A question of choice

Choice of IP adviser can be hard, when from a distance
they all look the same to the paying customer

"Choosing the Right IP Adviser" is the title of this short piece by Mike Barlow OBE, once head of BP International's Global Patents and Technology Group but now running a sole IP consultancy, Fairoaks IP. Mike is one of the latest batch of IP experts to gain the benefit of exposure to a fresh readership of prospective clients from the UK Intellectual Property Office's IP Insight online magazine. Mike writes:

"November saw the publication of the IPO's latest offering in its 'Healthcheck' series. Entitled 'Choosing the Right IP Adviser (467Kb)', it sets out the options available and key questions to ask before commissioning IP services.  This booklet is designed to help you become an informed consumer of the IP Adviser services you require to obtain registered rights. It:

* contains an overview of the potential sources of IP services available (including certain sources of reliable free advice) [almost: it contains an overview of the potential sources of free advice but doesn't specify which are the reliable ones ...];
* suggests a number of questions you should ask before engaging your adviser;
* provides answers to a number of commonly asked specific questions;
* provides a list of useful contacts 

... The purpose of this booklet is not to recommend any particular adviser or indeed group of advisers but rather to help you become an informed consumer of the services you require to obtain registered rights.

... The booklet begins with an overview of the potential sources of IP services available (including certain sources of reliable free advice) and then suggests a number of questions you should ask yourself before engaging your adviser. At the end, answers to a number of commonly asked specific questions are provided.

Finally before beginning the process of choosing an adviser it is well worthwhile getting at least a basic knowledge of the various IP Rights which are available (patents, copyright, design rights, trade marks) and the requirements for getting them.... 

"Those new to IP often find it difficult to get the advice they really need and it is all too easy to end up with little to show for your money. This new publication draws on the experience of experts to provide a roadmap for small businesses to find and get the best out of their advisers".

Readers of the SOLO IP blog may wish to take a look at this short guide and provide their own glosses on it when providing preliminary information of their own for prospective or even current clients.  Here's a bit which readers may resonate with:

"You should try and choose an adviser with whom you can empathise and communicate [If only practitioners could choose clients on the same basis! Seriously, communication faults lie at the heart of so many poor practitioner/client relationships and it's an area in which many people both sides can improve their performance]. This will be a matter of personal taste because you are entering into what may well be a long and close business relationship. If at the outset you suspect difficulties then you probably need to choose someone else. Not everybody gets on with everyone else and there is a wide range of advisers available. Whoever you choose it will almost certainly involve a balance between personal empathy and professional competence – the two do not always go hand-in-hand. You also need to be happy that the adviser’s abilities and work patterns fit in with yours, particularly if working with an overseas adviser who may not be a native English speaker, may be in a different time zone, have different holiday periods [or, in the case of solo practitioners, no holiday periods ...], etc."