Online Support for Businesses in Wales

Source WIPO

Jane Lambert

As promised in  Responding to COVID-19. What Makers Need to Know about IP. Webinar 15 April at 17:30, I presented my talk to the members of Ffiws over Zoom. It was the first time I had hosted and delivered a talk over Zoom so I was a little apprehensive.  Most of the audience came from North Wales but we also welcomed Kate Hammer from London who runs a project called Shield to deliver PPE to front line workers. There were no technical glitches and we covered the ground. Readers can download my slides from Linkedin Slideshare.

On Tuesday 21 April at 14:00, I shall give a free 90-minute talk on patents.  The talk will cover:

• What is a patent?
• The development of patent law from the Statute of Monopolies to the European Patent Convention and the Patents Act 1977;
• Why governments grant patents: the inventor's bargain with the public;
• Institutions: The Intellectual Property Office, the European Patent Office and the World Intellectual Property Organization;
• Patentable inventions: novelty, inventive step, utility and excluded matter;
• How to apply for a patent;
• Specification;
• Claims and how to interpret them;
• Enforcement: the Patents Court, Intellectual Property Enterprise Court, Examiners' opinions;
• Revocation: anticipation, obviousness, insufficiency and added matter;
• Threats actions;
• Employees' inventions;
• Licensing;
• Supplementary protection certificates; and
• Alternatives to patenting.

Further details are available in IP Training - Patents 101 Tuesday, 21 April 2020 14:00.  Register for the talk through Eventbrite.

Next Sunday is World Intellectual Property Day and the M-SParc (the Menai Science Park) will celebrate it with a special lunchtime seminar on green innovation,  We shall discuss two topics, WIPO Green and the Green Channel, We shall try to follow the programme we had announced in
Anglesey to celebrate World Intellectual Property Day with Talks on Protecting and Exploiting Green Innovation at M-SParc on 5 March 2020. I shall say a few words about WIPO Green and the opportunities it offers to businesses in Wales. I shall be followed by Rob Elias of Beacon Biorefining  on the services that his company offers to such businesses. He will be followed by Andrea Knox of Knox Commercial on consultancy joint venture and other contracts. I shall round off with a discussion of the Green Channel at the UK Intellectual Property Office and similar arrangements in other patent offices.  You can register for the event here

M-SParc received a request in February for a discussion on open source software and hardware licensing. It had originally planned a seminar on the topic in Conwy but that is no longer possible in view of the social distancing and movement restrictions.  Plans are in hand for an online seminar at which Carwyn Edwards and I have agreed to speak. Further plans will be announced shortly.

It is not possible for me to hold person to person IP clinics at M-SParc during the COVID-19 emergency but there is nothing to stop my holding them online.  Should any business in Wales require advice or assistance on IP law during this period it should complete the form below. I may not know the answer to every question but I probably know someone who does.  If a client needs a patent attorney I can direct him to her to Sean Thomas or show the client how to use the CIPA database if he or she wants a wider choice. I can do the same for clients who want advice on trade mark registration, company and commercial law, tax and product development.  Anyone seeking such help should fill in the form below.