NIPC News

Napier's Bones Author Kim Traynor   Licence CC BY-SA 3.0   Source Wikimedia Commons Jane Lambert I introduced St Andrews Innovation  in my article on Connect-Ed Network Meet Up on "Engaging and Supporting Female Founders" in the Cathedral Room at Walter Bower House on St Andrews's new Eden Campus , which I attended on 15 April 2025. The object in the photo is a calculation aid called "Napier's bones."   The name Napier refers to its inventor, John Napier , who studied at St Andrews around 1563. Napier's bones show that St Andrews's academics, graduates and students have been innovating for a very long time.  At the beginning of the academic year, they celebrate their creativity, collaboration and forward-thinking entrepreneurship with an Innovation Week consisting of talks, workshops and networking opportunities. This year's Innobation Week takes place between 6 and 10 Oct 2025.   Here are some of the events: 6 Oct 13:00 - 15:00...

Design Museum, London Author Anthony O'Neill   Licence CC BY-SA 2.0   Source Wikimedia Commons   Jane Lambert Every so often, the government of the day has a bash at changing design law.  The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 abolished copyright as a means of protecting product designs, introduced a new intellectual property right known as unregistered design right and modified the Registered Designs Act 1949.  That statute was further modified by the Registered Design Regulations, which implemented Directive 98/71/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 October 1998 on the legal protection of designs.  Council Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 of 12 December 2001 on Community designs introduced two more IP rights known respectively as registered and unregistered Community designs.  The Intellectual Property Act 2014 brought further modifications to both registered designs and unregistered design rights.  Brexit abolished regist...

Author World Intellectual Property Organization  Licence Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Internat Jane Lambert The Global Innovation Index ("GII") analyses innovation ecosystems across 139 economies, tracking global innovation trends through investment patterns, technological progress, adoption rates, and socioeconomic impact.  The United Kingdom ranked 4th in that index, behind Switzerland, Sweden, and the United States, in 2021, 2022, and 2023. In 2024, it dropped to 5th, overtaken by Singapore.  In 2025, it was also leapfrogged by South Korea, which rose from 6th in 2024. The UK is ahead of Germany, Japan and France which are now outside the top 10 altogether.  Germany was 9th last year, but has slipped to 11th.  Its position in the top 10 has been taken by Germany. Japan has risen from 13th to 12th.  France has dropped from 12th to 13th (see Figure 1, "The GII Dynamo: The Top 15 Innovators, 2021–2025 "). The performance of each participating count...

By Muhammad Karns - Judicial Office Twitter feed., CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=78284579 Jane Lambert Earlier today I uploaded to Slideshare a presentation that I gave in February 2023 to members of the University of St Andrews Law Society  entitled A Career at the Bar of England and Wales .  I did so because I get a lot of enquiries on how to make a career in IP, as well as requests for work experience.  I had just come across a website called IP Careers   which lists careers advice , courses ,  jobs  and news .  Its only drawback is that it focuses on opportunities for patent and trade mark attorneys and openings at the Intellectual Property Office and European Patent Office but does not seem to have much for barristers or solicitors specializing in intellectual property. A website that does cover all the intellectual property professions is Careers in Ideas  which is managed by IP Inclusive , a great organizati...