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 what's new?
page updated:
04 Jul 2008
 UK
IPO corporate plan published
(4 jul 08)
The new 2008 Corporate Plan for the UK IPO was published on 26th June with .
In the forward, Baroness Morgan of Drefelin (the Minister responsible for the
Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) in which the UK IPO is
an Executive Agency) said:
"This Plan sets a very clear and dynamic programme of activity for the
next three years. It commits the UK-IPO to creating the conditions in which
IP can be used effectively and appropriately within the innovation
ecosystem. I fully endorse the approach taken and support the UK-IPO as it
embarks on its journey with pace, commitment and a clear expectation to
succeed."
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 UK
Strategic Advisory Board for Intellectual Property (SABIP) launched
(updated 4 jul 08)
SABIP was formally established on 2nd June and held its first meeting on 5th
June. The appointment of five Board members was announced on 2nd May
following open competition. They will serve under the Chairmanship of
Joly Dixon, CMG. The Board members are:
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Dame Lynne Brindley - Chief Executive of the British Library
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Dr Cathy Garner - Chief Executive of Manchester Knowledge Capital
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Professor John Pickering - Member of the Competition Appeal Tribunal and
Business Consultant
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Dr Jonathan Spencer, CB - former Director General at the Departments of
Trade and Industry and Constitutional Affairs and member of the Solicitors'
Regulation Authority
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Iain Wilcock - Founder and Deputy Managing Director of Quester Capital,
a healthcare investment company.
SABIP has been set up as an advisory non-departmental body to give Ministers
strategic advice on intellectual property issues. It has a research budget which
it will use to commission the empirical evidence that will underpin its thinking
and advice. The SABIP website is now available at
www.sabip.org.uk.
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cross-border satellite TV copyright case referred to European Court
(24 jun 08)
The TV rights to access major European football and other sporting matches in
public venues such as pubs and clubs are big business. The cost
through foreign satellites can be considerably lower than through the UK
provider, BSkyB, leading to many venues using foreign providers.
In a bid to force a ban on the necessary satellite decoder cards being
imported and also claim damages for copyright infringement, the UK's
Premier League has brought a test case against two equipment suppliers, QC
Leisure and AV Station . The judge in the UK High Court has now referred
the case to the ECJ (European Court of Justice) for answers to some fundamental
questions about cross-border satellite TV broadcasting. As a result,
it will be some time yet before the legality of UK use of copyright TV material
via foreign satellite providers will be finally clarified.
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 Francis
Gurry to be new Director General (updated 13 jun 08)
Francis Gurry, an Australian national, emerged as the successful candidate to
be the next Director General of WIPO following a nail-bitingly close contest on
13th May in Geneva. After several rounds of preliminary voting by the 83
states represented on the WIPO Coordination Committee, he defeated José Graça
Aranha of Brazil by 43 votes to 42. He is due to be confirmed in his
appointment at the next meeting of the General
Assembly in September. He is expected to take up his new duties from October when the current DG, Dr Kamil
Idris of Sudan steps down.
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 Canada
proposing new digital copyright provisions (13 jun 08)
Under new legislation introduced in the Canadian Parliament on Thursday 12th
June, ISPs (Internet Service Providers) would not be liable for copyright
violations by their subscribers. They would instead have to pass on
notices of violations rather than take down the offending material as required
in the USA. If enacted, the legislation would allow consumers to make
"time-shift" recordings of television and radio programs for later replay, but
prevent them from keeping them indefinitely in a personal library of recordings.
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 high
tech industry tops list of US patent owners in 2007(23 may 08)
The US Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO) has recently published
its 25th annual list of new US patents issued during 2007. Computer,
electronics and photographic companies such as IBM (3,125), Samsung (2,723),
Canon (2,047), Matsushita Electric (1,972), Intel (1,864), Toshiba (1,734),
Microsoft (1,662), Micron Technology (1,484), Hewlett-Packard (1,470) and Sony
(1,454) comprise the top 10 patent owners.
The US Patent & Trademark Office itself stopped publishing a similar list
last year since it wanted to discourage any perception that "more is better".
The IPO makes it clear that it is not wanting to encourage more patenting but
continues to produce a list since "the number of patents granted is one of the
few [current] objective measures of the patent system as a whole and the
patenting activities of individual industries and companies." In
fact 153,283 patents were issued in 2007, which was a decline from the 173,771
patents that were issued in 2006.
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‘Youngest UK inventor’ patents two-headed broom, with help from patent
attorney father (23 apr 08)
A five-year old boy from Buxton, Derbyshire, is thought to be the UK’s
youngest person to patent an invention after coming up with an idea for a
labour-saving broom to help his father sweep up leaves.
He had been watching his father at work in the back yard, swapping between a
large broom, for leaves and twigs, and a small one. He was just three when he
came up with the idea of a double-headed broom to collect large debris and fine
dust simultaneously.
His father, who is a patent attorney with the Buxton-based firm Patent
Outsourcing Limited, was so impressed he decided to help his son apply for a
patent. "It was such a simple solution that only a child could have come up with
it,” he said. "I was swapping from one broom to the other and he asked why. When
I said it was to pick up the different leaves and twigs it must have got him
thinking.
The invention has been taken up by the UK-IPO (Intellectual Property Office),
which is hoping to use it to encourage other youngsters to come up with
inventions through an initiative called ‘Cracking Ideas’.
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 World
Intellectual Property Day - April 26
Most people are aware of intellectual property (IP) - of copyright, patents,
industrial designs and trademarks. But many still view these as business or
legal concepts with little relevance to their own lives. To address this gap,
WIPO’s Member States decided in 2000 to designate an annual World Intellectual
Property Day. They chose April 26, the date on which the Convention establishing
WIPO originally entered into force in 1970.
Each year, WIPO and its Member States celebrate World Intellectual Property
Day with activities, events and campaigns. These seek to increase public
understanding of what IP really means, and to demonstrate how the IP system
fosters not only music, arts and entertainments, but also all the products and
technological innovations that help to shape our world.
WIPO issues a message from the Director General each year, broadcasts a short
publicity spot on international television channels, and dispatches posters and
other promotional materials to IP offices and organizations. Reports of
activities organized by Member States are published on this site.
The aims of World IP Day are:
- to raise awareness of how patents, copyright, trademarks and designs
impact on daily life;
- to increase understanding of how protecting IP rights helps promote
creativity and innovation;
- to celebrate creativity, and the contribution made by creators and
innovators to the development of societies across the globe;
- to encourage respect for the IP rights of others.
Read
this year's address from the WIPO Director General
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 customer
satisfaction levels at UK-IPO hit a 5 year high according to the results of its
recent customer survey (9 apr 08)
The survey (published on carried out between 26th November and 21st December
2007, revealed customer satisfaction was up in a number of key areas, including:
- an average of 97.9% of customers saying they were satisfied with the
overall performance of the UK-IPO.
- friendliness of staff - at 98% attracted the highest satisfaction rating
with clear advice and staff knowledge being considered the most important
aspect of the service provided by the UK-IPO.
Ian Fletcher CEO of the UK-IPO said:
“Our customer satisfaction survey results demonstrate that our customers are
confident of our commitment to excellence and to continuous improvement in the
delivery of all our services.”
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 turning
old tyres into black gold (8 apr 08)
Paul Archer, a former fire-fighter from Durham, has applied to patent an
invention that turns old car tyres into good quality diesel oil. Thanks to a
suggestion from his patent attorney, his business (UTD research Ltd.) now
expects to earn millions from selling licences worldwide.
The UTD invention means that the environment can be spared the harmful
effects of millions of tons of old tyres being tipped into landfill sites, and
increasingly scarce fossil fuels can be eked out with the oil recovered from
used tyres. In a recent televised test, reclaimed oil from UTD’s process was
mixed with fuel-station diesel to power a standard family saloon car. With no
modifications at all, the car performed normally.
for more information see:
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 European
Patent Office "putting quality before quantity" (1 apr 08)
In a recent press release the EPO reported that in 2007, a record total of
around 218 200 patent filings were made, compared with 210 600 in 2006.
But the 54 700 European patents granted in 2007 were 12.9% fewer than those
granted the previous year when 62 800 granted patents were published.
Alison Brimelow, President of the EPO, considers that priority has to be
given to patent quality: "The purpose of patents is to support the generation of
economic benefits for society. However, large patent numbers are not necessarily
indicative of growing R&D activity. What we therefore need is not more patents,
but more good patents."
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 help
for entrepreneurs in new series of the BBC's DRAGONS DEN?
(5 mar 08)
The BBC is currently searching for Britain’s best entrepreneurs and will be
auditioning throughout the coming months. It wants to hear from anyone who
thinks they’ve got what it takes to enter the Dragons’ Den.
The rules are simple: entrepreneurs can ask for any amount of investment in
return for equity in their business. However, they must get the amount they ask
for or they will walk away with nothing. The Dragons are prepared to listen to a
pitch for any kind of business but they must be convinced that it will make
money.
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 record
number of PCT applications filed in 2007 (21 feb 08)
Last year saw a further dramatic increase in new international patent
applications filed with the WIPO - the World IP Organisation - demonstrating
that this method is increasingly the preferred way to obtain essentially
worldwide protection for an invention. In total, a record 156,100
applications were filed in 2007, 4.7% more than in the previous year.
It took 18 years from the beginning of PCT operations in 1978 to reach
250,000 total applications, but only four years to double that figure (500,000),
and another four to double it again (1,000,000). For the fourth year
running, the most notable growth rates came from countries in north east Asia
(Japan, China, Republic of Korea) which accounted for over a quarter (25.8%) of
all PCT applications.
The largest sectors for new filings were telecommunications (10.5%),
information technology (10.1%) and pharmaceuticals (9.3%) and the fastest
growing technology areas are nuclear engineering (24.5% increase) and
telecommunications (15.5% increase).
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 looking
for patented technologies? - new searchable website of commercially available
technologies (14 feb 08)
Technology transfer managers and anyone doing research on patented or
emerging technologies now have a new resource at their finger-tips. A new
US based website has been launched - Spark-IP - which is aimed as a technology
exchange by including searchable technology listings from universities and
government labs around the world.
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 about
turn in UK practice on claiming computer related inventions (7 feb 08)
The UK IPO has amended its practice in this area following an important High
Court appeal decision by Kitchin J in Astron Clinica and others. As
a result, patents may now be allowed to protect a computer program if, but
only if, the program implements a patentable invention. This does not
mean that computer programs are generally patentable in the UK but it does allow
innovators to protect all aspects of their patentable inventions directly.
As
such UK practice has returned to where it was before the landmark Aerotel/Macrossan
judgment.
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fewer
translations needed for European patents after May (updated 23
feb 08)
The London Agreement under which countries forego the right to require
routinely a translation of the full text of a European patent designating their
country will now come into effect from 1st May 2008. This follows the
deposit of the formal ratification document at the German Ministry for Foreign
Affairs on 29th Jan. So far 13 countries have acceded to the Agreement.
UK businesses are expected to save
an estimated £10 million every year by not having to file unnecessary patent
translations, which can currently account for about 25% of the cost of an
average European patent application. The European Patent Office has estimated
that following implementation of the London Agreement, the cost of translations
to validate patents in the seven key countries will be reduced by about 45%.
New UK Minister for Intellectual Property Baroness Morgan (see
below) said:
“The French government has taken an historic step, which brings about changes
first conceived in Paris in 1999. The London Agreement will greatly reduce the
cost of patenting in Europe. Innovative UK companies will find it easier to
protect their ideas, and market new inventions, benefiting consumers and the
economy alike.”
For those countries party to the Agreement that do not have German, French or
English as a national language, no translation of the description will be
required if the European patent is in the EPO official language prescribed by
that country. These countries may still request translation of the claims into
their national language.
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 new UK
IP Minister appointed (30 jan 08)
Baroness Morgan of Drefelin has been appointed as the new Parliamentary Under Secretary
of State for Intellectual Property and Quality in succession to Lord Triesman,
who is leaving government to take up his new role as the first independent
chairman of the Football Association (see below).
According to the
DIUS website, she will be Lord Minister for the
whole Department and responsible for:
- The Student Loans Company (and Customer First programme)
- The student loan debt sale
- Endowments and voluntary giving for higher education
- Quality assurance of Higher Education
- UK Intellectual
Property Office
- Students as 'customers'
- Scenario building across
DIUS
- Departmental efficiency, effectiveness and
sustainability
- Research Assessment Exercise (RAE)
- Better Regulation
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 European Commission has pharmaceutical sector in its sights in
competition inquiry (18 jan 08)
On 16th Jan the European Commission launched a wide-ranging competition
inquiry into the European pharma sector with a series of surprise visits to many
companies across Europe, both research based and generics. An interim
report is due later this year with the final version early in 2009.
 In its press release, the Commission says that the inquiry "is a response
to indications that competition in pharmaceutical markets in Europe may not be
working well: fewer new pharmaceuticals are being brought to market, and the
entry of generic pharmaceuticals sometimes seems to be delayed."
The Commission wants to know the reasons for this and intends to look
amongst other things at patent and
related IP policies and practices and agreements to check whether competition
laws are being complied with.
Launching such a sector inquiry
with surprise inspections is unprecedented. But, according to the
Commission: "the kind of information the Commission will be examining in this
inquiry, notably concerning the use of intellectual property rights, litigation
and settlement agreements covering the EU, is by its nature information that
companies tend to consider highly confidential. Such information may also be
easily withheld, concealed or destroyed. The Commission is keen to have
immediate access to all such company information and has therefore ordered
unannounced inspections."
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 change
of pitch for Lord Triesman (17 jan 08)
IP developments in the UK may be affected by the loss to the Football
Association of Lord Triesman, the current IP and Quality Minister in the Department of
Innovation, Universities and Science. On 16th January, the FA Council
formally confirmed him to become the first independent chairman of the FA in
succession to Geoff Thompson who has held the post for the last 9 years.
Lord Triesman is
expected to give up his government responsibilities as Parliamentary Under
Secretary of State for IP and Quality and take up his FA role
as soon as possible.
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 changes to
UK copyright law in prospect? (18 dec 07 - updated 8 jan 08)
The Gowers report reviewing the intellectual property scene in the UK made a
number of recommendations for change in legal arrangements, particularly in the
area of copyright in the modern world. These included possible relaxation
of the UK's copyright rules to improve access and use of copyright material by
private individuals, students and libraries.
Lord Triesman, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State
for Intellectual Property and Quality, launched the first stage of a two part public
consultation on possible changes in UK copyright law at the British Library
Conference Centre on Jan 8th. The deadline for responses to the first
stage consultation is 8 April 2008. The second stage will
involve consultation on a draft version of the possible legal provisions to
implement the changes.
Possible changes included in the consultation are greater freedom for
consumers to legally transfer music or films between, for example, CDs and an
MP3 player – so-called 'format-shifting'. Other proposals include changes to
enable schools and universities to make the most of digital technologies and
facilitate distance learning.
According to Lord Triesman:
"In an increasingly digital world, we need to be sure that our
copyright system keeps up with the times and works effectively.
"This consultation is part of a package of measures which is designed to do
just that. It explores where the boundaries lie between strong protection
for right holders and appropriate levels of access for users. A system
valued by right holders and respected by users is critical to the success of
UK creativity."
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 US moves to curb piracy and counterfeiting in
proposed new IP laws (10 dec 07)
The Judiciary Committee of the US House of
Representatives is considering new, bipartisan legislation to strengthen IP
protection mainly in the area of creative and digital rights: bill
HR4279
"Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property (“PRO IP”)
Act of 2007" - introduced on 5th Dec. The proposed legislation is primarily focused on specific
improvements against copyright and TM infringement but it would also strengthen the
approach to IP enforcement in general (including patents) in the US and internationally.
Under the new proposals, a new Office of the United States Intellectual Property
Enforcement Representative (USIPER), would be set up in the Executive Office of the
President, to enhance nationwide and international coordination of
intellectual property enforcement efforts. In addition, IP officers
would be appointed to work with foreign countries
to help combat counterfeiting and piracy and a new, permanent IP Division
would be established in the Department of Justice to improve
the coordination of law enforcement.
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European patents to apply in 34 countries from 1st Jan 08 
Croatia and Norway
 will
become members of the European Patent Convention (EPC) with effect from 1 Jan 08
joining the existing 32 states benefitting from the European patent system under
which a single application and examination system can lead to a bundle of
equivalent patents in designated EPC states.
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page updated:
04 Jul 2008
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