CIPA is a trusted partner of policymakers and this is particularly evident in the support that government seeks from us when making major IP policy announcements.
We were pleased to support government improvements to the IP policy landscape throughout the year, with President Matt Dixon providing supportive quotes to a number of key announcements.
In March a report by the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO) announced that the UK met the right conditions to make IP-backed lending to SMEs viable. The report noted that new IP-backed loan products, such as those launched by NatWest and HSBC UK, were available in the UK to help new, innovative businesses scale and grow. Read more.
Matt was quoted in this press release on the government’s website, entitled Report launched into UK’s IP-backed finance landscape.
Matt said: “High growth businesses may often own few tangible assets but can be rich in IP and intangible assets. These businesses can find it difficult to use their traditional assets as collateral to secure growth funding, leading to a potentially sizeable funding gap for fast-growing, but asset light, businesses. IP backed lending could play an important role in addressing this gap.”
On 16 July the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) celebrated a landmark moment with the first patent application filed on its new digital ‘One IPO’ service. The IPO also launched its new AI-powered patent allocation tool, which it said would slash the time taken to get a patent application to the right team from 14 days to a matter of seconds.
Matt supported the announcement by providing a quote for this government release entitled IPO celebrates first filing in new digital service.
He said: “CIPA is delighted to see that this landmark in the IPO’s transformation programme has been reached. The whole programme is an enormous, but much needed, undertaking, and we are pleased that our members have been able to be involved in the testing and development of the systems, providing practical user feedback. We look forward to the launch of One IPO for patents in 2025 and continue to offer our support both in the final stage of the patent project and beyond.”
IP firm Murgitroyd welcomed the IPO to their Southampton office to mark the occasion. Patent attorneys and paralegal teams were able to see the programme in action, with CIPA Fellow Thomas Gibb becoming the first person to file a patent using the new service.
On 22 July the government announced the launch of a UK resource hub for Standard Essential Patents (SEPs) by the IPO.
A SEP is a patent that protects technology essential to implementing a technical standard. These technical standards can cover ideas, products, services and know-how and ensure that different technologies, such as mobile phones, wi-fi systems and satellite navigation in cars, can successfully interact. Once a technical standard has been agreed, manufacturers are required to make their products standard-compliant.
Once again, CIPA supported the announcement with Matt providing the following quote for this press release entitled One-stop SEPs Resource Hub launched by UK IPO.
Matt said: “Standard Essential Patents are an important part of the intellectual property landscape in many industries, so the launch of the SEP Hub will provide further support to businesses, which CIPA fully supports. It is great to see the UKIPO leading the world in providing such support. SEPs are one way in which patents can be used to give a fair reward to innovators while enabling the effective development of interoperable technologies. Supporting the understanding of SEPs helps business owners make better decisions around their use of protected technology. This is a great initiative and we’re pleased to support it.”