Tuesday 29 April 2008

The IP Profession is Needed for

What with Jeremy's earlier post
suggesting that the IP profession is no longer loved and the talk about the patent profession dying in France because of the plot to merge it with the legal profession, someone has to stand up for patent agents.
Let's see what has happened in a country where there are very few: Eire. Nice place but with very few patent agents there has been no pressure on the patent office to keep up with the times and if you cannot get to Kilkenny you can't file a patent application and pay in cash. In the UK I can file without a fee. I can file by fax and I can file online. I can get a date and go talk in confidence in moments. Not so for the Irish inventor. There are Irish inventors and they get good tax breaks but because most of the Irish patent attorneys are working in England - they are not encouraging their office to implement all the good practical things that WIPO got into the Patent Law Treaty.
Although Ireland has now amended its legislation under pressure from Europe so that you can use an address for service anywhere in Europe,you can't pay a filing fee unless your money comes from an Irish bank.
So if you're reading this in Ireland and you're an IP practitioner - stand up for the profession before it ends in the rubbish. Oh and please don't charge €2000 for submitting the applicaiton to Kilkenny.


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