Is the Government dragging its feet when it comes to IP reform?
1 min read
When Lord Sainsbury was minister for science and innovation in the last Government, he highlighted the need for the UK to create a 'knowledge economy'. Less than a decade ago, we were told the future would be more about what we know than what we make.
Times have changed, with the realisation that manufacturing is actually quite important. But intellectual property – IP – remains central to the future of the UK's economy; after all, if we don't have control of the ideas, how can we profit from them?
IP is one of those areas which the legal system, to an extent, has contrived to ignore; some of the legislation which is applied can be traced back more than 300 years. The result is a bit of a mess, particularly if you're an IP developer.
Last year, the Government commissioned a report from Professor Ian Hargreaves, who concluded the current IP system should be overhauled. Right on message, you might think. Yet a group of interested parties says not a lot is happening. Looking to move things along, the group has written an open letter to the Government urging that Prof Hargreaves' recommendations are put into action.
Some of the recommendations, including a single European patent, won't happen overnight, but there are other measures which the group believes can be actioned more promptly.
Prof Hargreaves said in his report that small and medium enterprises – highlighted by the Government as the future for the UK's economy – will be the main beneficiaries of the recommendations, enjoying easier copyright licensing and a better rights framework for design.
If the Government believes small companies and IP are important to the future of the UK's economy, it should get on with implementing the report's recommendations.
