The firm is
urging the Government to help raise commercial awareness of IP
rights and exploitation. A recommendation in last year's Gowers
Review of Intellectual Property was that the Patent Office (now
called the UK Intellectual Property Office, following another
recommendation of the Gowers Review) should provide comprehensive
information on how to register and use IP rights for firms
registering with Companies House. Technology lawyers at Pinsent
Masons also maintained that technology companies overlook IP
issues, such as ownership of IP and any licences, in standard terms
and conditions.
Six out of 10 lawyers agreed that the biggest gap in
IP knowledge amongst technology clients was the protection of IP
rights. This also featured as the highest ranking single biggest IP
risk for technology companies.
The results are from a survey conducted in April among Pinsent
Masons' 100 technology lawyers, 33 of whom are IP specialists. More
than half (52%) said that many tech firms they deal with do not
actively police their IP, both in terms of watching competitors and
in ensuring that trade marks are not used
inappropriately.
The World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) decided in
2000 to designate an annual World IP Day to increase awareness of
important IP concepts, including copyright, trade marks, patents,
know-how, registered designs and design rights.
Kim Walker, head of Pinsent Masons' intellectual property team,
said: "The results of our survey give cause for concern. We
regularly advise upon IP issues and often find that even some of
the smartest companies are under-informed when it comes to the
protection of their intellectual property. We hope to help rectify
this problem with our activities on World IP Day and hope that
other large law firms will do the same. But the Government is in a
position to make a huge difference. We find that US companies
frequently have a better feel for the value of their IP and we
believe that the UK Government could do more to close that gap. We
urge the Government to follow the recommendations in the Gowers
Review to give businesses better access to information about
IP."
The Gowers Review also called upon the DTI to investigate how
best to provide practical IP advice to UK firms operating in
foreign markets, in coordination with industry bodies, the Patent
Office and UK Trade and Investment.
Pinsent Masons will provide free IP advice on World IP
Day. Entrepreneurs or established organisations wanting free
help with copyright, trade marks, patents or designs can book a
30-minute appointment with one of their specialist IP lawyers at
legal clinics in the firm’s London, Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester,
Glasgow and Edinburgh offices. The firm has called on IP
specialists at other firms to offer free advice and has made a
World IP Day
Kit freely available for others' promotions of the
day.
The technology lawyers at Pinsent Masons comprise the team
behind the award-winning OUT-LAW.COM website that offers 7,000
pages of free information on IP and IT legal issues. A special
edition of OUT-LAW Radio, the firm's weekly podcast, will be
released on 26th April that features an exclusive interview with
Andrew Gowers who led last year's review into the UK's intellectual
property framework.
Pinsent Masons is also hosting a free, IP-themed OUT-LAW
Breakfast Seminar on 26th April in its London and Glasgow offices.
The event, ‘Protecting your
name on the net’, will be hosted in Birmingham,
Leeds, Manchester and Edinburgh on other days in April.
