Readers of another weblog will already know about this, but the more specialist readership of Class 46 deserves its own notice. The item in question is an article, "Knut, Flocke, and Co: the bear facts revealed", by Class 46 team blogger Birgit Clark. This article, which analyses in depth many legal and commercial aspects of German practice regarding the registration of the names of polar bear cubs as trade marks, is published in the December 2008 issue of the Journal of Intellectual Property Law and Practice (JIPLP), published by Oxford University Press; it may be read in its entirety and at no charge here.

Right: the author's connection with polar bears is more than skin-deep ...