A letter in this month's CIPA Journal from Ian Craven (UDL) suggests that the Journal, currently sent by post each month to all its members, could be improved with the addition of an electronic version. Ian suggests that a searchable electronic archive of the Journal would be much more useful than the paper version. Eventually this could replace the current paper version, at least for those willing to opt-out of it, which could save quite a few trees (and cut down on the ever-increasing shelf space the Journal occupies). 
The IPKat thinks that this is an excellent idea, and thought that this blog might be a good way to get an impression from its readers, many of whom he knows are patent professionals, of whether this would generally be a 'good thing', and therefore something that CIPA should be doing. The editor of the Journal would like to know who else is interested. Any comments on this blog, anonymous or otherwise, would also be gratefully received.
Should CIPA go electronic?
Reviewed by David Pearce
on
Friday, August 10, 2007
Rating:
Reviewed by David Pearce
on
Friday, August 10, 2007
Rating:
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Posts
Very good idea. As everyone here wants to keep their own copy, huge amounts of filing cabinet space are wasted!
ReplyDeleteThe fact that e-copies could be easily searched is a definate plus point.
ReplyDeleteI prefer a paper copy because then I don't need a computer to read it. (I would like less shiny paper, however. If you read CIPA using a reading lamp there's quite a lot of glare).
ReplyDeleteI can see the advantage in having both versions, but I wouldn't want to see the hard copy version discontinued.
Good idea, but the Journal is ideal commuter reading, so it's handy to have it in a paper form.
ReplyDeleteALL useful information should be online. I say this as I sit in a house in which every room -- EVERY room except those for the most personal uses -- has a bookcase stuffed with hard and soft-bound books. I was just telling a friend the other day how much I LOVE PAPER -- especially newsprint -- and the smell of books as you open them for the first time. Nevertheless, I fear that if you want to be relevant and READ you must make your printed wisdom available online. I don't know anyone under 30, for instance, who reads a newspaper. Charge for it if you must, but get it into the virtual hands of the people!
ReplyDeleteI like receiving the paper journal but I think a searchable archive would definitely be a good idea for when you're trying to find that elusive article relevant to a particular point of law that you read in the journal sometime in the previous years!
ReplyDeleteA basic system wouldn't be too difficult to implement either - for example, just allow the journal to be downloaded as PDF to a particular folder and use the search all function of Acrobat reader on that folder.