Building an Enterprise Ecosystem on Anglesey

The Atrium, Menai Science Park

© 2019 Jane Elizabeth Lambert: all rights reserved

Jane Lambert

Why are places like Silicon Valley, Tech City or indeed Silicon Fen special?  They are where some of the world's most successful high tech companies have been launched.  The entrepreneurs who launched those companies were attracted to those areas by great research universities, the local availability of specialist professional advice and angel and private equity funding and a pleasant working environment.

Nobody who has visited Northwest Wales will dispute that it is one of the most beautiful corners of the planet combining outstanding coastal, mountain and pastoral scenery.  There can be no better place in which to live, work and bring up a family.  There is a fine research university at Bangor that is particularly strong in product design and ocean sciences. The Menai Science Park (M-SParc) on Anglesey is one of its initiatives and the FabLab and entertainment complex at the Pontio Centre is another.  Though it is still very small the Pitch Perfect events in March and June attracted a few equity investors several of whom live nearby. What the region lacks is a full range of intellectual property services in its vicinity. The nearest patent and trade mark attorneys are in Chester, Liverpool and Manchester. The nearest ones in Wales are in Chepstow and Cardiff.

It was to fill this lacuna that I chaired World IP Day at M-SParc which turned out to be Wales's contribution to World Intellectual Property Day on 26 April 2019.  We built on the success of that day last Friday with an even larger seminar which included contributions from Jonty Gordon of Amgen Law, Sean Thomas of Thomas Harrison IP,  Steve Livingston of IP Tax Solutions, Andera Knox of Knox Commercial and Ian Wishart of Sybaris Legal & IP.  Jonty spoke about registered trade marks and passing off, Sean discussed patents, Steve mentioned tax incentives such as the patent box, Andrea gave us plenty of tips about business structures and contracts such as shareholders' agreements and Ian outlined the IP insurance products that are now available. 

It turned out to be a very stimulating afternoon and we received some nice comments on social media. The Hub tweeted:

Profiad ac arbenigedd gorau yn y DU yma heddiw ar Eiddo Deallusol! Wir yr, da ni mor lwcus! Cyngor ar fanteision treth, sut i sicrhau Patent, TM neu ® , y cyfan yn hanfodol i gwmniau newydd. ~ Pryderi pic.twitter.com/A5Nthx42mG

— Yr Hwb @ M-SParc The Hub @ M-SParc (@HwbMenter) September 20, 2019

The science park's managing director, Pryderi ap Rhisiart, posted the following on Linkedin:


We also received a lovely thank you email from Emily Roberts who coordinated the two seminars.

After the workshop, we held some informal one-to-ones with the delegates to discuss their immediate issues.   We identified the need for ongoing support for entrepreneurs, investors, lenders and others in the region and agreed to form a loose association through Facebook and Linkedin which anyone can join.  We also thought business people in the area will require focused discussion on such topics as searching and confidentiality.   Maybe these can be organized locally on a monthly or some other regular basis.

We look forward to working together to assist the inventors, designers, artists, authors and other creative, enterprising and innovative individuals of Northwest Wales. Should anyone wish to discuss this article, call me on 020 7404 5252 or send me a message through my contact page,

Celebrating World IP Day at M-SParc: Basic Tips for Startups and other Small Businesses

M-SParc (Menai Science Park)

Author Jane Lambert
© 2018 Jane Lambert: all rights reserved

Jane Lambert

Last Friday I visited M-SParc (the Menai Science Park) to participate in Wales's celebrations of World Intellectual Property Day (see Happy World Intellectual Property Day 26 April 2019). I discovered M-SParc while I was on holiday in Beaumaris last summer and it is or at least should be a tourist attraction in its own right for its architecture and environmental engineering.  It also has an excellent eatery called Café Tanio which is open to the public as well as staff and tenants during office hours.  I had a delicious freshly cooked chicken curry, a slice of lemon and meringue pie and sparkling mineral from a local spring for just over £8.

M-SParc celebrated World IP Day with a lunchtime seminar on intellectual property in its boardroom at which I was one of three speakers.  The audience included several of the park's tenants and other local businesses, representatives of Welsh Water and Coleg Menai, M-SParc's managing director, Pryderi ap Rhisiart and one of his colleagues.  The other speakers were Huw Watkins of BiC Innovation and Steve Livingston of IP Tax Solutions.  Both speakers, who are experts in their respective fields with national practices and international reputations, are based at M-SParc.  That speaks volumes about the quality of the professional services that are available to businesses in the science park as well as the rest of North Wales. London and the rest of the UK come to Huw and Steve and not the other way round.

My presentation was a short introduction to IP and I have posted my slides and handout to Slideshare in case anyone who missed my talk would like to read them. Huw spoke about the services that his company offers and Steve discussed the tax incentives that are available for innovation in technology and creativity in the arts.  After the talks, I held four pro bono consultations with members of the audience that consumed the rest of the afternoon.  I was one of the last to leave the park just after 17:00.

I can't identify the businesses or mention the topics that I discussed for reasons of professional confidentiality but I think I can give two tips to businesses in Wales and elsewhere on the basis of my visits to the Anglesey Business Festival in October, Ty Menai in January (see IP for the Welsh Food and Packaging Industries 30 Jan 2019 NIPC News), Pitch Perfect (see A Good Way to spend St David's Day 2 March 2019 NIPC News), Aberystwyth University and the Beacon Enterprise Centre in Llanelli for Business Wales (see Intellectual Property for Startups and other Small Businesses 26 March 2019) in March and M-SParc last Friday.

The first tip is that every business with customers has goodwill which is likely to be connected with its name, the names of one or more of its products or services, a logo, a combination of name or logo or some other sign.  It is in the interests of the business and indeed its customers that that sign is associated with that business and none other.  Sometimes unscrupulous competitors try to muscle in on a market by presenting their goods or services under the same or similar sign.  Other times a competitor can adopt the same or similar sign quite innocently. Either way, it can result in lost sales and damaged goodwill.

Registering a trade mark need not break the bank.   The basic office costs of an online application for a UK mark are £170 although I would strongly recommend obtaining a search before making an application  I would also advise businesses to instruct a chartered trade mark attorney to do the search, draw up the specification, correspond with the Registry and any objectors who many appear and obtain the grant  s (see Whom you gonna call? IP Professionals and what they do 2 April 2019).  Having said that, plenty of businesses have registered marks without using an attorney.  An attorney will charge a few hundred pounds on top of the search and filing fees for his or her trouble but that is one hell of a lot cheaper than the cost of an opposition.  Ideally, I would also pay for a watch service and take out IP insurance against the costs of enforcement.

The second tip is to ensure that website terms and conditions pass muster. Every website should have at least two sets of terms, namely website access terms and a privacy statement.  The website access terms are essentially an end-user software licence.  A website consists of code which has to be reproduced in order to appear in a browser.  Such reproduction requires permission and that can be subject to conditions. These could include restrictions on copying materials on the site or specifying that the terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales and that any disputes will be referred to courts in those countries.  The privacy statement must contain the information that should have been registered with the Information Commissioner. If cookies are used,  visitors must be made aware of that.  Any special or unusual use of data extracted from visitors to the site should also appear in the privacy statement.   If the site is to be used for e-commerce it must comply with The Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 and The Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002 at the very least.   I published Basic Law for Web Designers: No. 2: Website Terms and Conditions in JD Supra on 27 Aug 2011 and although that article may be getting a little long in the tooth it is still good law.

Everybody who attended the seminar on Friday regarded it as a foundation upon which we can build.  The next step may be to arrange for a patent librarian to show how to carry out patent, design and trade mark searches, a specialist broker to talk about IP insurance or a chartered patent agent to run a clinic.  In the meantime, if anyone has a problem with a third party or an examiner, needs something drafted for a business transaction or some advice on IP law, he or she should give me a call on 020 7404 5252 or send me a message through my contact form.  If it is straightforward and I know the answer I shall tell you for free. If it requires some work I will warn you and we can agree a specification of work and a fee or charging basis.  Any fee I may charge will be reasonable and properly negotiated in advance. There will be no nasty surprises.

Further Reading

2 Apr 2022 Diwrnod Eiddo Deallusol y Byd / World Intellectual Property Day

26 Apr 2019 Jane Lambert  Happy World Intellectual Property Day

10 Apr 2019  Jane Lambert Anglesey to celebrate World Intellectual Property Day

Patent Basics - Should I get a Patent?

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Jane Lambert

The Intellectual Property Office in Newport has published this video to help people who have invented a new product or process to decide whether they should apply for a patent for their invention,   This video is very helpful but it does not go far enough and two bits of it are confusing.

What is the Advantage of getting a Patent?
In my Patents FAQ I wrote:

"A patent is a monopoly of a new invention. Where the invention is a product it confers the exclusive right to

'prevent third parties not having the owner’s consent from the acts of making, using, offering for sale, selling, or importing for these purposes that product;'

Where the invention is a process it confers the owner gets the exclusive right to

'prevent third parties not having the owner’s consent from the act of using the process, and from the acts of using, offering for sale, selling, or importing for these purposes at least the product obtained directly by that process'."

The video shows a screen with the words

"Will it prevent copying in the markets in which you are interested in."

That is the first bit that is confusing. Patent protection is actually much wider than that. Patents do not just give you the right to stop others from copying your invention.  Patents also give you the right to stop people from making a product or process with the features of your invention even if their product or process was entirely their own work and they were unaware of the existence of your patent or your invention.

That right can be very valuable indeed.

What are the Disadvantages of getting a Patent?
It takes a lot of time and costs a lot of money to get a patent.  You have to persuade an official known as an "examiner" that your invention is new, that it involves an inventive step, that it is capable of industrial application and that it does not fall within a number of exceptions.

You must also "disclose the invention in a manner which is clear enough and complete enough for the invention to be performed by a person skilled in the art" (that is to say, someone with sufficient skill and knowledge of the technology to make or use your invention).  If after the patent has been granted, the IPO or a judge thinks that you failed to do those things. the IPO or Court may well take the patent away from you regardless of your expenditure on developing the invention and obtaining the patent.

Any patent that may be granted by the IPO will be good for the UK alone which means that anybody outside the UK can read your patent on the internet,   Such a person may make or use your invention with impunity. The only way you can prevent that from happening is to apply to the intellectual property office of any other country in which you think that could happen.  As a general rule, you have only one year from your first application in which to make those applications.  The total bill for worldwide patent protection can be massive.

Worse, if your patent is revoked for any reason you lose your right to stop others from making or using your invention for good,

No wonder, many inventors prefer to keep mum about their inventions until they are ready to launch them and then rely on unregistered design right or some other intellectual property right.  On the other hand that has dangers, too.  If a competitor produces an identical product without breaching your confidence, infringing your rights under the Trade Secrets Directive or copying your designs then you can't do anything about it.

How to decide whether or not to patent an Invention?
It is often said that patents are for big companies and are not much use for small businesses.  There is more than a little truth in that because patents cost a lot of money to obtain and even more to enforce.  But it is not entirely true.  Some small businesses such as Claire Mitchell of Chillipeeps has built a successful business around her invention as she explains in this video.


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You need to consider such things as the market for your invention, the likely sales, the availability of competing products, the invention's shelf life and your available resources.   Unless you are sure your sales or other revenues will more than cover your patenting costs you should think long and hard about the optimum IP protection for your invention.

Intellectual Property Strategists
There is an emerging profession of business advisors called intellectual property strategists who combine their knowledge of intellectual property with their experience of business to advise on the appropriate legal protection for their clients' brands, designs, technology or creative works (see Jackie Hutter What is an IP Strategist (IP Asset Maximizer Blog)).  IP strategists can be barristers and solicitors who specialize in IP or indeed patent or trade mark attorneys but it is important to note that not all members of those professions are IP strategists.

Getting the Right IP Lawyer
The IPO's video advises inventors to seek legal advice which is good but it recommends "IP lawyers" which is the second bit that is confusing.   There are four types of intellectual property lawyer, namely barrister, solicitor, patent agent or attorney and trade mark attorney.  Though there is a lot of overlap each of those professions has its strengths and specialist functions.  My article, IP Services from Barristers 6 April 2013 NPIC News explains the services that barristers specializing in IP such as I can offer.   The IPO's video Attorney talks about applying for a patent  31 July 2014 discusses the work of patent and trade mark attorneys.

Contact
Anyone wishing to discuss this article or patenting or IP strategy generally may call me on 020 7404 5252 during office hours or send me a message through my contact form.