
Shortly after the end of the Second World War Winston Churchill said that Britain had nothing left except the abilities of its people. This may have been an exaggeration, according to intellectual property minister Lucy Neville-Rolfe, but it encompasses an important truth.
“Britain has fewer major natural resources than many other countries,” she said at an intellectual property mentor dinner in London. “This is the fundamental reason why the protection of inventions such as intellectual property (IP) is so important.” She noted that the government had put a lot of effort into improving the legal framework behind IP, with Taylor Wessing’s “Global IP Index” of 2013 highlighting that the UK had the top rated IP regime in the world. This is despite a review commissioned by prime minister David Cameron in 2011 pointing out that Britain had failed to make the changes needed to modernise copyright law.- Finding a way to protect your idea before its too late
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The government has proposed measures which would enable designers to mark their products with a web link, instead of having to stamp the product or attach a label with a registered design number. The web link would then notify other businesses with similar registered design rights and keep information up to date as IP rights change.
“We are confident that virtual marking for registered designs will be very warmly welcomed by UK companies for whom design is key to their success,” said Neville-Rolfe. “Dyson is rightly famous for its innovative designs. The company recognises that it would be a simpler way of providing notice for those rights owners who wish to make use of this option.”
By Shané SchutteShare this story