EGNI2020 - Just the Sort of Technologies that might benefit from WIPO Green and the Green Channel

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Jane Lambert

On 27 April 2020, the Menai Science Park (M-SParc) celebrated World Intellectual Property Day 2020 with a webinar on green innovation. We focused on two aspects of that theme: the online market place for green technologies operated by the World Intellectual Property Organization (the UN agency for intellectual property) known as WIPO Green and the accelerated procedure for examining applications for environmentally friendly inventions known as the green channel. Just over two weeks later M-SParc presented another webinar entitled Egni2020 that discussed recent developments in the energy sector.  That webinar dovetailed perfectly with ours because the technologies that were discussed in EGNI2020 were exactly the sort that we had in mind when we talked about green innovation on World IP Day.

I had already introduced the WIPO Green online market in Anglesey to celebrate World Intellectual Property Day with Talks on Protecting and Exploiting Green Innovation at M-SParc 5 March 2020 and I gave more details in World Intellectual Property Day – April 26, 2020: Innovate for a Green Future on 2 March 2020 in NIPC News.  I also mentioned it in my chairperson's presentation at the World IP Day webinar.  Amy Dietterich, Director, Global Challenges Division of the WIPO has published a comprehensive article on the topic in the March 2020 edition of the WIPO Magazine entitled WIPO GREEN: supporting green innovation and technology transfer.

WIPO Green offers unparalleled opportunities for investment, joint ventures, licensing and marketing throughout the world and inclusion in the database which Ms Dietterich describes as the backbone of the WIPO Green platform is absolutely free.  It could have been tailor-made for businesses in Wales and other parts of the UK yet no Welsh companies and only one British company has taken advantage of the resource.  I am not sure why that is the case but my guess is that most accountants, bankers, business advisors, consultants and other professionals are unaware of it.

The EGNI2020 webinar included short presentations from:

• Henry Aron of the magnificently named North Wales Economic Ambition Board on the North Wales Growth Deal which is spelt out in A Growth Deal for North Wales
• Mel Davies of Partneriaeth Ogwen on community energy;
• Marcus Dahlfors of the Nuclear Futures Institute of Bangor University on nuclear thermal hydraulics; 
• Rebecca Colley-Jones of Ynys Resources on making sustainable change; 
• Paul Carter of Innogy on offshore wind opportunities; and 
• Guto Owen of the Wales Hydrogen Trade Association on the world’s first hydrogen fuel cell passenger train service,

It seems likely that inventions for harnessing the wind, waves and tides, decommissioning nuclear reactors and sites and hydrogen fuel cell propulsion would qualify for the Intellectual Property Office's green channel and similar schemes offered by other patent offices.  Anyone working in those technologies who requires initial advice on patentability, searching or sn introduction to a patent attorney is welcome to contact at any time me using the Initial Advice and Signposting form at the end of Online Support for Businesses in Wales.   No fees will be charged for using that service.

Anyone wishing to discuss this article or any of the topics mentioned in it contact me through my message page. I am happy too reply by phone, email or Zoom.

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.

Responding to COVID-19. What Makers Need to Know about IP. Webinar 15 April at 17:30

© 2018 Jane Lambert: All eights reserved

Jane Lambert

All over the United Kingdom, makers have responded magnificently to appeals for personal protection equipment and other devices by hospitals, care homes, general medical practitioners and essential workers in their localities and beyond.

A typical example is the efforts by businesses and individuals on Anglesey organized by M-SParc (the Menai Science Park) to make and distribute masks and shields to local health and social care workers (see PPE Masks/Shields on GoFundMe). Yesterday, I learned of a nationwide campaign called Shield to coordinate such efforts.

I also learned of a government-backed initiative for InnovateUK to invest £20 million in innovative responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath (see InnovateUK to fund Innovative Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic 12 April 2020 NIPC Inventors Club).

Investment on that kind of scale needs legal protection. While the priority must be to save lives and minimize infection, it is in the interests of care providers and patients that the rights of solution providers are recognized and respected.   As I said in IP Services During the Emergency 23 March 2020 NIPC Inventors Club, the laws that protect those rights known collectively as "intellectual property" have never been more important than they are now.

So.  What are those rights?

Well, they include monopolies of the manufacture, importation, holding, marketing or distribution of products that are new, inventive and useful that do not fall within a number of statutory exclusions. These are known as patents and they can last up to 20 years.  They cost several thousand pounds to obtain and even more to maintain and enforce.

A right that arises automatically in the UK is the right to prevent others from reproducing an original product design.  That is called unregistered design right which essentially protects the shape or configuration of an article. It can last up to 10 years from the end of the year it is made available to the public though in the last 5 years anybody including an infringer can apply for a licence to make and distribute it as of right. 

Unregistered design right is not to be confused with registered designs or unregistered Community designs which protect the appearance of products.   Designs that are new and have individual character can be registered at the Intellectual Property Office for five renewable terms of 5 years each. Registration confers a monopoly of the manufacture, importation, stocking, marketing or sale of products that incorporate the design.  Designs that could have been registered with the Intellectual Property Office as registered designs are protected from copying for up to 3 years throughout the EU and the UK for the transitional period as unregistered Community designs.

Software which could include programs for 3D printers and other digital fabrication technologies are literary works which may be protected from copying by copyright in the UK and most other countries for the life of the author plus 70 years.  The right arises automatically as soon as the work is written down or otherwise recorded.   Copyright cannot subsist in ideas as such.  Only in the expression of ideas.

If anybody wants to learn more, I shall discuss these topics in a free webinar for makers on Wednesday 15 April 2020 at 17:30.  If you want to sign up, please register here.

Delivering on my Promises in Wales

Jane Lambert

In IP Services During the Emergency 23 March 2020 NIPC Inventors Club, I wrote:

"I was due to speak to the inventors, makers and designers of Porthmadog at Ffiws Maker Space on 1 April 2020. I had an IP clinic at Barnsley Business Village on 14 April 2020. I was planning a high-level seminar on Green Innovation at the Menai Science Park on 27 April 2020 as Wales's contribution to World IP Day."

My visits to Porthmadog and Gaerwen had to be cancelled because of the public health emergency but that does not mean that the talks should not take place: 

I have already uploaded to Linkedin Slideshare the slides of the presentation, Intellectual Property Law for Makers, that I had intended to give to the makers of Northwest Wales at the Ffiws Maker Space at 125 High Street, Porthmadog,  At the time I was to rise to my feet in Porthmadog, I propose to deliver my talk over the Internet.  I hope that as many members of the intended audience at Porthmadog as possible will be able to listen but makers anywhere else in the world will be welcome.  I hope to publish details of the talk and an Eventbrite link later today.

My other commitment in North Wales is a seminar at the Menai Science Park (M-SParc) at Gaerwen on 27 April 2020 to celebrate World Intellectual Property Day (see Anglesey to celebrate World Intellectual Property Day with Talks on Protecting and Exploiting Green Innovation at M-SParc 5 March 2020). That will now take place online but at the slightly earlier time of 12:30 to 13:30.

It will focus on the opportunities offered by WIPO Green for businesses in Wales and the rest of the UK and on the Green Channel, the arrangements in place at the Intellectual Property Office and a number of other patent offices to fast track patent applications for environmentally friendly inventions.  Rob Elias of Beacon Biorefining will be the keynote speaker in relation to the business opportunities and how one of the UK's leading consultancies on plant research can help businesses in Wales to take advantage of them,  We have invited local experts to discuss the corporate legal and tax issues that might arise.  We had invited a speaker from the IPO to discuss the Green Channel but if none is available for our webinar we shall invite an experienced patent attorney instead.

The World IP Day webinar will be organized by M-SParc who have already staged an excellent conference on responding to the COVID-19 menace which I attended on Monday.  There were presentations from Lee Waters AM Deputy Minister for Transport and Economy in Wales and local speakers including the inventor of an antiviral snood which could not have been developed at a more propitious time.

Should any entrepreneur, inventor or maker in North Wales (or indeed anywhere else in the world) want some specific advice on protecting, commercializing or marketing a new product or service, we now have a team of experts who can help.  I have been practising IP law for many years and I can offer initial advice and support on most legal issues.  If you want to apply for a patent or registered design I can pass you on to Sean Thomas, an Anglesey man, who is an experienced patent attorney. If you are interested in branding I can refer you to Jonty Gordon of Amgen Law who can help you with trade mark matters.  On corporate issues, Andrea Knox of Knox Commercial Solicitors is your local expert. As for tax, Steve Livingston, another Anglesey man, is a chartered accountant specializing in IP taxation.  Last but by no means least is Huw Watkins of BIC Innovation who can help you get your product to market.   Anyone who wants to consult any member of that team should fill in the Initial Advice and Signposting Form and we shall take it from there.

If anyone is curious about the gravestone in the picture, it is in memory not of a human but of a dog.  A faithful hound called Gelert was left to guard the infant son of Llewellyn the Great, apparently without any human supervision.  While his father was away fighting the English a rapacious wolf entered the enclosure where the boy was sleeping.  Gelert fought off the wolf but upset the furniture in the process. When Llewellyn returned from battling with my compatriots he found the room in a tip. Concluding that the dog had savaged his son he slew the beast.  The canine's dying cry woke up the prince and revealed its heroism. Overcome with remorse Llewellyn renamed the town where the dog is buried Beddgelert.  The reason why I have taken that photo is that Beddgelert lies on the road between Gaerwen and Porthmadog. The Welsh and UK national treasure, Cerys Matthews, has written a lovely book about the story.

Anyone wanting to discuss this article or IP generally should message me through my contact form while this emergency lasts.   Should you want a chat by phone or VoIP I shall be glad to call you back.

Anglesey to celebrate World Intellectual Property Day with Talks on Protecting and Exploiting Green Innovation at M-SParc

Jane Lambert

World Intellectual Property Day celebrates the coming into force of the Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization ("WIPO Convention").   It is celebrated throughout the world with talks, exhibitions and other events (see World Intellectual Property Day, 26 April 2013 11 April 2013 NIPC News).  Last year Wales contributed to the worldwide celebrations with a lunchtime seminar at M-SParc (the Menai Science Park) (see Celebrating World IP Day at M-SParc: Basic Tips for Startups and other Small Businesses 29 April 2019).

Every year the celebrations focus on a different theme.  This year's theme is Innovate for a Green Future (see World Intellectual Property Day – April 26, 2020: Innovate for a Green Future 2 March 2020).  Nothing could be more appropriate for Anglesey in view of the local authority's vision of Anglesey as an "energy island" harnessing its resources of wind power, tidal power and biomass (see the draft prospectus by Anglesey County Council and the Welsh Government for an Energy Island Enterprise Zone).

Although Anglesey, like the rest of Wales, has abundant natural resources and super talented entrepreneurs and innovators to take advantage of them, there is a worry that the county and country are not realizing their full potential.  Nesta (the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) identified the problem with a recent report commissioned by Jen Rae and others entitled Is Wales Getting Innovation Right?  The report noted that "Wales is a nation ready for innovation" but not everyone enjoys the benefit.

Some of those reasons are social and structural but there are at least two initiatives that could help.  One is the Intellectual Property Office's Green Channel scheme by which applications for patents for environmentally friendly inventions can be processed expeditiously.   This scheme reduces significantly the delay in obtaining legal protection which enables inventions to be launched substantially more quickly with consequential improvements to cash flow.  Started in Newport in 2009, the scheme has been followed by the Chinese, American and several other patent offices.   The other initiative is WIPO Green, an online market place for green technology which should make it easier for Welsh entrepreneurs and innovators to fund and market their inventions.  So far only one British business has taken advantage of the scheme and that is a company in London.

We shall discuss both opportunities at this year's IP Day celebrations at M-SParc on 27 April 2020 between 14:00 to 15:00.   Admission to those discussions is free but it is essential to book in advance.  Click here to secure your place at the event.  If you have any questions, call me on 020 7404 5252 or send me a message through my contact form.

Aberinnovation: Mid-Wales's New Science Park

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Jane Lambert

Aberystwyth Innovation and Enterprise Campus ("Aberinnovation") has just distributed its first newsletter.  It contains news of

• the construction of the campus, 
• a half-day conference on business funding by the Development Bank of Wales and Angels Invest Wales which will take place at the offices of Aberinnovation on 24 March 2020, and 
• a business breakfast to be attended by Hannah Blythyn AM (Deputy Minister for Housing and Local Government) on the theme "Making the Circular Economy in Wales a Reality" in the William Davies Hall on the Gogerddan campus at 08:30 on 26 March 2020.

On the construction of the campus, the newsletter reports that the Future Food Centre, Advanced Analysis Centre and Innovation Hub will be fully operational by October 2020. They will join the Biorefining Centre and Seed Biobank to form AberInnovation's core capabilities.

According to the History page of the campus's website, Aberinnovation is a joint project between Aberystwyth University and the Biotechnology and the Biological Sciences Research Council "to convert the 21st Century’s grand challenges of food, water and energy security into sustainable and prosperous opportunities for society, recognising that innovation in agriculture and the food supply chain will play a critical role in fostering a knowledge-based bio-economy."  The vision for the campus is to create a world leading facility for bio-science research, developing ground breaking products for the agri-tech market.

Anyone wishing to discuss this article or any of the topics mentioned in it should call me on 020 7404 5252 during office hours or send me a message through my contact form.

Related Article

Date	Author	Title	Publication
21.06.19	Jane Lambert	"From Plants to Bio-Based Products" Motivation and Mutual Learning Workshop in Aberystwyth	NIPC Wales

IP for Inventors, Makers and Designers

"How to Protect Your Ideas and Make Money from Them" 
FFIWS 125 High Street, Porthmadog, 1 April 2020, 17:30 - 19:00

Jane Lambert 

I mentioned the FFIWS maker space at Porthmadog in FFIWS - Another Resource for Inventors, Designers and Makers in North Wales today in my Inventors Club blog,  FFIWS is funded by Arloesi Gwynedd Wledig and the ARFOR Programme by Cyngor Gwynedd.  Arloesi Gwynedd Wledig is one of the projects of Menter Môn.

Rhys Gwilym, one of the officials of Menter Môn is arranging some workshops and other events at FFIWS and has invited me to speak about intellectual property for users of FFIWS's facilities.  I have given similar talks at various FabLabs around the country and other maker spaces in Sheffield and Carlisle.

Although I shall have to spend a few minutes explaining what intellectual property is and how it works I shall make my talk as practical as possible.  I shall concentrate on confidentiality agreements and non-disclosure agreements, rights that come into being automatically such as copyrights, design rights and unregistered Community designs, rights that can be registered inexpensively such as trade marks and designs, licensing and cost-effective methods of enforcement.   I shall explain how and where to get specialist advice quickly and cost-effectively including the community of advisors, investors and entrepreneurs that is gathering around M-SParc on Anglesey.

The talk will take place at FFIWS, 125 High Street, Porthmadog on 1 April 2020 at 17:30.  I shall mention this event to some of the other experts who have spoken at M-SParc and invite them to come to make the event a really special evening.