BLOG@IP::JUR

Patent Attorney Axel H Horns' Blog on Intellectual Property Law.

Disclaimer & About This Website

Visit the archives

Saturday, March 31, 2007

The Last Days Of The UK Patent Office.

From April 02, 2007, onwards there will no longer be a UK Patent Office. Gone by the wind. Instead, by that date, they will be changing their name to

The UK Intellectual Property Office (UK-IPO). This change was recommended in the

Gowers Report as published on December 06, 2006. The UK Government had accepted this recommendation:

"[...] We have been called The Patent Office for many years. During this time, businesses built upon other forms of 'intellectual property', such as copyright, trade marks and designs, have often commented that the name does not reflect all our responsibilities. This has caused confusion over who is responsible for these other rights, and also how important we and the Government consider those rights to be. [...]"

But the Office did not only get a new name but also

a new CEO, Mr. Ian Fletcher. Moreover, the the UK Minister of State for Science and Innovation, Mr. Malcolm Wicks, has made

a Written Ministerial Statement setting out a bunch of resolutions as there are, inter alia:

"[...] Issue 90 per cent of patent search reports within four months of request; grant 90 per cent of patents within two and a half years of request; to register 90 per cent of processed trade mark applications, to which no substantive objections have been raised or oppositions filed, within eight months of application; to examine 95 per cent of all design applications within three months; to resolve 55 per cent of trade mark disputes in one year; to receive an overall 'good' or 'satisfactory' rating in at least 80 per cent of responses in customer and ministerial surveys; the number of businesses taking action to improve the management of their IP will increase by 20 per cent above baseline in targeted groups; meet 80 per cent of agreed milestones in development of policy initiatives; generate a 10 per cent increase in demand for non-statutory innovation support services; and develop six target profiles, using Telpat intelligence. [...]"

But what the heck is "Telpat intelligence"? A typo? Should it have read "Telepathic intelligence"??

Technorati Tags:

UKIPO

[Permalink]