NIPC Law

Liza Porteus of Intellectual Property Watch has just published a very interesting article on the result of various discussions between EPO, Japan Patent Office and USPTO officials which have taken place in Washington over the last few days. Apparently, the three offices intend to announce the signing of a memorandum of understanding between them on the alignment of the patent application system some time today. Also likely to be announced today, according to Liza, is a plan to pilot a three-way search service next year and the permanent adoption of the "Patent Prosecution Highway" (a reciprocal process by which the JPO and USPTO agree that if either of them decides that at least one claim of a patent application is patentable the other will accelerate the application process of the patent) and perhaps its extension to other patent offices such as ours. I have to say that there is nothing about these momentous announcements on the trilateral (joint EPO, JPO and USPTO) we...

I have just received an invitation to what appears to be a very interesting conference in Beijing at the end of this month. Not quite enough notice for me, I'm afraid, but here are the details it in case others closer to China can attend. The programme includes discussion on: dispute resolution led by the IP manager of Actions Semiconductor Co., Ltd. between 10:30 and 12:00 on 29 Nov financing of intellectual property rights for enterprises: patent pledging; patent capitalization; patent securitization by someone from Liancheng Assets Appraisal Firm between 16:30 and 17:40 on the same day; and speeches from various senior government and IP office officials the next morning. Attendance is apparently limited to 300 and the vent will take place at the Beijing Xinyuan Hotel. The fee seems ridiculously cheap if I have cut and pasted the information correctly or the email is right - USD150.00 or less than £75 in real money - that's a fraction of what UK conference organizers like CL...

This is an intellectual property blog not a political one. I do have religious and political views but I generally keep them out of here. However, photographs of armed thugs beating up lawyers (many of whom I am likely to know) and bundling them into paddy wagons is an outrage that demands a departure from political neutrality. The failure of our government and that of the USA, France, Germany, Canada, Japan and just about every right thinking country immediately to sever diplomatic relations and impose economic sanctions at least as stringent as those contemplated for Iran against a pathetic litigant who attacks his judges in a case that is about to go against him is nothing short of scandalous. If Jonathan Edwards really wants to know why so many of our young people are receptive to subversive propaganda , our tolerance and indeed support of oppressive regimes in the Islamic world like this one on the ground that it is an ally in the so called "war on terror" should give ...

The speaker at yesterday's meeting of Sheffield Inventors' Club was Rowena Mead. Rowena is a 24 year old mother whose little girl, Saskia, seemed to accept anything in her mouth except the bristle end of a conventional tooth brush. The handle was fine. Saskia chewed that up good and proper - just like a puppy. Rowena produced one of Saskia's old tooth brushes as evidence. That sparked the idea in Rowena's mind of a colourful, bendy tooth brush that was all bristle. It is now the subject of a registered Community design (000710330-0001 ) together with its container and various patent applications. In contrast to most of our speakers (and indeed members) who tend to be male and of a certain age, Rowena is a very personable young lady. She had appeared on the BBC TV Money Programme on Friday, 2 Nov 2007 so we had a better than average attendance yesterday. But what impressed everybody about Rowena was her get-up and go. She had taken her invention from idea to finished pr...