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Intellectual Property Law

: IPKat

Monday miscellany

By Johanna Gibson, David Pearce, Jeremy Phillips and Ilanah Simon.

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Happy new week, everyone -- and let's make it a memorable one!

Via a Tweet from Duncan (IP ThinkTank) Bucknell comes news from TorrentFreak that the official logo for Hadopi -- the new French mechanism for dealing with file-sharing copyright infringers -- was itself a copyright infringement since it employed an unlicensed font. Hadopi has apologised through "gritted teeth" (dents grincées) and is busy seeking an alternative, non-infringing font.

You've only got till this Wednesday, 20 January, to apply for the vacant post of World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Ombudsman. The four-year post, which disqualifies its holder from every working for WIPO again, stipulates the various qualities and talents which its holder must possess when seeking to resolve employment-related conflicts. These qualities do not, the IPKat notes, include a sense of humour.

The IPKat mislaid this link, which was kindly sent to him by Richard Nugent, but now he has found it again. It's the story of Democratic Unionist Party MP for South Antrim and gospel singer the Reverend William McCrea, who is facing legal action over an alleged copyright breach. Reverend McCrea has long combined a successful musical career with his political role, even travelling to Nashville to record albums. The Kat awaits further developments.

Following the publication yesterday of the results of the proverbs competition, three more proverbs have been received from that notable Italian scholar and expert in Angora Cats Mario Franzosi. They are, in no particular order

* Good patents are like good people: their value is recognized only when they're dead;
* With women and with the EPO, it's better if your claims are accepted [The IPKat wonders whether this proverb also exists in a more politically correct format. Merpel says, it's very much in the spirit of Silvio Berlusconi];
* Men and women are virtuous until tempted; patents and designs are valid until challenged.

The December 2009 issue of the WIPO Magazine has just reached the IPKat, and he has been turning its pages. This is a bumper copyright issue, with articles on Wikipedia's licence policy change, two articles on sampling, some guidance on the legal use of digital content and even a contribution on the betterment of the position of performers. You can read this issue in full online here.