Second Helpings From The Tuesday Kat

1 Europlants to larn hit goodness of UPOV

The WIPO has simply informed the IPKat today that the European Community has acceded to the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants, electrical flow to the Geneva revision of nineteen March 1991. The UPOV Convention kicks inwards at that spot with termination from 29 July 2005.

notes with disappointment that catnip is non yet with the industrial plant life varieties to which the UPOV treaty applies.


2 Single licence for the unmarried market

The Guardian has reported that creators of online music services such equally composers, lyricists as well as performers volition have a unmarried pan-European copyright licence fee, if proposals yesteryear the European Commission come upwardly to fruition. These proposals, which won't hold upwardly officially launched until the autumn, are designed to boost the increment of legitimate online content services inwards the European Union as well as to unopen the gap with America inwards webcasting as well as streaming. An EC study has institute that the States of America marketplace position was worth €500m (£340m) a twelvemonth against simply over €100m inwards the EU. The terms of a licence, granted via collective rights managers to commercial users, is almost €19,000 for mechanical as well as functioning rights inwards the EU's 25 countries - €475,000 inwards total. Given that the profits on each download is €0.10, it would involve 4.75m of these to recover the terms of the licences.

watches with interest. While getting collecting societies from dissimilar countries to compete against each other may nevertheless hold upwardly a dream for some of the Commissioners, streamlining the physical care for for granting licences as well as collecting royalties is a dream that rights-owners reckon tin flaming to a greater extent than easily come upwardly true.


3 I don't know much almost art, but I know what I similar ... to smash

Ananova brings this thought-provoking tidbit almost Yuri Samodurov as well as Lyudmila Vasilovskaya, 2 Russian fine art museum directors who are to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights after they were prosecuted when vandals smashed upwardly i of their exhibits. Protesters broke inwards as well as smashed business office of the Beware! Religion exhibition at Russia's Sakharov Museum 2 years ago. To the 2 directors' annoyance the protestors were allow off later a courtroom ruled they had been "justifiably provoked" yesteryear the controversial exhibition. Samodurov as well as Vasilovskaya were convicted of incitement to religious as well as ethnic hate as well as fined £2,000 each for displaying a Coca-Cola logo with Christ's confront as well as the words "This is my blood" on it, as well as a sculpture of a church building made from vodka bottles.

notes how, yet again, the Coca-Cola logo has taken on an iconic cultural status. Other Jesus-Coke tie-ins are reproduced here. Merpel wonders whether whatsoever other religions employ Coca-Cola imagery too, or whether it's a Christian monopoly.


4 UNICE urges back upwardly for excogitation -- but whose?

This press unloose was issued yesteryear UNICE final week. UNICE, the European Union's foyer grouping for pro-industry interests. Said UNICE Secretary General Philippe de Buck:

"We are living inwards a digital world. Europe's capacity to nowadays inwards novel technologies volition hold upwardly telephone substitution inwards boosting the European economic scheme as well as providing additional jobs as well as growth. This is especially of import for SMEs. Supporting excogitation inwards the high-tech sector must hold upwardly a priority for the EU".

's quiz interrogation is this: if you lot read this statement, tin flaming you lot hold upwardly certain whether UNICE wants to (i) extend software patent protection, (ii) diminish it, (iii) larn out it equally it is or (iv) simply brand certain it's or as well as thus to verbalize almost it when the adjacent circular of discussions eventually occurs?