even so Feby never give up and keen to learn more precisely fix the shortcomings. He claimed to include people who are always learning from mistakes, and the total in doing anything.

Although more interested in the modeling world, women born in Bogor, February 27, 1992 that claimed to want to continue exploring the world of film. Through it he hopes to continue to hone his talents in acting and become a stepping stone to a future career.

"Although the wish is also in the model, I would also likely pursue a movie. If there's ever bid again, I do not deny because it could be a stepping stone and I also add to the experience as well as in acting," he said.

*

The youngest of three brothers were more interested in playing in a religious film than most horror films are peppered with vulgar scenes. He considered most movies like that only sells women's sensuality without in line with the story.

"I like movies so than the religious-religious movies Satan but not obvious. I do not like horror films but there are vulgar, I dont think fit. It's really not OK," he said with a curt tone.

"Okay horror, but I dont want any vulgar scenes and shows the girls bathroom and the camera panned half chest. Not like aja and think I'm not classy," he added.

That's why women who also played in the television movie 'The guy I boyfriend seclusion' is like the films by director Hanung Bramantyo religion, such as 'Ayat-Ayat Cinta' and 'The Enlightenment'.

see also other photo Febry Putranti