Thursday, 19 May 2011

Peer-to-patent: the pilot plan that may just kick-start the United kingdom IP revolution

In November 2010, United kingdom Pm David Cameron introduced intends to transform the United kingdom right into a major global hub for innovation and technology. His vision ended up being to make London?s vibrant Tech City someone to rival Plastic Valley.

Throughout his speech working in london?utes Shoreditch area, Cameron revealed the federal government?utes Blueprint for Technology paper, which layed out the way they planned to aid this vision to create Britain a worldwide innovation magnet.

To create the United kingdom a stylish selection for traders and new businesses, several measures were submit.

For instance, a brand new Entrepreneur Visa was suggested, which guarantees that leaders from all over the world ? individuals with investment already in position ? can certainly setup shop within the United kingdom.

More to the point, a completely independent overview of the intellectual property (IP) set-up was suggested, which incorporated searching at whether you will find benefits to implementing a US-style ?fair use? copyright system. In so doing, this could give online companies and small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMEs) more versatility to make use of existing protected IP in their own individual improvements without needing to seek permission in most instance.

About this front, Professor Ian Hargreaves was billed with leading the IP review and the report was released on Wednesday.

It appears the United kingdom?s copyright system won?t receive the radical overhaul Cameron had wished for, considering the fact that the problem the United kingdom finds itself in like a fully compensated-up person in the EU causes it to be difficult for this to visit an excessive amount of from the European grain. However the Hargreaves report does recommend some significant reforms, once we reported yesterday.

However, another policy measure seemed to be submit within the Blueprint for Technology paper, which suggested a brand new peer-to-patent system that draws on the help of people around the world to assist enhance the standard of patents.

And also the peer-to-patent (P2P) pilot is placed to produce on first of June.

United kingdom patenting: the storyline to datePeer to patent logo

So, the P2P system aims to improve the standard of patents which are approved. And also you might be wondering what?s wrong using the way patents are presently released. With this, a fast summary of the present set-up might help.

Patent investigators have different skills and encounters, but typically they?re all academically qualified to an advanced, are specialists within their selected area (e.g. engineering, computing) plus they are all been trained in the skill of analyzing patents.

The investigators review patent programs to determine if the invention/innovation under consideration ought to be granted a patent. This requires researching existing patents and scientific literature databases for ?prior art?, and analyzing the patent programs thorough to find out if the application meets patentability needs.

Now, ?prior art? means any information in all forms that's openly available which might apply to a patent?s claims of originality.

Understandably, the patent examination process needs to be very precise and meticulous, as there's lots of ground to pay for. But regardless of how experienced and qualified a patent examiner might be, they don?t always get access to all the details they have to develop a comprehensive situation for granting a patent.

Patent programs will always be openly available and open for findings, however the systems haven?t been in position to make sure that the appropriate, exterior knowledgebase has convenience to correctly feed in to the patent analyzing process. And this is when the peer-to-patent system is necessary.

Peer-to-patent: how it operates

The thought of peer-to-patent would be to use the help of anybody, anywhere to improve the standard of patents ? it?s crowdsourcing.� It?s one more resource for patent investigators to make use of an exterior knowledgebase, which typically includes experts in the scientific or technical towns. Here?s an average peer-to-patent workflow:

P2P FlowYou might be wondering what?s inside it of these 3rd party experts? Why would they would like to feed in to the patent analyzing process? Well, it?s for the similar reason anybody within the global community would offer their some time and understanding ? it?s for that greater good.

An IPO representative stated:

?Projects carried out by other IP offices have established that there's a curious community who wish to take part in the patent process. We be aware that numerous people who are employed in the info Technology sector have strong opinions on patents, and it is really an chance to allow them to use their unquestionable skill and understanding to assist us within the examination process.?

Therefore the community of testers can share their understanding using the examiner, network along with other key figures within their area, use the city towards researching the validity of the patent application and assess the relevance of prior art claims.

Although patents can presently be looked about the IPO website, the technology isn?t in position to facilitate discussion, understanding discussing and also the uploading and annotation of prior art.� This is when peer-to-patent will come up ? it'll make the patenting process social.

The IPO representative added:

?The Peer To Patent pilot can give Investigators use of a wider body of knowledge that they don't also have. The participation from the scientific and technology towns might help identify new information and sources that will assist us to make sure that patents are granted for just truly novel and inventive inventions.?

It?s also worth observing the pilot project is initially being limited to patent programs relevant to electronic information systems.

The situation for any peer-to-patent system

Once the United kingdom launches its pilot peer-to-patent programme about the first of June, it is going to do so within the understanding that similar programmes have demonstrated effective elsewhere all over the world.BethNoveck

The peer-to-patent initiative based on a concept initially created by Professor Janet Noveck in the New You are able to Law School. She developed her idea further within the paper Peer to Patent: A Modest Proposal. Peer-to-patent was initially piloted in the united states, and contains been trialled around australia, Japan and Columbia.

Like a slight aside, the United kingdom Chancellor George Osborne introduced yesterday that Janet Noveck have been employed to spearhead Whitehall?s political charge in to the digital age. So that as Osborne noted yesterday:

?Janet literally authored it ? Wiki Government ? how policy making must change. She?s a global-class recruit.?

Alongside David Cameron?s speech in November, the Minister for Intellectual Property Baroness Wilcox stated the IP framework needed to maintain technology that has transformed the company landscape. She noted:

?An IP system produced within the era of paper and pen might not fit for age broadband and satellites. We should ensure it meets the requirements of digital age.?

In mention of the the peer-to-patent project, Baroness Wilcox ongoing:

?This project aims to lessen the amount of patents being granted for ideas and inventions that aren't new or inventive. It can lead to less disputes and legal challenges supplying more certainty for companies.?

As David Cameron?s Government tries to drag the United kingdom?s IP system in to the modern day, it will likely be interesting to determine what impact this peer-to-patent pilot has when it comes to enhancing the standard of patents granted. Whether it proves effective, it may be the kick-start the United kingdom IP revolution needs.

Peer-to-patent: the requirement-to-knows

The peer-to-patent pilot goes survive the first of June 2011, and can run until 31st of December 2011.

The IPO?s official peer-to-patent information portal has become live, although the actual Tumblr-located peer-to-patent website won?t be accessible until launch date about the first of June.

You may also stick to the IPO?s official peer-to-patent Twitter feed to maintain all of the latest bulletins within the get to launch.



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