INTA lets down its Paying Members

I know that many SOLO members find INTA membership at US$850 well beyond their means. In fact one of us regularly attends annual meetings at the non-member rate because that makes better economic sense and the other member benefits are insufficient for a SOLO - unless you are lucky enough to be a Professor when you can join for a mere $75.

I was delighted, therefore, that INTA was organising a Roundtable in London. Something to justify that huge spend to my virtual financial controller. I got an email on Tuesday and replied on Wednesday. So slothful, I admit it. It turns out this event on the protection of well-known marks is limited to 20 and despite my suggestion there are no plans to move to a larger venue.

I absolutely applaud the desire for delegate participation, but limiting delegates to 20 when there are no less than FOUR high quality presenters seems unrealistic. I suspect the email I received was sent at least to the 273 member organisations in London, possibly to the much greater membership in the United Kingdom

According to a recent mailing I got from ITMA the UK IPO say the skills of trade mark agents in the UK have been overtaken. Come on INTA do your bit to help. The picture to the right is Richard Heath of Unilever who is this year's President of INTA. I hope some of the Unilever attornies managed to get a place at the roundtable as they have many well-known brands to protect.