Here are my picks of the intellectual property news that broke in the blogosphere and internet over the past month and most captured my interest. I also give my pick of the upcoming IP events to pencil into your diary for the month ahead.

UK fast tracks green patent applications

On 12 May the ‘Green Channel’ came into force at the UK IPO offering accelerated processing of environmentally-friendly technology patent applications. According to the UK IPO’s Fast Grant Guide, filing to grant may occur in as little as 9 months.  Intellectual Property Watch reports that the UK IPO has secured agreement from China to use the fast track system and is seeking to do the same with other major trade partners. 

(Further coverage at IAM, IPKat and Green Patent Blog.)

Copyright and access to education

The case of an Argentinean philosophy professor who has posted Spanish translations of Derrida’s works on a website in an attempt to make the works available to Spanish-language readers has drawn attention to the limitations copyright can place on access to education.   According to copyright lawyer, Carolina Botero, Latin America generally relies on foreign publishers to provide academic texts and the price is unaffordable for many (see Intellectual Property Watch).   Jeremy Phillips offers some very sage advice on the matter at At Last… the 1709 Copyright Blog that ‘some infringements are better tackled as commercial propositions than as legal issues’. 

(Further coverage at IP tango)

China National Space Administration logo – coincidental similarity to Star Trek logos?

Last month there was a flurry of reporting on the uncanny similarity between the new logo of the CNSA and two logos belonging to the Star Trek series, more precisely the United Federation of Planets crest and the lapel communicator design. Here are links to some of the posts covering the story, all finding some amusement at the apparent mimicry: IP Dragon, Cool Aggregator, Inventor Spot, Shanghai ist. However, the plot thickens – Strange Tales from a Modern Chinese Studio reports on a comment it received on its blog from an anonymous reader who defends the CNSA’s logo, explaining the history and symbolism of the logo components. Convincing? I’m not sure.

Event – Managing distressed intellectual property seminar

This seminar, also available via live webinar will take place on 10 June. The seminar will be led by the Honorable Michael B Kaplan (US Bankruptcy Court) and Eric D Kirsch (Cooper & Dunham).  For further information, go to Business Development Academy.