The Peer to Patent system will operate in a six month pilot and give experts the opportunity to view and comment on up to 200 patent applications for the computing industry, a Government statement said.
The system is designed to help the Intellectual Property Office (IPO), which assesses whether patent applications should be granted in the UK.
"Patent applications granted after using the Peer to Patent website review will be potentially stronger, giving businesses better protection to grow their innovative ideas," Minister for Intellectual Property Baroness Wilcox said. "This will give the IPO access to a wider body of knowledge when deciding whether a patent should be granted."
“The pilot will give experts the opportunity to comment on patent applications and share their vital expertise before patents are granted. It will also mean that inventions already known in the wider community will be filtered out more readily," Baroness Wilcox said.
The first 20 patent applications are on the www.peertopatent.org.uk website now, Nigel Hanley, Senior Patent Examiner at the IPO, said in the IPO's Peer to Patent blog.
Hanley said that approximately 10 patent applications will be added to the site on Wednesdays each week and that each application will be available for review comments for 90 days.
At the end of the comments period the most relevant reviews will be summarised and a copy sent to the patent applicant and IPO Examiner responsible for the case who will decide whether or not to grant the patent, Hanley said.
"This is where the report is helpful," Hanley said in the blog. "We hope that reviewers who register with the website will look at an application and if they can, provide information and documents which will help to decide if it really is new and inventive."
"Reviewers can join a discussion on the application or simply rate any documents found using the distinctly romanesque method of thumbs up and down. They can also follow an application they are interested in, as well as invite others to have a look at the application," Hanley said.
The UK pilot system will differ from those run previously in the US and Australia as the IPO will publish reports that detail what documents patent application Examiners thought were relevant to specific cases, Hanley said.
"The quality of patent applications is so important. Interested observers are the ones who have the expert knowledge, so Peer to Patent gives them the chance to make a real contribution," Alasdair Poore, President of the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys , said:
"We welcome this pilot as a way of exploring how third party opinions can really improve the quality of patents. I hope users, observers and applicants will engage positively and constructively in the pilot to show that it can work, and help to build a stronger UK patent system,” Poore said.
The system was developed by the New York Law School and the pilot will end on 31 December 2011.
Technology law news is also available from Bootlaw, a free resource for technology start-ups, with regular events hosted by Pinsent Masons.
