Cameron’s IP Rethink Gets A Mixed Reception

Government plans to improve the patent approvals process have triggered debate within the legal profession.

At a meeting in Shoreditch yesterday, prime minister David Cameron announced the publication of a Technology Blueprint to spell out how the Government will support high-tech innovation, including a six-month consultancy prior to reviewing the IP system.

An important section of the Blueprint describes how patent approvals could be improved. The Intellectual Property Office will trial a peer-to-patent project, which will allow people to comment on patent applications and rate these contributions to help improve the quality of granted patents.

Meeting The Needs Of The Digital Age

The six-month review will identify how IP is created, used and protected in Britain with the aim of removing barriers to the growth of new business models arising from the digital age.

Intellectual property minister Baroness Wilcox said, “The Internet has fundamentally changed the business landscape. Some sectors, such as the creative industries, have been transformed by the Internet. The intellectual property framework must keep pace. An IP system created in the era of paper and pen may not fit the age of broadband and satellites. We must ensure it meets the needs of the digital age.”

In a comment to the Daily Telegraph, Mark Owen, a partner and specialist in IP at law firm Hartbottle & Lewis, said he finds the prospect of another review “depressing” and unnecessary.

“The focus is apparently to be on ‘fair use’ defences. In other words, what types of uses of copyright works should be allowed without having to get the rights-owner’s permission,” he said. “These are largely dictated by EU law and the UK has little room to manoeuvre on them. It is also unlikely that the current state of the defences is why the US has Silicon Valley and the UK does not.”

IP overhaul overdue?

Ilya Kazi, a chartered patent attorney and partner at Mathys & Squire, said that he disagrees and feels that an overhaul is long overdue. He pointed out that the mere use of a browser to display a web page could be construed as a breach of copyright under British law in that it makes a copy of a document on the original site.

He also argues against Owen on Britain as an incubator for high-tech startups. Silicon Valley is the focus of attention but technology innovators have started companies across the US.

“More generally, as a result of intellectual property law in the US, it has been much easier for innovators to access investment, particularly for an Internet or IT business – because ideas have been easier to protect,” he said. “As it stands, the UK Intellectual Property Office’s approach to inventions involving computer technology is hampering the growth of the Internet economy.”

The government will receive the independent review of the IP framework in April next year.