WIPO honours Thai king
Utynam congratulates Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej on receiving a WIPO Global Leader Award from Francis Gurry last month for his commitment to promoting IP.
In a citation, the WIPO director-general said: "In sharing the fruits of your creativity in the form of invention and musical and artistic works, Your Majesty has not only demonstrated the power of intellectual property to enrich and enhance the quality of daily life and work but has also encouraged people everywhere to create, respect and protect it."
The King does not just encourage people to protect IP: he creates it himself. A patent for an invention entitled "Weather modification by royal rainmaking technology" has been granted in Thailand and at the EPO. At the USPTO the application is, unsurprisingly, pending. The patent is for a series of chemicals that are said to be particularly successful in fattening clouds and encouraging rain.
According to WIPO, the patent is just one of 20 registered by the King, who also owns 20 trade marks and has created a portfolio of over 1000 works of art. Utynam would be interested to hear from readers about any other heads of state who can claim similar achievements.
Lammy to the slaughter
IP owners will be hoping the UK's new IP minister, David Lammy, performs more impressively in his government role than he did on the BBC quiz show Celebrity Mastermind, screened at the end of last year.
Lammy finished last out of four contestants, with a measly 13 points, the lowest score of the series (eight of these were scored on his specialist subject, the boxer Mohammed Ali). On the night, Lammy was beaten by an actor, a pop star and a TV chef. His nadir came in the general knowledge round when he was asked who succeeded Henry VIII as King of England and replied "Henry VII".
Lammy also failed to answer correctly questions about (among others) Marie and Pierre Curie, The Sopranos and Stilton cheese. For someone whose role encompasses policy on innovation, copyright and geographical indications, that does not bode well. But at least Lammy can be reassured that, in his new post, he is a "celebrity".
A tasty IP treat
Lovers of tasty IP disputes would have noted the successful application in 2007 by Greek Cypriot Confectioners for EU protected geographical indication status for Loukoumi Yeroskipou. Similar sweets are known in Turkey as Lokum and in the UK as Turkish Delight.
The application left a bitter taste in the mouth of Turkish businesses, even though they are still able to export their delicious confectionery using the names Lokum or Turkish Delight. Now a Turkish company called Akkent Sekerleme has taken the initiative by filing a utility model application at the Turkish Patent Institute for Golden Turkish Delight.
According to a Turkish lawyer, this delight is different because it is hand made, contains gold dust and is, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, "good for health". Having overeaten during the festive break, Utynam is trying to tighten his belt in both senses of the word, which means gold sweets are definitely out. But later in the year he looks forward to seeing if there is a difference between Greek Cypriot GI-protected and Turkish utility patent-protected sweets. He hopes his conclusions will not create an international incident.
The inauguration of Barack Obama inspired a slew of street vendors in Washington DC to peddle merchandise featuring the name, likeness and campaign logo of the first African-American US president for months prior to the event. Although much of the merchandise was unauthorised, the Obama campaign didn't seem to mind. The 44th US president reportedly told a local radio station last year: “I’m glad I’m giving some brothers a job out there selling T-shirts.” Utynam attended the inauguration and – despite his devotion to IP protection – couldn’t help picking up a fake hat for posterity. |
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