Blog Articles
List Expectations!
August 18, 2008
Another example of the importance of protecting your key intellectual assets was contained in a short piece in today’s Daily Telegraph (15th August) in which it was reported that a midwife has lost her diary with the important contacts as well as appointment details for 395 expectant mothers in the Rochdale area of the North West of England. The Health Board for whom she works is ha...
Thanks mum and dad it's just what I always wanted!
August 4, 2008
I picked up last week the story about the Scottish couple who had registered the domain name Narnia.mobi as a birthday present for their son. The proprietors of the various copyright works of the late CS Lewis and the associated trade marks began proceedings at the WIPO domain resolution service. The upshot of the action was that having heard the arguments on both sides the panel wa...
China's changing attitude to intellectual property
July 8, 2008
The FT (Thursday 3rd July) reports that more companies are filing for patents in China and suing to enforce rights there than anywhere else in the world. The FT believes that this highlights a new Chinese attitude to Intellectual Property. SIPO the Chinese State Intellectual Property Office received nearly 700,000 patent applications last year which outs it way ahead of the US and J...
IP developments in China
July 8, 2008
I noticed that the FT reported last week (Thursday 3rd July) last week that China is proposing changes to its patent law which will require foreign companies making discoveries in the country to file for a patent in China first or risk losing legal protection of their IP. The legislation could be enacted this year. There is apparently another proposal to introduce an ‘absolute...
Mediate to Resolve
July 8, 2008
Through the good offices of IPKat I am made aware of the launch of a campaign by the Anti-Copying in Design (ACID) organisation called ‘Mediate to Resolve’. ACID has celebrated its 10th anniversary this year and is styled as the UK’s leading voice against design theft. The Mediate to Resolve campaign is a first for the UK’s creative industries – a national me...
Tartan Tat
July 8, 2008
The specialist IP blog site IPKat has cited The Scotsman as having reported in the last few days on an interim interdict handed down by the Court of Session with regard to an allegedly inauthentic Isle of Skye tartan. The action was initiated after a raid on a warehouse in Fife which was storing hundreds of metres of the suspect material.
The Scotsman reports that the inte...
Whistle while you work
June 19, 2008
I noticed on the ‘Today’ programme this morning (Tuesday 17th June) that the Federation of Small Business is concerned that due to many small businesses being unaware of the requirements of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 that they are breaching the legislation. Perhaps as many as 800,000 such businesses do not have Performing Rights Society licenses to play music at the...
Re-launch of the John Logie Baird Awards
June 17, 2008
I attended the relaunch event for the John Logie Baird Awards this week at the Scottish Parliament. I am declaring an interest as the IA Centre is an IP supporter of the awards. The event was very impressive and drew a distinguished audience and I congratulate GO and their sponsors on such a successful event. At first when we were approached about the awards I was a little skeptical...
British Brands Group Lecture
June 17, 2008
I attended the British Brands Group (BBG) annual lecture last week which attracted a capacity audience, as it has done in previous years. The speaker was Richard Reed one of the founders of Innocent Drinks whose lecture title was ‘Can brands save the world?. Reed has a very wide definition of what brands are and saw good brand management almost equating to good business management.<...
Dot.Sco ? the debate rumbles on
May 28, 2008
I noticed that the Scottish Government, namely Mr Swinney the Cabinet Finance Secretary, has been invited to get involved in bring about a new country code for Scotland in domain names. This proposal resulted in quite a lot of comment on the web concerning the practicalities of the proposal, the desirability as well as whether the Government should get involved. Whilst I don’t wish to get...
Make it so Number 1!
May 28, 2008
I once had the very distinct pleasure of an assignment assisting a new team led by an ex-Navy Commodore who had been in charge of nuclear submarines. He had moved to a very different environment when we met but his very clear command and control style was well received by his new team; they knew exactly what he wanted and he combined the military bearing with a considerable charm....
Goodnight Vienna to your midge!
May 28, 2008
The Sunday Herald caught the innovation bug over the weekend with an article concerning how the dreadful annual midge invasion is being tackled through technology. Advanced Pest Solutions, a spin-out of Edinburgh University’s Institute of Cell Biology, has helped a number of organisations to develop products and services to help visitors, workers and the man on the Clapham Omnibus (...
Who'd have thought it?
May 28, 2008
I noticed the other week that a Dr Who fan has fallen foul of alleged trademark and copyright infringement. Lawyers from, or on behalf of the BBC, have noticed that someone had placed knitting patterns for woollen replicas some of the Doctor’s most implacable enemies onto a website. In doing so the BBC claim they have infringed their trademark and copyright and have asked that the p...
Scottish Universities outstrip the Ivy League on R&D
May 12, 2008
I notice from The Sunday Herald (Sunday 11th May 08) in an article by Steven Vass that the figures on the research and development deriving from Scottish universities continues to impress. Scotland’s top universities outstrip the Ivy League (based on figures released by Edinburgh University). The top 8 Scottish universities produce more research disclosures, patents, licences and sp...
