Monday miscellany

This Thursday, 21 March 2013 is the pre-INTA annual reception for Londoners, 1800 to 2030 pm. This time it's being held in the City and not in Docklands, so you don't get such dramatic views from the windows but your chances of finding the place are about 50% better. The venue is Searcys Champagne Bar, 1st Floor, One New Change, London EC4M 9AF. If you fancy coming along, it's still not too late! Register here.


A katpat goes to Michael Pinder, final year law undergraduate at the University of Liverpool and a man with a discerning eye.  It is Michael who spotted that the IPKat got a mention in a recent UK IPO hearing, in Case O-067-13 Application of Ndinos Peri Peri Ltd; opposition of Nando's International Holdings Ltd, a decision of Al Skilton on 13 February.  

"35. Exhibit GG5 is an article from the IPKat blog concerning these proceedings, dated 2 February 2012. Mr Gruber provides the following quotation: “The IPKat can't help but feel some sympathy for Nando's in this instance: he had to do a double-take when first reading about the dispute to assure himself that that "Ndinos‟ was not, in fact, a typo.”  

36. Mr Gruber concludes that these extracts show that third parties regard the marks as confusingly similar". 

This Kat is naturally unsurprised that, relying on so unimpeachable an opinion, Ms Skilton could confidently uphold the opposition on the ground of confusing similarity. The original Katpost can be read here.

Ingrid: in the pink

MARQUES stalwart and Internal Relations Officer Ingrid de Groot is not a person who is easily persuaded of the virtue of new-fangled notions like the social media, as this Kat has discovered in the course of a number of rows battles arguments reasoned peaceful and reasoned discussions over the years.  It can therefore safely be said that, if Ingrid has bought into the concept, it must be worthwhile.  The Kat is still chortling over her company's (Nomilex) first tender steps into the YouTube, which you can enjoy here.  It's a good example of how much brand material you can pack into just over a minute without overtaxing viewers.

Something to be
grumpy about?

Going to War?  It seems that the extensive and well-reputed international legal practice of Hogan Lovells LLP has been getting excited about the unitary patent system. This Kat's attention has been drawn to the website http://www.theunitarypatent.com which, as it appears, is that firm's platform for promoting its patent practice in the New Europe.  If you click the link to "Read the latest Unified Patent News", here, you will be offered a selection of news items and blog posts from, among others, the IPKat and PatLit.  This Kat wonders if all the news-providers in question are entirely happy with this arrangement.  In particular, he hopes that Hogan Lovells will spell the surname of his esteemed Kat colleague the same way that the rest of us do: it's Ward, not War ...  Never mind, says Merpel, who is consoling herself with the thought that no law firm has yet gone so far as to seek to register UNITARY PATENT as a trade mark.

World Intellectual Property Day, 26 April, will soon be upon us.  The IPKat takes this opportunity to remind folk that the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has an event map which you can view on Facebook here.  You can also get the flavour of this year's theme of "Creativity: the next generation" here.