M-SParc Joins PatLib Network

Standard YouTube Licence

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.

The National Library of Wales's Intellectual Property Resources

National Library of Wales

Author Ian Capper Licence CC BY-SA 2.0  Source Wikimedia Commons

 

Jane Lambert

In Whom you gonna call? IP Professionals and what they do, 2 April 2019, I mentioned the British Library’s National Network of Business & IP Centres:

"A network of public libraries has teamed up with the British Library's Business and IP Centre 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."

Most of those libraries are in England, but there is one in Glasgow.

The Business and IP Centre network grew out of the European Patent Office's network of patent information centres known as PatLib.   I wrote about the centres in the UK in PatLib Libraries in the UK on 29 Jan 2015 in the NIPC Inventors' Club.  At that time, there were PatLib libraries in Aberdeen, Belfast, Glasgow and Llandudno Junction, as well as in Birmingham, Hull, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Plymouth, Portsmouth and Sheffield.   According to the Intellectual Property Office's latest UK PatLib contact information guidance published on 19 Dec 2025, the English network has expanded but the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish centres have somehow dropped off. 

That does not mean that there are no intellectual property resources or services in Wales. The National Library of Wales at Aberystwyth is a copyright library holding over 6.5 million books and periodicals.  According to its website, it also offers a range of commercial services, including the following in intellectual property:

• "A free enquiries service;
• Access to free online IP databases;
• Literature on various aspects of Intellectual Property;
• Guidance on patent searching for those who are unsure where to start (subject to staff availability)

The Centre has also held clinics with specialists and if you would like us to put you in contact with an individual who specialises in the field, please contact us by completing the Online Enquiries Form."

I am also pleased to see that the National Library of Wales has celebrated World Intellectual Property Day.

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

Welsh Government Funding for Green Vehicle Technology and other News

Methanol Fuel Cell

Author NASA Licence Public Domain  Source Wikimedia

 

Jane Lambert

This month's Innovation Brief from the Welsh Government's Economy. Treasury and Constitution Group contains three very interesting news items.   

The first is that the Welsh Government is co-funding a third round of investment in greener and cleaner innovation through the Ford Low Carbon Vehicle Transformation Fund.  Details of the funding were announced by the Minister, Mr Vaughan Gething, on 12 July 2023 (see the press release Economy Minister announces further £1m investment in green vehicle innovation),  Application forms and guidance notes for the funding can be downloaded from the Ford Low Carbon Vehicle Transformation Fund now open! of the Business Wales website now.

The second item that attracted my attention was an invitation to nominate candidates for next year's St David Awards.  Those awards are made to "exceptional people that make Wales great".  There are 10 categories 9 of which are nominated by members of the public:

• Business
• Bravery
• Community Spirit
• Critical Worker (Key Worker)
• Culture
• Environment
• Innovation, Science and Technology
• Sport
• Young Person
• First Minister's Special Award.

This year's "Business" award went to Câr y Môr, Wales's first regenerative ocean farm, and its "Innovation Science and Technology" award to CanSense, a spin-out company from Swansea University which has developed diagnostic tests for bowel cancer.   Online nomination forms can be completed here.

The final item is the CRISP23 Innovation Drumbeat webinar on 19 Sept 2023 on the latest support and funding opportunities for innovation, R&D funding as well as how to make these projects more effective.

Readers who are not already aware of Business Wales will find up-to-date resources on starting, running and growing a business in Wales. I particularly recommend the pages on Start-up and Business Planning and Business Ideas and Innovation. One of the web pages that I picked out at random under "Success Stories" was a story about Abel and Imray's initiative with young school student inventors in Pembrokeshire (see Young Welsh inventors given legal patent support for innovative new products").

Anybody who needs specialist advice on intellectual property or technology law can continue to access our pro bono initial advice and signposting service by completing the simple online form at the end of this article. Anyone wanting to discuss this post may call me on 020 7404 5252 during office hours or send me a message through my contact form.

Ecosystem2 - Unleashing Potential

 

Jane Lambert

This is a photo that I took from the car park of a science park.  It was not in Silicon Valley though there are plenty of hills and skies like those in the photo in Northern California.  Nor was it CERN though there are similar views of the Jura. The picture was taken just outside Gaerwen in Northwest Wales where the Menai Science Park or M-SParc is located. Northwest Wales may not have the weather of California or Geneva but it has a good research university, a great arts and innovation centre and the most appealing combination of coastal, mountain and pastoral countryside that I know. 

Last Tuesday, I was one of 32 speakers who participated in M-SParc's Ecosystem2.  This was a 2 hour and 29 minute webinar in which each contributor was allotted 3 minutes to talk about him or herself, his or her business and contribution to M-SParc. There were speakers from the Welsh Government, the North Wales Economic Ambition Board, the local authorities, Bangor University, Menter Môn, Hwb Menter, KTN/InnovateUK, funding agencies, angel networks, clearing banks and professional service providers such as me.  The webinar has been recorded and has been posted to M-SParc's Facebook page.  As you will see from the comments, a lot of people enjoyed it.  I think it is well worth watching.  I have encouraged some of the other organizations I support to consider their own webinars on similar lines.

I enjoyed all the presentations but the one which made me chuckle the most was Andrea Knox's.  Andrea is a commercial solicitor and an insolvency practitioner with premises in the science park as well as Colwyn Bay. In her talk she contrasted orderly liquidation represented by a suave, handsome young fellow with a disorderly one represented by a photo of a particularly dishevelled Mr Boris Johnson.

When it came to my turn I explained what I do for a living and how members of my branch of the legal profession support patent and trade mark attorneys and solicitors in a way that is analogous to the support a specialist surgeon or physician offers a GP in medicine.  We help them by advising on difficult points of law, drafting complex legal instruments for use in business as well as litigation and by representing them in the courts, tribunals and negotiations.  I do two things for M-SParc.  I help to organize and participate in events like Wales's only celebrations of the World Intellectual Property Organization's World Intellectual Property Day in 2019 and 2020, a seminar on patent searching and interpretation which was attended by IP students from Bangor Law School and a workshop on non-disclosure agreements in the light of the new trade secrets directive. I have also held an online workshop with FFIWS  and spoken at another with the Enterprise Hub on understanding IP. I hold regular pro bono IP clinics, the most recent one being on Monday.

I have one remaining ambition for M-SParc and that is to provide local infrastructure for inventors and entrepreneurs.  There are many talented professionals on M-SParc such as Huw Watkins of BIC Innovation and Steve Livingston of IP Tax Solutions but the nearest patent and trade mark attorneys are over 50 miles away.  I envisage a role for the IP graduate students at Bangor Law School in providing basic advice and signposting businesses to patent attorneys and other professionals.  I should also like to see an inventors club with regular talks from angels, bankers,, business advisors, patent and trade mark attorneys, product design engineers, venture capitalists and other professionals.

I delivered 85 seconds of my 3-minute talk in Welsh. It was very basic Welsh because I have not been learning it very long.   I must have made all sorts of grammatical and pronunciation errors although every Welsh speaker who heard me has been sufficiently polite not to point them out to me.  I have been asked whether I shall carry on learning Welsh now that I have given my talk and the answer is yes.  I have already benefited a lot from studying Welsh and I discover something of interest every day.  That is more than enough incentive to learn more.

If anyone wants to discuss this article call me on 020 7404 5252 during office hours or send me a message through my contact form.