NIPC News

Jane Lambert On 28 April 2022, the European Patent Office and the European Investment Office published a joint report entitled  Deep tech innovation in smart connected technologies A comparative analysis of SMEs in Europe and the United States April 2022 .  Although the report contained a lot of positive findings, the headline of the EPO's news item was decidedly gloomy: "Despite impressive patent activity, Europe’s small deep tech businesses lag behind their US counterparts." Part of the reason for the gloom is that report focused on the EU rather than Europe as a whole. Consequently, it missed the fact that the UK has almost 1,000 small and medium-sized enterprises developing 4IR technologies (nearly twice as many as Germany with 570 and nearly two and a half times as many as France with 400) and that London hosts one of the top clusters of such businesses (see page 30 and the map on page 29 of the main report). It would have been interesting to know the reasons for t

Standard YiuRuve Licence Jane Lambert   The World Intellectual Property Organization's  World Intellectual Property Report   appears every two years or so with a different theme.  In 2019 it was  The Geography of Innovation: Local Hotspots, Global Networks . in 2017  Intangible Capital in Global Value Chains , in 2015  Breakthrough Innovation and Economic Growth , in 2013  Brand - Reputation and Image in the Global Marketplace   and in 2011  The Changing Face of Innovation .  The title of the latest report which appeared on 7 April 2022 is The Direction of Innovation. The "direction of innovation" is defined on the first page of the report's executive summary as "the combination or sum of all the decisions individuals, !rms, universities and governments make on which technological opportunities to pursue at any one time."  The report analyses patenting activities over the last century and observes that it comes in phases.   In the early 20th century the auto

Queen Elizabeth I in the Court of Queen's Bench Source Wikimedia Commons   Jane Lambert The Courts and Tribunals Judiciary  have published a new edition of the Queen's Bench Division Guide on 7 Feb 2022.  It is a guide to practice within the Queen's Bench Division of the High Court of Justice.  It supplements the Civil Procedure Rules and Practice Directions  and is intended to make it easier for parties and their legal representatives to use that Division. The Queen's Bench Division is one of three divisions of the High Court of Justice established by s.5 (1) of the Senior Courts Act 1981.  Its work consists mainly of claims for damages for breach of contract and tort and the recovery of debts but it also has a number of specialist courts known respectively as "The Administrative Court", "The Admiralty Court", "The Commercial Court", "The Circuit Commercial Court" and "The Technology and Construction Court."  Although

WIPO Author Emanuel Berrod Licence CC BY-SA 4.0   Jane Lambert The World Intellectual Property Organization ("WIPO")  describes an intellectual property audit as a tool for identifying "potential IP assets", that is to say, protectable  intellectual assets . An IP audit helps to uncover unused or under-utilized assets, determine ownership of those assets and warn against possible conflicts with intellectual property owners or potential infringers.  Information on the types of IP audit, preparing for such an audit and carrying it out is available on the Intellectual Property page of the WIPO website .  More detailed information can be found in Module 10   of IP Panorama .    The WIPO categorized IP audits as follows: " General-purpose  This is broadest type of IP audit, used by new companies or those considering implementing new IP policies, standards or procedures. It is also suitable for companies implementing new marketing approaches, directions, or major re

Intellectual Property Office Crown Copyright 2007 Open Government Licence v3.0   Jane Lambert One of the talks that I gave at the Cambridge IP Law Winter School  was "TMT: A SEP and FRAND Overview".    I did not choose that title so I shall try to explain what I think it means.   "TMT" stands for technology, media and telecoms. TMT is a sector where there has been a lot of litigation about "SEPs".  SEPs are "standard-essential patents", that is to say, patents for inventions that a telecoms equipment manufacturer has to use if it is to implement a technical standard.  Technical standards are set by standards-setting organizations ("SSOs"). An important SSO for mobile communications is the European Telecommunications Standards Institute ("ETSI") .   "FRAND" is short for "fair", "reasonable" and "nondiscriminatory" and refers to the terms on which SEP owners are supposed to license the use

Author Monsarc Public Domain Source Wikimedia Commons   Jane Lambert One of the high points of my year as an intellectual property lawyer has been the Cambridge IP Law Summer School at Downing College, Cambridge. It is addressed by some of the world's leading IP practitioners and scholars.  For the last few years, I have been invited to contribute to their discussions.   Not even Covid19 managed to stop the event though it did change it.  Last year it was held online.  The presentations and the Q & A discussions were, as always, excellent.  The only element that we missed was networking.  Cambridge is a place to learn but it is also a place to have fun.  In previous years, the event organizers Informa Connect had offered all sorts of evening entertainments from a black-tie dinner to punting on the Cam. It was not possible to present those activities online. Narinder Hayer, Informa Connect's organizer, told me that she had hoped to return to Cambridge this year.  As the va