Lee Davies on European patent work protected in Trans-Pacific trade deal

The UK government has ensured that its existing international agreements on intellectual property – namely the European Patent Convention (EPC) and the Strasbourg Patent Convention – have been protected in the UK’s accession to an important Indo-Pacific trading bloc.

This follows more than 18 months of intense campaigning behind the scenes by CIPA with government Ministers and leading UK parliamentarians, UK trade negotiators and important stakeholders overseas.

The government announced this morning (31 March) that the UK has reached an Agreement in Principle to accede to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

The CPTPP is a free-trade treaty comprising Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam. It represents 13.4 percent of global gross domestic product.

When the government announced its intention to explore joining the CPTPP, CIPA’s governing Council became concerned that potential inconsistencies between the IP Chapter of the CPTPP and the EPC could give rise to the legal challenge that the UK was not complying with its international obligations. Legal opinions were divided on the likelihood of such a challenge and the potential outcome.

Council took the decision that the UK profession and its local and global client base should not be thrown into a period of uncertainty regarding the UK’s place in the EPC. Council commissioned a comprehensive campaign with the goal of influencing the accession negotiations and encouraging the government to find a path to joining the CPTPP which did not place its existing international intellectual property obligations under scrutiny.

I am pleased to report that we achieved our goal. The UK government has negotiated an accession protocol which sets aside the grace period provisions of the CPTPP until such time as the EPC and the Strasbourg Patent Convention incorporate amendments which will not be inconsistent with Article 18.38 (Grace Period) of the CPTPP. The UK government has committed to endeavour to promote the harmonisation of grace periods within international fora and to report back to CPTPP member states.

This was a full-scale public affairs campaign, informing stakeholders across the political landscape about the potential implications of the UK’s accession to the CPTPP on the patent attorney profession and on UK and global businesses who rely on the world class services provided by CIPA’s members. CIPA’s engagement has been conducted through meetings with key political and government figures, departmental officials and professional patent attorney associations in CPTPP member states.

We are indebted to Tony Clayton, former Chief Economist at the UKIPO, who produced compelling research into the European patent system, commissioned by CIPA and the IP Federation, demonstrating that the work of UK patent attorneys before the European Patent Office contributed £1bn gross value added per annum to the UK economy. The report was our most important briefing paper, its £1bn headline figure being almost impossible to ignore and adding weight to our impact assessment for parliamentarians.

CIPA has responded to a series of government and select committee consultations on the trade agenda and its impact on the UK intellectual property landscape, to reinforce our preeminent credentials in this space. Written submissions were made to the House of Lords International Agreements Committee’s inquiry into CPTPP accession, the House of Commons International Trade Committee’s CPTPP inquiry and to inquiries into the UK-Australia and UK-New Zealand Agreements in Principle. CIPA’s submission to the International Trade Committee’s inquiry on the CPTPP resulted in an invitation for me to give oral evidence to the Committee in January 2023.

I feel proud and privileged to have worked on this campaign with Past Presidents of CIPA, Catriona Hammer and Alicia Instone (President at the time the campaign commenced), and with my public affairs and PR guru Neil Lampert, CIPA’s Deputy Chief Executive. We were brilliantly supported by an external public relations consultancy, Cicero AMO (now H/advisors Cicero). Our work has largely been conducted under non-disclosure and other confidentiality agreements, meaning we have not been able to report our progress to members in the way we have liked.

I would also like to record my thanks to Ministers and to the team of negotiators, for allowing us to have many conversations about the accession pathway and for recognising the importance of this issue for the UK patent attorney profession, for businesses and for the economy. We are delighted with the outcome, which could not have been achieved without the diligent and tireless efforts of the negotiating team.

I look forward to sharing the story of this remarkable achievement with members at regional events and our conferences this year.

Date published: 31 March 2023

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