NIPC News

  (c) 2023 NIPC all rights reserved St Salvator's College Quad 15 Feb 2023 Jane Lambert Just before Christmas Daniel Alexander KC held in  Oxford University Innovation Ltd v Oxford Nanoimaging Ltd  [2022] EWHC 3200 that the CEO of Oxford Nanoimaging Ltd had been a "consumer" within the meaning of reg 3 (1) of  The Unfair Contract Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 when he signed up as a research student at Oxford University.   His contract incorporated Oxford's intellectual property policy which vested the right to apply for patents for student inventions in the University. The learned deputy judge assessed that provision for fairness. On the facts before him, Mr Alexander found that the term had been fair but had he found otherwise the intellectual property policy would not have bound the student.  I discussed the case and its implications in  Patents: Oxford University Innovation Ltd v Oxford Nanoimaging Ltd   on 23 Jan 2023 in N...

Standard YouTube Licence Jane Lambert According to the Global Innovation Index 2021   which the WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization), the UN agency for intellectual property, published on Monday 20 Sept 2021, the United Kingdom came 4th in the global rankings behind Switzerland, Sweden and the United States of America. Bearing in mind that the UK lies 13th in the number of patent applications to the world's top 20 patent offices according to the World Intellectual Property Indicators   which is also published by the WIPO (see UK Innovation Strategy , 12 Aug 2021 NIPC Inventors Club ), the UK's position near the top of the Global Innovation Index is surprising. The answer is to be found in the WIPO's press release,  Global Innovation Index 2021: Innovation Investments Resilient Despite COVID-19 Pandemic; Switzerland, Sweden, U.S., U.K. and the Republic of Korea Lead Ranking; China Edges Closer to Top 10   PR/2021/880 of 20 Sept 2021: "The Index is built on ...

Standard YouTube Licence  Jane Lambert The Global Innovation Index  (GII") is an annual ranking of countries by their capacity for innovation. It is compiled by Cornell University business school , INSEAD (Institut Européen d'Administration des Affaires)  and the WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) . In their  report for 2020 , they placed the UK fourth in the GII behind Switzerland, Sweden and the USA, This is one up on the previous year though it will be seen from the graphic on page 12 of the report that the UK has been higher.  In 2015, for instance, the UK came second (see the Department for Business Innovation and Skills' press release UK ranked as world-leader in innovation   17 Sept 2015), The reason for its fourth =p;ace in the rankings appears to be as follows: "In addition, the country maintains its top three lead in the quality of its universities (2nd) and the quality of its scientific publications (1st). It ranks sixth in the qual...