Intellectual Property Bill
June, 2013
Intellectual Property Bill: aimed to cut businesses costs and improve Intellectual Property protection.
Shortly a new Intellectual Property bill will be going through UK parliament- its aim is to help British businesses protect their products and technologies through patents and design rights; fusing well with the pan-European legislation patent.
The Intellectual Property bill has recently been tabled by UK minister Lord Younger. It will be efficient for those businesses wanting to protect their new business ideas across 25 European Union member States. Meaning goodbye to the days where businesses have to file patents and meet the varying demands in each country. It enables the UK to implement the European Unitary Patent Court Agreement, which will introduce a single patent across majority of EU countries. It is estimated that it will lead to direct benefits for businesses of up to £40 million in the aggregate.
It doesn’t stop there; the Intellectual Property bill will help businesses to get a better understanding of what is protected under the law- hopefully resulting in a reduced need for costly litigation and an increase in confidence for investors, in new designs and technology.
What else? Well, the Intellectual Property bill will also see the beginning on criminal penalties for copying UK registered designs which will strengthen design protection. This is already the case for copyright and trademark disputes and brings parity to this area of Intellectual Property law.
And that’s not all-there’s more. Plans of a design opinion service and an expanded patents service have also been proposed. This would allow design or patent rights holders and those that are interested to go to the Intellectual Property office to get an opinion on whether a British patent is valid or even being infringed. It would also help businesses assess the strength of their case before embarking on more costly legal proceedings and may help them avoid litigation altogether. Other services include registering trademarks and designs for protection across the EU in one application and payment. Existing trademarks and designs can now be carried out online: UK Trademark Register.
The Biggest news yet. A new London Court which will assist the roles of this new Intellectual property bill, and which will be fully operational come 2015, has been estimated to benefit the economy by £200million per annum. It will not only boost the UK’s legal services industry, but it will also benefit businesses as well. This court will be responsible for the settlement of pharmaceutical and life science disputes. All of ADF insurances’ medical clients will be pleased to hear that if you’re looking to defend their Intellectual Property across the continent you get to go to court once instead of fighting a case in each European country.
The London location for this court and the responsibility for pharmaceutical and life science patents are highly appropriate as the UK leads the way in these industries.
So if you pride yourself as a business that develops new and innovative products, or you’re in the Pharmaceutical or life science industry, or you are someone who wants to push UK economy in the right direction. Let us hear your opinions on this blog by commenting about the Intellectual Property bill or give us some feedback on our Twitter or Facebook pages.
You can also contact us and read more about Intellectual Property Insurance here.
