Home » General Interest (Page 16)
Category Archives: General Interest
Patent Box and UK secrecy orders
The interaction between the Patent Box regime and UK patent applications subject to directions under section 22 of the Patents Act may seem like a bit of a niche interest area, but never let it be said that IPcopy isn’t willing to poke into the darkest, dustiest corners of IP trivia to get to the truth….
When I joined the patent profession I worked for the Ministry of Defence’s Intellectual Property Department. That fact means that whenever someone runs into a question about the defence industry, Defcons or whether patent applications that are subject to “secrecy orders” can take advantage of the patent box regime all eyes seem to turn towards me.
So, the question having been asked, I did some digging….
IP Bill becomes the Intellectual Property Act 2014
[Update 19.5.2014: the Intellectual Property Act 2014 has now appeared on the legislation.gov.uk website and can be accessed here]
The Intellectual Property Bill left the “ping pong” stage last month after the House of Lords approved the amendments made to the Bill by the House of Commons. Yesterday evening, the IP Bill received Royal Assent to pass into law as the Intellectual Property Act 2014 (House of Lords Hansard; Parliament (Intellectual Property Act 2014)).
As noted on the Department for Business Innovation and Skills website it is expected that some measures within the Act will come into force in October 2014, with all the measures being implemented by late 2015. (more…)
A Keltie Wedding at INTA 2014
Tweets emanating from INTA 2014 in Hong Kong have, so far, shared a common theme: “it’s raining”, “it’s pouring”, “the old m…”, well, you get the picture! So it is with great pleasure that we can offer a delightful counterpoint by congratulating Keltie’s Sean Cummings who got married today. Congratulations from everyone back here in London to Sean and Vivienne!
Here’s a few photos of the happy couple. (more…)
Wacky patents – Animals in Patent Illustrations
Animals in patent drawings? It must be Friday…
“Animals in Patent Illustrations”? Yup, it must be Friday…
Today, we’re going to look at some strange patents that feature various creatures in their Figures! Why? Well, blame this article from the BBC which looked at the tricky business of re-designing the humble pair of glasses. Following references to anti-fog coatings and magnet hinges this BBC article ended, where else, with glasses for chickens.
So without further delay welcome to the weird world of animals in patents….[Warning: the BadPunTM Generator and NaffTM Picture Captioning have been switched on and used extensively in this post.]
World IP Day: Movies – a global passion
On 26th April each year the World Intellectual Property Organisation celebrates World IP Day. The subject this year is the world of film: “Movies – a global passion“.
WIPO has a dedicated page on its website and also a World IP Day Facebook page to help promote discussion of IP at the movies. Of particular interest is an overview of the IP rights that can be found from script to screen.
As regular readers will know IPcopy has posted a number of articles that take a light-hearted look at IP as it appears in the media (films, TV, news reports etc) as an excuse to talk about different IP topics. So here, to celebrate World IP Day, are the film related posts from our IP – Hit or miss? series.
Pharmaceuticals: European Regulatory Clearance
Today on IPcopy we have a guest post from Rob Jacob of Stephenson Harwood LLP on the subject of pharmaceutical name approvals.
Choosing a name for a prescription pharmaceutical product is not an easy task. You need a name that sets your product aside from the competition, something catchy, something memorable and most importantly something management and marketing believe in and can use to sell to the market – by no means an easy task. However, choosing such a name is not the end of the story. In fact, it is just the beginning. Getting a pharmaceutical name approved by both legal and the regulators is where the task really begins. The rules and regulations surrounding the clearance of pharmaceutical names are complex and fraught with hurdles that must be overcome.
Legal clearance is about ensuring that your proposed brand does not infringe a third party’s trade mark. Regulatory clearance is completely different and is the focus of this entry. Whilst this brief entry can’t do the topic justice, it will hopefully act as an introduction to the issues involved. (more…)
Intellectual property in the Dilbert cartoons, and other things
ipcopydilbert
For me, three writers on management stand out:
• Peter Drucker (1909-2005), especially for The effective executive (1967). The effective executive contains robust – often uncomfortable –management truths (notwithstanding its inevitably dated case studies); it is short; and it is organised in a straightforward, unflashy manner which is appealing to the legal practitioner. Drucker also said (with resonance for any managing partner or in-house head of intellectual property): “As a manager, you clean up messes. Who the hell wants to do that?”
• Lucy Kellaway, who writes weekly in the Financial Times, fuelled by vacuous and incoherent pronouncements of corporate “leaders” and by insights communicated to her by frustrated employees. She questions the value of any new management ideas beyond those of Drucker and of “total quality management” of the 1980s.
• And finally, Adam Scott, who in the daily comic strip Dilbert has created a simultaneously surreal and recognisable US ICT company (ICT= information and communications technology). In this company, the nerdy Dilbert, the ferociously efficient Alice, and the lazy Wally work for the “pointy-haired boss” dedicated to “management speak” – while apparently failing to notice that they have non-human colleagues such as Dogbert, Catbert, and Ratbert. (UK residents can find Dilbert in the Daily Express and the International New York Times, as well as online at www.dilbert.com.)
Scott’s characters encounter not only management fads but also legal including IP matters. (more…)
Coat of Arms and Trade Marks – Dual Protection or Mutual Antagonism? seminar
This blog is inspired by the ‘Coat of Arms and Trade Marks – Dual Protection or Mutual Antagonism?’ Seminar attended on 19 March 2014. The Speakers at the Seminar were Clive Cheesman, Richmond Herald of The College of Arms, Mark Engelman, Head of Intellectual Property at Hardwicke, Simon Johnson, Barrister at Enterprise Chambers, and Dr Richard Anthony, Bursar and Fellow of St Edmund’s College, University of Cambridge.
By way of background, the perpetual right to bear arms in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the majority of monarchies within the Commonwealth, is granted to appropriate bodies by the College of Arms (also known as Heralds’ College or Heralds’ Office). This is a royal corporation consisting of professional officers of arms, overseen by the Earl Marshal, a hereditary office held by the Duke of Norfolk. The College of Arms was first incorporated in 1484 by King Richard III and given regulatory authority since 1522. Scotland operates a different system to the rest of the UK and this is overseen by Lord Lyon. (more…)
London Technology Week (16-20 June 2014) – FREE Keltie IP Clinics and IP Seminar
London Technology Week runs from 16 June to 20 June 2014 and, as noted on the London Technology Week website “celebrates the vibrancy of tech innovation in our capital city. In a week of face to face events, businesses – from enterprise to start-ups – government, academia and general enthusiasts will come together to showcase London as a global tech leader.”
As part of London Technology Week, Keltie LLP will be holding a series of Intellectual Property Clinics and an Intellectual Property Seminar. (more…)
IP in the Space Sector Webinar – Presentation Slides
As highlighted in Adam Brocklehurst’s earlier post, Keltie hosted a webinar on “IP in the Space Sector” on 27 February. The speakers were Adam Brocklehurst and Richard Lawrence and the webinar covered IP fundamentals and myth-busting, issues in space sector IP and other relevant topics.
Since the webinar we’ve had a few requests for access to the slide show and this is embedded below. If you have any questions regarding the topics covered or have a spaced-based IP question then please sound off in the comments section. (more…)
IPcopy 