The whistle has blown on the World Cup and, with half the planet glued to the group stage, you would be forgiven for letting your IP reading slide somewhere between kick-off and full time. But while the rest of us argued about offside, the IPKat was busy running its own international fixtures, sending readers to Brazil, Canada and the EU all in a single week. Here is what you missed.
Copyright
Katfriend Luiz Guilherme Valente
explored Brazil's newly adopted Dance Professionals Act and the surprise tucked into its fine print - a revived prohibition, echoing a near-forgotten 1978 rule, on assigning authors' and related rights, reopening the long-unsettled question of whether performers' rights can be bought out at all in the streaming age.
Plant Variety Rights
Jocelyn Bosse
reported on a busy year for plant breeders' rights in Canada, walking through what may be the country's first ever PBR infringement decision, a refreshing change from the patent battles of Schmeiser lore, alongside a freshly published set of regulations that quietly rewires the law.
Trade Marks
Marcel Pemsel
commented on the EUIPO Grand Board of Appeal's ruling that George Orwell's "ANIMAL FARM" and "1984" stumbled at the registration stage for content-related goods, in a neat paradox where the titles turned out to be too successful as books to work as trade marks.
News and Events
Marcel Pemsel also rounded up the week's IP miscellany in Saturday Sundries, flagging upcoming events - including a session on FRAND/SEP strategy and PMAC-UPC mediation under the UPC - together with assorted news from the EPO, UKIPO and beyond.
