IPKat
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Type of site | Weblog |
|---|---|
| Created by | Dr Johanna Gibson, Dr David Pearce, Dr Jeremy Phillips, Dr Ilanah Simon. |
| URL | http://www.ipkat.com |
| Commercial | Non-Commercial |
| Registration | No |
The IPKat weblog
The IPKat[1], founded in June 2003, was the first European weblog dedicated entirely to developments in intellectual property law.
The content comprises news of recent judicial rulings, decisions of patent and trade mark granting authorities, primary and secondary legislation, practice and procedural notes and recent publications, together with comments where appropriate.
A feature of the weblog is the expression of opinions through the often contrasting observations made by two fictional cats, the IPKat himself and his female companion Merpel.
The IPKat has occasionally taken positions on matters of principle, such as the need for wider dissemination of legal decisions taken by the European Union's two major courts (the Court of First Instance and the European Court of Justice) in languages other than that in which a decision was reached. More usually, though, the IPKat performs the role of demonstrating the need for a commonsense approach and a fair balance between the protection of intellectual property, the safeguarding of competition and the well-being of consumers and users of intellectual property-protected goods and services.
In July 2005[2] the IPKat was named in Managing Intellectual Property magazine[3] as one of the 50 Most Influential People in Intellectual Property, the only occasion on which this accolade has been accorded to a fictional cat.
The contributors to the IPKat weblog, all of whom are based in the United Kingdom, are Dr Johanna Gibson, Dr David Pearce, Dr Jeremy Phillips and Dr Ilanah Simon.