Government confirms IP law review

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Intellectual property (IP) law in the UK is set for an overhaul after the Government confirmed it planned to review current legislation.

During a speech launching the UK’s answer to Silicon Valley – ‘Tech City’ – Prime Minister David Cameron confirmed a six month review into IP law that he hopes will help attract technology companies to the UK.

“I can announce today that we are reviewing our IP laws, to see if we can make them fit for the internet age,” he said.

The review will look to the US position on IP with a ‘fair use’ system, whereby IP can be used to a certain level without owner consent, compared to the UK’s where only certain categories can use copyrighted material.

It will also look into barriers to new internet-based business models, the cost and complications around enforcing IP law, interaction between IP and competition frameworks and the cost to small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) for accessing services to protect their IP.

“The future of the economy lies in the highly skilled, technology sectors,” said Baroness Wilcox, parliamentary under-secretary for the department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). “For many of those companies their intellectual property is their most valuable asset.”

“We must ensure the intellectual property system helps not hinders those companies.”

There will also be a trial in the coming months of a “peer to patent project” run by the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) which proposes to ensure new patent applications are new and innovative enough to gain the award.

It will allow for certain patent applications to be examined and commented on by the IPO, with the highest rated being passed onto a patent examiner.

“This project aims to reduce the number patents being granted for ideas and inventions that are not new or inventive,” added Baroness Wilcox.

“It will result in fewer disputes and legal challenges providing more certainty for businesses.”

The review is expected to report back to parliament in April next year.

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