ITMA Autumn Conference: Treviso provides cultured backdrop for ...

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ITMA BUSINESS GENERAL PURPOSES & FINANCE COMMITTEE Application for Trade Mark Attorney It was reported that the matter was ongoing. Ministry of Justice (MOJ) The MOJ had sent a letter announcing the appointment of honorary QCs and this would be circulated to Council in due course. It also outlined a new scheme whereby people could be nominated Honorary QCs without going through the usual process. Judicial Eligibility The Presidents of CIPA and ITMA would be attending a meeting with the MOJ to discuss their diversity criteria. It was explained that the MJO were looking to bring in legislation in the April “SI round”. Mr Harris would report back following the meeting. BOOK COMMITTEE UK Trade Mark Hand Book Work on Release 32 was almost complete. Revisions from the contributors were now at the proof stage. Sweet & Maxwell The Committee had received a request from Sweet & Maxwell concerning their role as publisher of the RPC case reports on behalf of the UK-IPO. Their contract with the UK- IPO was due to expire at the end of 2007 and they were in the process of tendering to retain the publishing contract. Mr Hiddleston had agreed to be the point of contact if the UK- IPO had any questions in relation to the work that Sweet & Maxwell carried out for the Institute. Papers Papers T3, T4 and T6 were currently under review. New Publications ITMA BUSINESS ITMA Council meeting September 2007 The Committee were reviewing possible new publications, the most promising of which was that on criminal provisions relating to trade mark law and anti-counterfeiting matters. Names of possible writers had been put forward and they would tentatively approach them to see if they were interested. DESIGNS COMMITTEE Design Week The Committee were working at getting material in the Design Week publication which members of the Committee could report on. UK Designs Brochure The Designs Brochure had been amended, bringing it more up-todate on designs law. Consultation on Copyright Tribunal The Committee had put in a submission on the consultation. Designs RPWG The Designs RPWG took place on 11 September, 2007 where two issues of interest were discussed. The UK-IPO were hoping to extend their business hours 24/7. It was explained that the background related to a patent filing date issue but it was felt that the UK-IPO generally favoured the idea of people being able to file applications 24/7. Generally reaction to the scheme was fairly negative. The UK-IPO was still in preconsultation with plans to issue a formal consultation document within the next month. However, there were two proposals on the table – option 1, maintain the status quo and allow applications on the Saturday but maintain the dias non rule; option 2, open Monday-Sunday except public bank holidays for the filing of all documents and abolish dias non. Members of Council felt this had huge implications on filings, may also affect oppositions and anything that was date sensitive. It was agreed to await developments. The second issue raised was that “Hague” would be operative for the Community from 1 January, 2008. There was probably no significant advantage to filing Community Design Applications through Hague but the UK-IPO were looking at this quite seriously and it could have some serious knock-on effects if they did adopt this. LAWS & PRACTICES COMMITTEE SI2007 No 2076, TM (Amendment) Rules 2007 This was due to come into force on 1 October 2007. The one final practical issue, the cost of CTM opt-in, had been decided at £50 for three years. The Alliance Against IP Theft The Alliance Against IP Theft were lobbying for higher damages in IP infringement cases, especially in relation to copyright infringement and to counterfeiting and piracy. Trade marks were included in their submission for such higher damages. However, since the Committee was unaware that in the trade mark area damages were inadequate, they did not sanction ITMA's name being put on the submission. Unfair Trading Regulations 2007 A letter had been sent to the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) confirming that the Institute were generally in favour of the draft regulations and the unfair commercial practices Directive on which they were based. However, the Committee were concerned over the unfair commercial practices outlined in the Directive, where the rights to enforce such powers would be given only to public bodies, such as Trading Standards and the Office of Fair 4 ITMA Review November 2007
Trading who would not be able to police the market effectively. EU Competition Court - Judicial Panel It had been suggested that a new arm of the ECJ would be created dealing exclusively with trade marks, which the Committee were very much in favour of, on the right terms. A letter had been sent to the UK-IPO along these lines offering the Institute’s assistance in any lobbying exercises (if they arose) and also stating that they would support a tribunal being appointed from a pool of candidates that was drawn from all legal representatives (eg, trade mark lawyers, solicitors) with the appropriate legal knowledge and experience. UKIPO L&P representatives were planning to attend a demonstration of the UK- IPO's electronic filing of oppositions. Draft TPN on Undefended Invalidity Actions It seemed clear from comments made at the RPWG meeting that the UK-IPO were planning to introduce this practice, in spite of ITMA's (and other's) reservations. Judicial review would be sought on the new practice and the L&P Committee would request more time from the Office in order to submit its position to the ITMA Council. Town Meetings – Relative Grounds Around 50 people attended the seminar and the audience consisted mainly of solicitors, patent attorneys and sole practitioners and there was a lively debate. The main question and answer session focused on practitioners only having one chance to persuade the Registry not to send notifications to those identified in the search report. The recommendation was to ring the examiner first and it was reported that Robin Webb said such calls should be appended as a file note as proof of the conversation. November 2007 ITMA BUSINESS WIPO/UK British Day The Committee proposed a WIPO/UK British Day, to mirror the OHIM Day, at RPWG and the Office appeared keen to take this up. Preliminary Indications There was talk of not giving preliminary indications in "difficult" UK oppositions and the Committee would discuss fully at their next meeting. EDUCATION & TRAINING Aston Residential Revision Courses The revision courses had begun and students were now studying for the November exams. Syllabi Review for Advanced Trade Mark Papers Revised syllabi would be presented to Council for their approval at the next meeting. JEB Representative Mr Furneaux had met with Tony Luckhurst to discuss the matter. He also raised the issue of where the core material came from for the foreign law paper and was waiting for a reply. Education Sub-Committee The Sub-Committee had met at the end of July but the project was very much work in progress. Student Seminars The Committee agreed that they would not repeat any student seminars in future. Having held a waiting list for the previous Design & Copyright day, they organised a repeat of this but those on the list failed to sign up. They were therefore looking at finding a larger venue to accommodate extra students in future. JOINT EXAMINATION BOARD Mr Fish confirmed that the Board held a review meeting for the exam papers but there were no other issues to report on. MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE Associate Membership Drive The Committee received a steady trickle of applications as a result of the drive. New Membership Structure The majority of the meeting focused on the new Membership Structure and Mr Reddington hoped to present a synthesis of ideas to Council at their next meeting. Applications for Membership The following were elected to membership: Student: Ms HA Asker, Miss N Gallego, Miss R Labaki, Mr TPB Lucas, Ms L Coen Mason, Mrs KJ Morgan, Mr W Sander, Mr MD Shephard and Mr DF Struth Affiliate: Miss IZ Zaidi Ordinary: Miss S Webber Associate: Mr R Arnold Overseas: Mr J Abu Ghaida, Mr C Bennett and Mr K Williamson PUBLIC RELATIONS UKIPO Awareness Campaign The campaign was starting up again and members would be contacted to see if they were able to participate in the events. ITMA Website A day’s training was taken place at ITMA Office. The Committee were unsure of a launch date. Images of Registered Designs were required for the Designs page and Council were asked to forward any appropriate images (with the owner’s permission) to Miss Attreed. Design Week Lunch Following the lunch with Design Week, Mike Exon, the Deputy Editor would be sending information on the ITMA Review 5
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Page 31 and 32: Daniel Alexander QC and Jonathan Th
Page 33 and 34: was probably nothing more sinister
Page 35 and 36: Anna Carboni reports... For some pe

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