Happy Republic Day everyone!
Welcome back to another week of Bells & Whistles. As always, we’ve rounded up a mix of developments, opportunities, and thoughtful reads from across the IP world along with a Bell of the Week that’s well worth revisiting.
Bell of the Week: Sustainable Seed Innovations Project
Some bells don’t just ring, they root themselves in the soil. This week’s Bell of the Week turns to the Sustainable Seed Innovations Project, a UK – India research collaboration that asks a fundamental question: “how can intellectual property and public policy in India be reimagined to support innovation with indigenous seeds, especially by small and marginal farmers?”
Led by the University of Leeds in collaboration with the Art of Living Foundation and Dr. Mrinalini Kochupillai, the project goes beyond theory. Through a series of SpicyIP blog posts, it launched a rare open and public consultation feeding into a research-based position paper for the Government of India, inviting readers, researchers, farmers and policymakers to shape the conversation together.
Across two phases, the project explored ways to recognise and credit farmer-led innovation with indigenous seed varieties and then pushed further, outlining how digital ledger technologies could help track such innovation, ensure economic returns reach farming communities, and incentivise research rooted in traditional ecological knowledge.
The result is a compelling trio of outputs: a policy-facing position paper, a growing archive of farmer innovation stories that expand how we think about IP and a preliminary framework for using emerging technologies in service of agrobiodiversity and sustainability. A bell that doesn’t just chime, it cultivates.
EVENTS
1. Book Launch & Lecture: Trademark and Free Speech — Conflicts and Resolutions, Northeastern University School of Law
3 February 2026 | 11:00 PM IST | Online (Zoom)
The Center for Law, Information and Creativity (CLIC) invites you to celebrate the release of Professor Lisa P. Ramsey’s (Professor of Law, University of San Diego School of Law) new book, Trademark and Free Speech: Conflicts and Resolutions (Cambridge University Press, out January 22). In this talk, Prof. Ramsey examines how trademark law can conflict with the right to freedom of expression and offers a principled framework for evaluating free speech challenges to trademark registration and enforcement. The book critiques the grant of trademark rights over informational terms, political messages, widely used phrases, decorative product features, and other language and designs with strong communicative value, showing how such protection can undermine expression and competition. It ultimately proposes speech-protective and pro-competitive reforms for legislatures, courts, and trademark offices in the US and beyond.
More info | Register here
2. Lecture: Re-imagining (Re)production in Intellectual Property Law: New Frontiers in the Branding and Making of Botanical Kinds
11 February 2026 | 12:00 – 1:30 GMT | Hybrid
In this lecture, Dr. Susannah Chapman (University College Cork) explores how plant breeding, branding practices, and legal protections are reshaping contemporary fruit varieties, drawing attention to the often-overlooked creative and reproductive labour that sustains a variety’s identity year after year. By unpacking the work that follows the formal “creation” of botanical kinds, the lecture reflects on the boundary between creativity and reproduction, while offering insights into the intersection of intellectual property law, biodiversity and food security and what this means for the food we eat.
More info
OPPORTUNITIES
1. Postdoctoral Position in Intellectual Property Law – CEIPI (ANR Access ERC Programme)
Application Deadline: 2 February 2026
The Centre for International Intellectual Property Studies (CEIPI) is inviting applications for a 2 year postdoctoral position in Intellectual Property Law, funded by the ANR Access ERC programme. This opportunity is designed for early-career researchers aiming to develop an independent research agenda and prepare a competitive ERC Starting Grant (2028). The position supports research across a wide range of IP themes, including patents, copyright, trademarks, digital technologies, AI, and sustainability, and offers tailored mentoring, access to international research networks, and an outstanding research environment.
More info
2. Call for Papers – Fifth Annual Legal Scholars Roundtable on Artificial Intelligence, Emory University School of Law
Submission deadline: 15 February 2026
Emory Law will host the fifth annual Legal Scholars Roundtable on Artificial Intelligence from 9-10 April , a forum dedicated to in-depth discussion of cutting-edge legal scholarship on AI. The Roundtable brings together scholars working across a wide range of methodologies, topics, perspectives, and legal intersections related to artificial intelligence. Scholars wishing to present are required to submit a substantially complete draft paper for consideration. The event will be held in person on the Emory campus, with funded (economy) travel and accommodation provided within the United States.
More info
3. Junior Legal Consultant – WIPO Judicial Institute
March 1 – December 18, 2026 | WIPO Headquarters, Geneva, Switzerland
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) invites applications for the position of Junior Legal Consultant with the WIPO Judicial Institute, under the IP and Innovation Ecosystems Sector (IES).
More info
4. Announcement: Free Access to Patently-O
Patently-O is free to access for students, professors, and anyone earning under USD 75,000 per year. This ensures wide access to high-quality commentary and analysis on patent law and related developments, particularly benefiting early-career researchers, academics, and practitioners.
Request here
Thanks to Ambika, Lokesh and Swaraj for the leads!
All non-sponsored listings featured here are events or opportunities free or nominally charged and ones we think our readers may be interested in. Sponsored listings will be marked as such. Unless specifically mentioned, SpicyIP has no affiliation to anything listed here. Know of an event worth sharing? Write to us at contact[at]spicyip[dot]com.
