Forthcoming meeting: IP term

The IP Finance weblog is pleased to announce the next meeting of its readers and supporters. The subject is "IP term: what it means in finance terms", a discussion on the financial implications of the duration of intellectual property protection. Anna Feros (a senior associate at Shepherd & Wedderburn) will be speaking on patent term, while John Enser (partner, Olswang) will talk about copyright term.

Right: a wallclock -- the best way to enjoy the countdown to a competitor's patent expiry

As is traditional at these events -- which are free -- the speakers will not speak for too long and there will be excellent opportunities for networking.

The date: Tuesday 16 December
The time: 5pm till 6.30pm
The venue: Shepherd & Wedderburn's London office (address and directions here)
If you're planning on coming, email Anna Feros here so that we can all be forewarned.

IP Finance group meets

A group of 18 people concerned in IP Finance issues met last night in High Holborn, London. Eva Lehnert (IFPI) gave a short talk on "The UNCITRAL Legislative Guide on Secured Transactions and the issues arising out of the collateralisation of IP" (a short hand-out is available on request: email here if you'd like the hand-out or want to be added to the group's informal mailing list), while Jeremy Phillips (IP consultant, Olswang) and Ben Goodger (Rouse International) described their own experiences at the hands of UNCITRAL. It was agreed to develop this weblog as a means of exchanging information concerning all aspects of IP finance and to attempt to create a bibliography of current materials of the various interface between IP law and practice and financial issues (in particular colleratalisation, IP valuation, tax aspects, assessing damages and insolvency). It was agreed that a further meeting (to which all are welcome) would be held some time after the International Trademark Association in May, to take stock of further developments.