M-SParc Joins PatLib Network

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Jane Lambert

PatLib is an international network of patent information centres linked to the European Patent Office ("EPO"). According to the EPO, there are over 300 of them spread across the countries that are party to the European Patent Convention ("EPC"), including the United Kingdom. There is a directory of patent information centres on the EPO website, starting with the Albanian General Directorate of Industrial Property in Tirana and ending with the Worcestershire Business and IP Centre at The Hive in Worcester. There are now 25 patent information centres in the United Kingdom, and the Intellectual Property Office publishes a helpful list of them.

The list was updated yesterday to add the North Wales Patent Library Centre at the Menai Science Park ("M-SParc").  Now, anybody who has ever visited M-SParc will be surprised to hear it described as a library because there are not a lot of books on display.   The EPO PatLib page explains:

"They are often referred to as "PATLIB centres", standing for PATent LIBrary. However, not all PATLIB centres are actually libraries."

It is worth adding that most of the resources are now online.  They include the EPO's esp@cenet and the IPO's patent search services.

I first wrote about the PatLib network in PatLib Libraries in the UK on 29 Jan 2015 in NIPC Inventors' Club.  In that article, I wrote:

"The Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield central libraries are linked to the British Library in a national network of Business and IP Centres. This network is sponsored by the Arts Council of England, the Department for Communities and Local Government and the Intellectual Property Office."

The first Business and IP Centre was a specialist reading room of the British Library which opened in 2006 (see "Celebrating 20 Years" on the British Library website).   The first Centre outside London was in Newcastle which I discussed in NIPC Inventors' Club in BIPC Newcastle on 21 Jan 2012.  These were joined by other big city central libraries in 2013 (see Enterprise and Libraries: a New National Network of Business & IP Support 6 March 2013, NIPC Inventors' Club).

I mentioned the Business and IP Centres and how they could help businesses in Northwest Wales in Whom you gonna call? IP Professionals and what they do on 2 April 2019 in NIPC Cymru:

"A network of public libraries has teamed up with the British Library's Business and IP Service to provide free access to databases, market research, journals, directories, articles and reports for entrepreneurs and small business owners. There is a programme of free and low-cost events and workshops on a range of topics including business planning, marketing and intellectual property at each of the libraries. The nearest Business and IP Centre for North Wales is at Liverpool. There is also a Business and IP Centre in Birmingham."

M-Sparc's accession to the PatLib network was celebrated with speeches and a panel discussion by Pryderi ap Rhisiart, Nia Roberts, Sue Lawson, Pierre Oliviere, Edward Jones and  Emma Richards, followed by a buffet lunch (see Iwan Pitts, M-Sparc launches North Wales Patent Library 4 June 2026, M-Sparc website).

One of the questions to the panel was "Who owns an invention made by an AI system?"  That was an excellent question and one which has perplexed intellectual property offices and judges around the world.  The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom ruled in Thaler v Comptroller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks [2023] UKSC 49 (20 Dec 2023) that only a natural person can apply for a patent for an invention (see The Supreme Court's Judgment in DABUS 25 Dec 2023).  Most courts and patent offices around the world have reached similar decisions.

The services promised by the North Wales Patent Library are as follows:

• "information on IP including EPO resources and copies of IPO literature
• 1:1 appointment with IP advisor (appointment only)
• referrals to a patent or trade mark attorney for a 1:1 (30 min appointment only)
• referrals to other advice/service providers
• IP workshops and webinars"

This is all very promising, but in my experience of working with the Business and IP Centres in Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester and Sheffield over the years, the most valuable contribution of those centres is that they catalyse other activities.  To start the ball rolling, I have helped Emily Roberts and her successor, Gwenllian Owen, set up and run events to celebrate World IP Day and Wales Enterprise Day and other events.  I offer Initial Advice and Signposting Clinics, and I have set up EDGC/NWIP, a support group for M-SParc and the North Wales PatLib centre on LinkedIn.

Anyone wishing to discuss this article may call me on 020 7404 5252 during office hours or send me a message through my contact form at any time.

Wales Enterprise Day 2025 - Working with the IPO

Contains public sector information licensed under the OG Licence v3.0.
United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office, Newport

 

Jane Lambert

The United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office provides two important business functions:   

• Administrative:  it registers titles to new inventions, brand indicators and the appearance of products; and 
• Judicial:  it resolves disputes between those claiming such assets.

Using the IPO's services advantageously can make all the difference between steady business growth and corporate failure.

It is because those services are important that the Menai Science Park ("M-SParc")'s contribution to WIPO's global celebration of intellectual property examiners and Wales Enterprise Day will be a seminar on working with the Intellectual Property Office.  It will take place at the science park's premises in Gaerwen and online on 11 Nov 2025.   I announced the event in How to Apply for a UK Patent, Trade Mark or Registered Design on 31 July 2025.   We now have an agenda and confirmed speakers.  

The event will begin at 12:00  with an introduction by Nia Roberts, who will chair the event.  Nia has a lifetime of experience in science, technology and intellectual property, both as a patent attorney and examiner, which she is now sharing as a consultant and non-executive director.  She spent part of her career at the European Patent Office in Munich.

Nia will be followed at 12:10 by a speaker who will introduce the concepts of intellectual property and intellectual assets and explain the difference.  He or she will talk about registrable and non-registrable rights and how each set of rights may be acquired.   The speaker will outline the Intellectual Property Office's services and discuss the Office's relationship with the World Intellectual Property Organization, the European Patent Office and other national and regional intellectual property offices.

We have invited and are waiting to hear from two distinguished intellectual property practitioners to fill the next two slots.   One will be a patent attorney who is already well known to M-SParc, while the other will be a trade mark attorney.   They will explain their roles and how they can assist businesses in Wales and beyond.   They are expected to speak from 12:30 and 12:50 respectively.  The patent attorney will mention applications under the Patent Cooperation Treaty and the trade mark attorney trade mark applications under the Madrid Protocol, and design registration applications under the Hague Agreement.

The main speakers of the day will be Robin Jones, a recently retired patent examiner, who will speak from 13:10 to 13:30 and a specialist in examination procedure who will speak from 13:30 to 13:50.   They will indicate what they look for in a successful patent or trade mark application and identify any common errors and advise they can be avoided.   Examiners do not often have the chance to speak to the public in this way, so what they have to say will be extremely useful.

If an application goes wrong, an examiner's decision can be challenged in a hearing before an official appointed by the Comptroller-General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks known as a "hearing officer."  Hearing officers also adjudicate in disputes with third parties, such as whether a patent or trade mark should be revoked, oppositions to the registration of trade marks, applications for the invalidity of trade marks and the settlement of terms of licences of right of unregistered design rights.  I will discuss such hearings and further appeals either to the Appointed Person in trade mark or registered design cases or to the High Court between 13:50 and 14:00.

The seminar will close with a reminder of the funding and support that is available for startups and other small and medium enterprises in the UK generally and in Northwest Wales in particular, from Gwenllian Owen, Commercialization and Innovation Officer at M-SPark and partner of Team Mesen,

Anyone who wishes to discuss this article may call me on +44 (0)20 7404 5252 during UK office hours or send me a message through my contact form at any time.

Best World IP Day Ever

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Jane Lambert

I have had the honour of chairing the Menai Science Park's World Intellectual Property Day celebrations ever since 2019.  These take the form of an in-person and online seminar.  The science park held the first of these seminars just a few weeks after its first anniversary. It continued to celebrate them even during the pandemic.  Every year's celebrations have been bigger and better than the year before. This year's was the biggest and best ever.

Because 26 April fell on a Saturday this year, we held our seminar on Tuesday, 29 April.  The theme of this year's celebrations was IP and music: Feel the beat of IP. There could not have been a better one because music is an art form for which Wales is renowned in every genre and at every level.  

Our first contributor was the Welsh composer, Jack White. Jack had first come to my notice as the composer of the scores for Ballet Cymru's Cinderella and Stuck in the Mud, but his repertoire is much broader than that.  In an abridged recording of my interview with Jack, we discussed his latest work, which is arranging Luck Be A Lady, Waterloo and other songs for choirs.   That led us to When Voices Rise, Jack's prize-winning work for the 40th anniversary celebrations of Manchester Chorale, filmed in St Ann's Church, Manchester, which is my favourite of Jack's works.

Emma Richards, Regional Policy Advisor at the Intellectual Property Office, presented an overview of the legal protection of creativity, enterprise and innovation in the United Kingdom.  She discussed the rights that have to be registered with the Intellectual Property Office, such as patents, trade marks and registered designs and those that come into being automatically when certain conditions are met, such as copyrights and rights in performances.  Copyrights protect the works of composers, songwriters, broadcasters, film makers, recording studios and publishers, while rights in performances protect singers, musicians and other performers from unauthorized filming, taping and broadcasting.

Next came Steffan Thomas of Bangor University Business School.  He had carried out research on the digital distribution of music for small and medium enterprises in niche markets for his doctorate.   He continues to teach and carry out research into digital marketing as Director of Teaching and Learning and Senior Lecturer.  His presentation focused on music copyright in niche, minority language markets.  He discussed the economics of digital distribution of music, which generates surprisingly little for the artists.  

When he was still an undergraduate at Bangor University in the 1970s, Dafydd Roberts was the harpist and flautist in the band Ar Log.  He is still performing in that band now.  However, he has also worked as a director and producer with the BBC before going freelance and establishing his own TV production company.  He was later Chief Executive of Sain Records, chaired the Welsh Music Foundation Board and the Canolfan Gerdd William Matthias and served on the board of Cerdd Cymru. He remains on the board of Eos, the Broadcasting Rights Agency and other bodies and now works as a freelance creative agent, producer and copyright consultant.   By sharing his insight into the music industry as a broadcaster, composer, performer, publisher and recording studio executive, Dafydd supplemented Steffan's presentation on the economics of music distribution and laid a foundation for John Hywel Morris's on collecting societies.

Hywel had also been a composer and musician in Wales and London before joining the PRS for Music. He is now Senior Writer & Publisher Relations Manager, Wales at PRS for Music.  In that role, he acquired considerable knowledge and experience of copyright licensing.  He initiated the first joint licensing of the PRS for Music and PPL (Phonographic Performance Ltd) repertoire.   Hywel discussed the role of collecting societies in Wales and dealings with the English and Welsh medium radio and TV broadcasters.

Liam Kurmos advises clients of Busnes Cymru on artificial intelligence and founder of Astralship.  His talk was entitled Copyright in the Age of Copy-Paste AI but he covered all the legal and business issues that have arisen in this country.  He considered the potential benefits of adopting the technology but acknowledged the practical difficulties of doing so.

Steffan,  Dafydd and Hywel gave their presentations in Welsh while Emma and Liam delivered theirs in English.  This was the first seminar that I had chaired when Welsh was used more than English.   In the Q and A that followed the formal presentations, the panels discussed ways of increasing artists' revenues at a time when most music is distributed digitally.  Live performances before a paying audience and marketing merchandise seemed to be the practical answers.

Credit for the success of this event goes to Gwenllian Owen.  I interviewed Jack White and introduced the speakers, but she did all the rest.   In particular, she identified five excellent speakers from the Welsh music industry and marshalled them in the most effective running order.   I must also thank Iwan Pitts for editing my interview with Jack White and preparing an abridging it for the seminar.

Anyone wishing to discuss this article is welcome to call me on +44 (0)20 7404 5252 or send me a message through my contact form.

Tips for Pitching to Business Angels

Guardian Angel by Bernhard Plockhorst

 

Jane Lambert

A business angel is an individual who provides capital to startups and other small and medium enterprises in return for shares or debentures. He or she may also offer advice, introductions to his or her connections and technical expertise. They are invaluable in that they are willing to take risks that would deter other investors.

The reason I am writing this article is that I recently attended a pitching event at which three business owners presented their investment proposals to a group of angel investors.  As the proceedings were confidential I can say nothing about the event other than that all the presenters were impressive and every proposition appeared to be viable.  

For those who are yet to make their first pitches as well as those who wish to learn more, I commend Stripe Inc.'s How to Pitch to Angel Investors. According to Wikipedia, Stripe, Inc. is a multinational financial services and software-as-a-service company with offices in Dublin and San Francisco.  The article was last updated on 3 July 2024 and while it was not addressed to British readers its guidance is relevant to entrepreneurs in this country.

One of the questions that angels are likely to ask is: “What are the main risks for your business, and how do you plan to mitigate them?” Stripe offers the following answer:

"Acknowledge the risks facing your business, whether they are market risks, operational risks, or competition. Discuss your strategies for mitigating these risks, showing that you have a realistic view of the challenges and a plan to address them."

That is not so very different from tthe simple five-point strategy for start-ups and other small businesses that I suggested in Business Planning and IP: A Practical Example 4 April 2018 in NIPC Inventors' Club:

1. "Identify the main revenue streams for your business over the business planning period. List the profitable products or services that you supply or for which your receive royalties or licence fees.
2. Consider the likely threats to those income streams. In most cases these are going to be commercial. Competitors will launch new products, reduce their prices or maybe consumer buying behaviour may change. Only in a minority of cases will you have reason to fear copying of your designs or technology or adoption of similar branding.
3. Devise appropriate counter measures. In many cases these will be commercial too even if you fear copying or passing off. In some circumstances, launching a new model, re-branding, reducing your prices or finding new markets can be as effective and often cheaper and more certain than litigation. However, a commercial option is not always available or attractive. For those cases where it is not you may need to plan a legal response.
4. Choose the optimum legal protection. Put yourself in the position of your customer and consider why he or she is likely to find your product attractive. Is it its appearance, the way it works or the reputation of your business? If it is the appearance of your product you should see whether you can register its design either for the UK alone or the whole EU. If its your reputation you should think about registering your business name or logo a trade mark. If it is the way the product works or is made a patent may be the best option. If it cannot easily be reverse engineered you could keep it under wraps as a trade secret. Maybe unregistered design right will be enough. Factors to take into account will include the shelf life of your product, the size and value of the market, whether you want to sell it abroad and all sorts of other matters.
5. Make sure you can enforce your legal protection. Although bootlegging, counterfeiting and piracy are crimes as well as torts primary responsibility for enforcing your intellectual property rights rests with you. That means bringing infringement proceedings in the civil courts. In England and Wales the costs of a High Court action can exceed £1 million. In simpler cases that can be brought in the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court recoverable costs are capped at £50,000 for determining liability and £25,000 for assessing damages or other profits to be disgorged. There is a small claims track where costs are limited at a few hundred pounds for certain types of IP claims under £10,000. If you cannot afford such costs out of revenues then you should consider intellectual property insurance or other kinds of funding."

Most legal indemnity policies exclude intellectual property disputes.  For many years, it was very difficult to obtain cover against the costs of IP litigation.  That has changed recently in that there are now several specialist brokers in this field.   The Intellectual Property Office has produced some excellent Guidance on Intellectual Property Insurance, which was last updated on 21 Feb 2020.  The Chartered Instititue of Partent Attorneys publishes a list of brokers and their contact detail,  The Chartered Instititue of Trade Mark Attorneys has also compiled a downloadable list of IP Insurance Providers,  I have written extensively on the topic over the last 20 years and links to my articles can be found at the foot of IPO Guidance: Intellectual Property Insurance which I posted to NIPC Inventors' Club on 25 Feb 2020.

Further information about intellectual property for presenters can be found in Enterprising Ideas - A Guide to Intellectual Property for Startups published by the World Intellectual Property Organization in 2021.  I would particularly commend the sections on "Other Strategic Ways to Exploit IP" between pages 38 and 50 which contains excellent advice on transactions with angels and other sources of finance and "Managing Risks" between 51 and 57.

Anyone wishing to discuss this article further may call me on +44 (0)20 7404 5252 during normal UK business hours or send me a message through my contact page at any time.

Wales Enterprise Day - The Works

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Jane Lambert

Last Monday I chaired the fourth Wales Enterprise Day seminar at the Menai Science Park ("M-SParc"). It was filmed by Iwan Pitts and readers can watch the whole proceedings on YouTube.  Wales Enterprise Day was the brainchild of Emily Roberts.  She intended it to be a counterweight to World IP Day which M-SParc has celebrated every year since 2019,  As World IP Daty takes place in Spring M-SParc focuses on start-ups on that day though it does not ignore scale-ups,  In Autumn Wales Enterprise Day focuses on scale-ups but does not forget start-ups.

Our theme this year was Developing an IP Strategy and it was set out comprehensively but also comprehensibly by Antony Craggs of Shoosmiths.  Antony spoke about IP Strategy and Enforcement just before lunch on the last day of the Cambridge IP Law Summer School at Downing College. Winning and holding an audience's attention in that slot is an uphill task but Antony had us sitting bolt-upright as he delivered his talk.  I have heard nearly as many presentations on IP  strategy and enforcement as I have had hot dinners but Antony's talk was exceptional.  I booked him for Wales Enterprise Day before he even left the lecture hall.

Antony chose the same theme for his talk to M-SParc but he delivered it in a very different way,  That was partly because it was given over the Internet and partly because he had a different audience. Most of the attendees at the Cambridge IP Law Summer School are lawyers.  Some are trainee solicitors but most are assistant solicitors with a good knowledge and some practical experience of IP.  Antony's audience on Monday consisted mainly of business owners.  His talk was interactive and he used slido to encourage participation.  He illustrated his talk by considering the business issues and decisions that would be taken by the founders of a new solar power company called "Folt".  The reason for the spelling will be appreciated when it is remembered that "F" is pronounced "V" in Welsh.  If anything Antony's presentation to M-SParc was even more impressive than the one that he gave at Cambridge.  Readers can watch it all on the above video,

The next speaker was Geraint McGrath, Senior Investment Manager of the Foresight Group which is one of the fund managers of the Investment Fund for Wales,  I met Geraint at the St David's Day dinner at the Guildhall in London.  One of the topics we discussed was flotation on the London Stock Exchange,  Having read Capital Issues: Reforming the UK’s Capital Markets to Boost Science and Tech by the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change and Onward which advocated root and branch reform of capital markets I suggested told us the revival of local capital markets in Britain.  I pointed out that several had subsisted until 1972 when they merged with the London Stock Exchange.  I have just found an interesting article about those regional exchanges by Gareth Campbell and others entitled The Rise and Decline of the UK's Provincial Stock Market 1869 to 1929,

Though not exactly a start-up, MDF Recovery Ltd opened a new office at M-SParc in May of this year (see MDF Recovery expands presence with new office at M-Sparc, Anglesey 7 May 2024),  The office is led by Rob Elias who is Head of Business Development at the company.  I first met Rob when he chaired a workshop on sustainable packaging that I addressed in January 2019 (see IP for the Welsh Food and Packaging Industries 30 Jan 2019 NIPC News).  He was also a guest speaker at M-SParc's World IP Day celebrations in 2020.  Rob introduced us to his company's technology which extracts wood fibre from waste medium-density fibreboard so that it can be reconstituted into fresh blocks.

Tom Burke has founded several successful businesses and is also Digital Innovation Manager at M-SParc. His latest enterprise is Streams+ which promotes eSports.  Tom told us about his pivot from video conferencing to eSports.  He mentioned the first Welsh-speaking eSports event at the National Eisteddfod which he helped to organize and promote (see Emily Roberts Historic First: Welsh Language Esports Competition Debuts at National Eisteddfod 7 Aug 2024  M-Sparc's website).  He also said that the International Olympic Committee has organized an annual eSports Series and that the event was gaining popularity rapidly.

The last speaker was Emma Richards, Regional Policy Advisor at the IPO.  Last year I quizzed her about the use of Welsh at the Intellectual Property Office.  As there has definitely been some progress since then I introduced her as "the lady who can get things done" (see IPO's Welsh Language Website 13 Nov 2024 NIPC Wales). Emma modestly disclaimed credit for the language progress but she introduced us to the IPO's YouTube channel and showed us the IP Basics and attachés videos.  Most importantly, she promised support to enable M-SParc to provide its tenants and local business community with the services available in the Business and IP Centres network in England,  As a first step she has arranged for Gwenllian Owen, M-SParc's Commercialization and Innovation Officer, to attend the IPO's IP Masterclass and Gwenllian will be followed on that course shortly by Lois Bevan Shaw, Business Support & Project Development Manager at M-SParc.

This is a convenient point for me to express my gratitude to Gwenllian for all the work that she did to make the Wales Enterprise Day seminar happen.  I suggested speakers, promoted the event in this publication and on social media and chaired the seminar on the day but Gwenllian did everything else which must have required a lot of work.  I see from Gwenllian's LinkedIn page that she has recently marked her second anniversary with M-SParc.  Her achievements at the science park have been considerable and I think she can fairly chalk up Monday's seminar as yet another resounding success. 

Finally, I remind readers that Monday's seminar was not an isolated event.   It was just one of several free services that Sean Thomas, Andrea Knox, Steve Livingston and I offer together with other IP professionals (see An IP Clinic for M-SParc 25 Jan 2024 NIPC Wales).   These will complement the Business and IP Centre services that Emma Richards referred to in her talk,  Immediately after the seminar I was consulted by two young local inventors who are contemplating an interesting business venture,   Anyone wishing to access those services can do so at any time by completing the attached form. 

Anyone wishing to discuss this article may call me on +44 (0)20 7404 5252 during UK office hours or send me a message through my contact form.

IPO's Welsh Language Website

Pont Gludo Casnewydd - Transporter Bridge Newport
(c) 2015 Jane Elizabeth Lambert: all rights reserved

 

Jane Lambert

The UK Intellectual Property Office updated its news story IPO launches bilingual website as part of Welsh language commitment on 12 Nov 2024 ........ by adding a translation.  The story which was originally uploaded on 12 Sep 2024 announced:

"Visitors to the Intellectual Property Office’s home page and main navigation pages on GOV.UK will now see that these are bilingual, as the IPO completes the first phase of its programme of work to provide digital information and services in Welsh."

And so it does:

The first page to be translated partially is on trade marks:
~

Readers can learn more about the IPO's Welsh language commitment on Monday 18 Nov 2024 from Emma Richards who will be one of the speakers at the Menai Science Park's contribution to this year's Wales Enterprise Day celebrations.  She will also have a lot of other topics to discuss as she is the Regional Policy Advisor to the IPO,

There are still a few places at the event online and at the venue,   If you want to take part  you can register here,

Anyone wishing to discuss this article may call me on +44 (0)20 7404 5252 during office hours or send me a message through my contact form.

M-SParc's World IP Day Celebrations 2024

Jane Lambert

World Intellectual Property Day is an international festival of creativity and innovation which takes place on or around 26 April of every year. It celebrates the entry into force of the international agreement that established the World Intellectual Property Organization ("WIPO"), the UN specialist agency that assists governments to protect investment in creativity, enterprise and innovation ("intellectual assets") through a bundle of laws known collectively as "intellectual property".

Every year World IP Day revolves around a different theme. The theme for 2024 was "IP and the Sustainable Development Goals".  As I said in Perhaps the Most Complex World IP Day Theme Ever in NIPC News on 15 April 2024, this was challenging because it was so broad.  There are 17 goals which I have grouped into 4 categories: economic, environmental, political and social.  

I noted in IP and the Sustainable Development Goals in Wales on 14 Jan 2024 that Wales has gone further than most countries in implementing the Sustainable Development Goals by enacting the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015. That Act establishes 7 Well-being Goals that are compatible with but not identical to the Sustainable Development Goals.  The relationship between the Well-being and Sustainable Development Goals is illustrated in the following table.

Categories	Sustainable Development Goals	Wellbeing Goals
Economic	Affordable and Clean Energy	A Prosperous Wales
	Decent Work and Economic Growth
	Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
	No Poverty
	Zero Hunger
Environmental	Clean Water and Sanitation	A Resilient Wales
	Climate Action
	Life below Water
	Life on Land
	Responsible Consumption and Production
Political	Partnership for the Goals	A Globally Responsible Wales
	Peace Justice and Strong Institutions
Social	Good health and well-being	A Healthier Wales
	Quality Education	A Wales of vibrant culture and thriving Welsh language
	Gender Equality	A More Equal Wales
	Reduced Inequalities
	Sustainable Cities and Communities	A Wales of Cohesive Communities:

Wales has no shortage of creative, enterprising and innovative men and women who can advance the above goals but they will need investment and Welsh and UK government cooperation.  For that reason, Gwenllian Owen and I  invited representatives of all those interests to our World IP Day Seminar.

Our keynote speaker was Mr Derek Walker, the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales.  He was our representative from the Welsh government in that his office was established by s.17 (1) of the Well-Being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 to perform the functions set out in s.19 of the Act.  He was appointed by the Welsh Government under s.17 (2) in consultation with the Senedd.  In his short video address, Mr Walker summed up the aims of the legislation and his statutory responsibilities and how innovation and creativity will further them.

Dr Jonathan Tudpr, Investment Partner of the Clean Growth Fund represented investors. He had been sitting next to me on Gwenllian Owen's table at the St David's Day Celebrations at the Guildhall and it was then that I invited him to address our seminar on World Intellectual Property Day.  In his succinct but comprehensive presentation, he introduced the audience to the Fund and outlined some of the projects in which it had invested and the Fund's criteria for investment.  Despite its strong connections with Wales the Fund had not yet made an investment in Wales. That prompted me to observe that there were many companies in M-SParc and Aberinnovation that might well meet the Fund's criteria.  Dr Tudor invited them to contact him through the Fund's website.  

One of the innovative entrepreneurs whom I had in mind when speaking to Dr Tudor was Tom Burke. He had helped to launch Animated Technologies and Haia and he was now working with M-SParc as its Digital Innovation Manager in which capacity he had delivered Hac Iaith.  He could thus cover the "Prosperous Wales" and "Vibrant Culture and Thriving Welsh Language" goals of the Welsh legislation as well as many of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals.  In his presentation, he discussed how Haia had evolved from a video conferencing to an events platform, how he had used technology to facilitate language training and the intellectual property rights that protected his companies' investment in technology and creativity.  He briefly touched on software-implemented inventions for which he had been told that patents were very difficult to obtain.  This will be a topic for a seminar in the near future.

In her capacity as Regional Policy Advisor at the Intellectual Property Office  Emma Richards represented the UK government.  As her mission extends to the devolved nations she had a crucial role in assisting Welsh creatives, entrepreneurs and innovators to achieve the Well-Being Goals.  Ms Richards outlined the work of the IPO and its relationship with the central government, the services it provided, the IP attaché network and the help that it could offer to startups and SMEs as they begin to expand and the IPO's commitment to use the Welsh language in all its services.  I asked whether the hearing officers and examiners could speak the language and was assured that anyone who wishes to submit a patent, trade mark or design application in Welsh or give evidence or present arguments in that language before a tribunal could do so.

Our last speaker, Elinor Cavil of DLA Piper gave her whole presentation in Weksh.  She had the difficult task of gathering all the strands of the seminar together which she did admirably.  She introduced herself, her firm and its services, gave a quick overview of intellectual property law and discussed how different intellectual property rights advanced different aspects of the Welsh Well-Being and the UN's Sustainable Development Goals.  Ms Cavil attended last year's IP Law Summer School in Cambridge and she impressed me and my fellow faculty member, Tim Powell, with her knowledge of, and enthusiasm for, intellectual property law.

During the time that I have known Tim Powell, he has shown considerable interest in my work in  M-SParc.  His previous professional commitments had always coincided with M-SParc activities but he has now set up a new practice with an office in Chester that should enable him to spend more time in Wales  In the panel discussion at the end of the seminar, I invited him to introduce himself and his practice to the audience.  He also made several pertinent observations and asked some interesting questions at various stages of the seminar for which I was very grateful. He has recently posted this very kind comment to Linkedin.

This was not only the most ambitious and challenging theme for World IP Day it was also the most interesting and satisfying.   I am grateful to all the speakers and everyone who worked on the project.   I need to acknowledge in particular the contributions of Emily Roberts in the early planning stages for this event and Gwenllian Owen in the latter stages and on the day.  Without their resourcefulness and ingenuity, this event could not have taken place.

Anyone wishing to discuss this article may call me on 020 7404 5252 during normal office hours or send me a message through my contact page,

Wales Week London

Satellite Image of Wales
Author NSA, USA Copyright Public Domain Source Wikimedia

Jane Lambert 

Wales Week London is London's contribution to an annual worldwide festival of Wales.  According to its website, it consists of 602 events at 110 venues in 22 countries with 66,000 attendees reaching 10.8 million people.  In the rest of the UK, Wales Week events are taking place in Berkshire and Newcastle upon Tyne.  Elsewhere there are events in Australia, Canada, France, Hungary, the Irish Republic, Japan, Thailand, the USA and even the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Although called "Wales Week" the festival's events in London stretch from a Festival of Welsh Music on 16 Feb 2024 to the St David's Day walk on 9 March 2024.  They cover the arts, crafts, entertainment, food and sport as well as business, industry and tech.  

There are 37 events in this last category which include diplomatic receptions at the Canadian High Commission and the Hungarian, Swiss and US embassies, a dinner at the Guildhall to celebrate St David's Day, discussions on artificial intelligence, biotech, energy, legal tech, manufacturing, net zero, sport, transport and receptions, exhibitions and other events to promote innovation and investment,  Some of those events are invitation only but many are open to anybody and in most cases admission is free.

A curious omission given the Intellectual Property Office is headquartered in Wales and has an office in London is the absence of any event specifically on intellectual property.  It will of course be central to many of the discussions.  It would be hard to talk about branding without mentioning trade marks and passing off or to discuss inventions without referring to patents, design rights or trade secrecy. 

All that may change for next year because |I am willing to organize one or more intellectual property events either alone or in conjunction with any other like-minded individuals or organizations to be held possibly at my chambers at 4-5 Gray's Inn Square or some other central London location.  What I have in mind is a seminar on topics likely to be useful to entrepreneurs, inventors and business angels along the lines of the World IP Day and Wales Enterprise Day sessions that I help Emily Roberts to run at the Menai Science Park and maybe a walk-in IP clinic.

Holding events for Welsh Week is encouraged and an event organizer's toolkit  can be downloaded from the Wales Week London website,

Anybody wishing to discuss this article may call me on 020 7404 5252 during office hours or send me a message through my contact page, 

World IP Day - "The Value of Her IP"

Author Martin Falbisoner Licence CC BY-SA 3.0  Source Wikimedia Commons 

 

Jane Lambert

"The Value of Her IP" is the sign under which the US Patent and Trademark Office will celebrate this year's World Intellectual Property Day.  The high point of the American celebrations will be an event in the US Capitol in Washington DC between 16:30 and 18:00 Eastern Time on 26 April 2023. It will begin with a welcome from Kathi Vidal, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, follow with greetings from Members of Congress, continue with a panel discussion on women innovators, creators and inventors including question and answer and end with remarks by Shira Perlmutter, the  Registrar of Copyrights.  Afterwards, there will be a reception and an exhibition.

According to Nicola Smith's post World IP Day 2023: Improving the Representation of Women in IP in the Intellectual Property Office Blog, the IPO will join WIPO to celebrate the women in IP and their role in accelerating innovation and creativity for World IP Day on 26 April 2023.  In her post, Nicola mentions the international task force with representatives from over 25 IP offices including the UK that the USPTO set up to improve the representation of women in IP.  The task force recently held a meeting at its head office which Nicola attended.  A video of Kathi Vidal's welcome appears on the USPTO's YouTube channel.

Nicola mentions some of the IPO's efforts to promote diversity within IP:

"We have played an active role in IP Inclusive since its inception, worked to embed IP into curriculums, invested in IT development opportunities through Code First Girls, and supported those wanting to return to work through our STEM Returners Programme."

That is a mission that the Menai Science Park (M-SParc) has shared ever since it opened (see STEM and Skills on the science park's website).

This year's celebrations of World IP Day will be M-SParc's best ever.  You will find the programme in M-SParc's World IP Day Seminar: whom you can meet and what you can learn.   If you want to attend the event in person you can register here,  If you want to join online the link is here. Anybody who wishes to discuss this article may call me on 020 7404 5252 during office hours or send me a message through my contact form.

Business Prenups

Jan Josef Horemans, "The Marriage Contract"

Jane Lambert

Although it is the last thing on a couple's minds while they are in love every marriage or civil partnership comes to an end through death or divorce.  That can sometimes result in a messy and expensive legal tangle in the Family Division.  A good way to avoid that outcome is for the couple to agree on who owns what and what should happen to their assets on death or divorce in a prenuptial agreement.

The same is true when it comes to launching a business.   Very few individuals have all the skills and resources necessary to launch a new product or service so they look to others for help.  Some may be friends and relations.  Others consultants and contractors.  Even business angels or private equity investors.  When all goes well they work together on developing, funding or launching their business, product or service and never spare a thought as to what should happen if they fall out or their joint venture fails.   

When that happens there can be litigation over who owns a patent or patent application in the Intellectual Property Office known as "entitlement actions" which I described in Disputes Over Ownership of Inventions on 6 Aug 2015 in NIPC Southeast, unfair prejudice or insolvency proceedings in the Chancery Division. That can be even messier and more expensive than family litigation.

Just as a prenup is a good way of avoiding or mitigating the disputes that would otherwise arise when a marriage comes to an end a written agreement with collaborators, consultants, contractors or investors as to who is entitled to apply for or hold a patent could avoid an entitlement or other dispute.  There is already a set of useful precedents for collaborations between businesses and universities known as the "Lambert Toolkit" which I mentioned in IPO Consultation - Business to Business Collaboration Agreements on 23 July 2018 in NIPC Northwest.  These can be adapted to similar collaborations with other parties.    Simple shareholders' agreements that are to be found in all kinds of businesses can also help.

I can advise on and draft such agreements as can my colleagues Andrea Knox of Knox Commercial Solicitors, Sean Thomas of Thomas Harrison IP and Steve Livingston of IP Tax Solutions.  So too can others at the IP Bar,  in specialist IP or commercial law firms, the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys and a few other specialist accountancy practices.    Anyone wishing to discuss this topic may call me on 020 7404 5252 or send me a message through my contact form.