IMPACT®

INTA report - Monday

So, today the full programme of sessions kicks off at INTA. As I've mentioned, I'm not here for the sessions but to network with my overseas associates and to visit the exhibition. However, it's not all shaking hands and "who do you work for?", there are receptions to attend!

Surveillance society investigated by the Lords

The Register reports that the House of Lords is to investigate the 'surveillance society', the emergence of which was highlighted by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) in 2006.

A crucial part of the investigation will be whether or not the current laws - the main one being the Data Protection Act - adequately protect the individual against the various types of surveillance being commonly used. Given that the report on the subject commissioned by the ICO concluded that new laws focussed specifically on surveillance might be needed (in particular, implementing Privacy Impact Assessments and Surveillance Impact Assessments), I wouldn't rule out this possibility.

See our summary of the Surveillance Society report for details of the ICO's conclusions.

First NODUS event a success

On 26 April, World IP Day, NODUS held its first event. NODUS is a new forum for IP & IT professionals in the East Midlands.

Links
Report on the NODUS blog
Report from Franks & Co

Ready for INTA

Yesterday I went to the convention centre to find out where it was and collect my bag (delegates get a conference bag with hard copy of the delegate list). The McCormick Place convention centre is huge, I mean just vast and gigantic. This event attracts around 5000 or 6000 attendees but it will still feel empty!
The picture here is of the hospitality area. This is full of 10-person tables where people jostle for a few seats to have meetings.
There are 2 reasons to come to INTA: either you want to attend the educational sessions or you try to meet lots of your overseas contacts whilst you are in the same place (my reason).

Handling Patient Data: Legal Summary

The General Medical Council, Information Commissioner and the Department of Health have issued a joint statement briefly setting out 3 laws that apply to public authorities handling patient data. The 3 laws are:

• Data Protection Act
• Human Rights Act
• The law of confidential information

Off to INTA

I'm just about to drop the bags and then my wife, Julie, and I are off to Chicago, USA, to attend the annual meeting of the International Trademark Owners Association - INTA. I'll be covering the event for the blog.

If you are there and fancy meeting up, get in contact!

Stunning cloning breakthrough on World IP Day.

Read all about Disney Biosciences stunning breakthrough at the excellent http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2007/04/cloning-breakthrough-announced-for.html

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Today is World Intellectual Property Day

Yes, it's finally here, World Intellectual Property Day.

We're delighted to be launching NODUS, the professional association for IP and IT professionals in the East Midlands today. We're pleased to see that the World Intellectual Property Organisation has included this in its list of activities happening today. As an IP and IT team, we hope the creation of NODUS will be seen as a thing encouraging creativity.

To help support today's activities, we are inviting questions about intellectual property from our readers. We'll take all questions and produce general answers and publish them here. That means that we won't technically be providing legal advice about individual situations. To submit a question, either raise it in a comment on an existing posting or email us.

Have a great day!

Sticking to First Life

Alex posted a few weeks ago about how we'd looked at, but decided against, going into Second Life at the moment. We'd considered the blaze of press interest it would deliver but decided to stick to our first lives for the moment. Don't get me wrong, we're the last legal team you could accuse of reluctance to try new technology so I'm not saying it will never happen.

Anyway, it was inevitable that someone would take the plunge, and its been Field Fisher Waterhouse that finally announced the move. There's a great piece about their view and ours on The Times Online today written by Alex Spence and Michael Herman.