The UK-IPO have announced they intend to introduce new 'fast track' procedures for both patent and trade mark applications. Robert Ibrahim of the grandly-titled Intellectual Property & Innovation Directorate, writes:
The intention is to deal with, on request, trade mark applications within 10 business days and patent applications within 9 months.
The IPKat thinks that this all sounds great in principle, but there are often very good reasons for not wanting patent applications to be granted too quickly, section 2(3) being one of them. And isn't the UK office pretty quick anyway nowadays, given that much of their work is being drawn away to Munich (or The Hague) and Alicante?
Merpel wonders why the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys are not being consulted on this one. Was it something they said?
"The Gowers Report on Intellectual Property recommended that the UK Intellectual Property Office provide new accelerated services for processing patent and trade mark applications. We have considered these recommendations and are now consulting on proposed new fast track services for patents and trade marks, both of which will be available to all applicants upon payment of a fee.
The consultation launches today, 21 September and closes on 14 December 2007. The consultation document is available at http://www.ipo.gov.uk/consult-fasttrack.pdf".
The intention is to deal with, on request, trade mark applications within 10 business days and patent applications within 9 months.
The IPKat thinks that this all sounds great in principle, but there are often very good reasons for not wanting patent applications to be granted too quickly, section 2(3) being one of them. And isn't the UK office pretty quick anyway nowadays, given that much of their work is being drawn away to Munich (or The Hague) and Alicante?
Merpel wonders why the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys are not being consulted on this one. Was it something they said?
Fast tracking at the UK-IPO
![Fast tracking at the UK-IPO]()
Reviewed by David Pearce
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Friday, September 21, 2007
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The Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys has been consulted. It is being considered by the Institute's Patents and Trade Mark Committees, and no doubt a response will be sent in due course.
ReplyDeleteThey must have just accidentally been left off the list then. Thought it was a bit odd.
ReplyDeleteAh Merpel you need glasses CIPA is there all right, but INTA is not. It really needs to get on the list. It has hordes of committee members and all those wonderful academic memnbers too so they should be able to bring some intelligence to bear on the impact on brand owners of this possibility and whether its neeeded.
ReplyDeleteAha. There I was looking for the full title. Perhaps my old feline eyes do need testing. Cats don't see so well in daylight, you know.
ReplyDeleteWhy has the UK-IPO used a picture of a foreign train to illustrate the concept of fast-tracking?
ReplyDeleteIlanah, perhaps because there aren't any fast tracks in the UK?
ReplyDelete