INTA lets down its Paying Members

I know that many SOLO members find INTA membership at US$850 well beyond their means. In fact one of us regularly attends annual meetings at the non-member rate because that makes better economic sense and the other member benefits are insufficient for a SOLO - unless you are lucky enough to be a Professor when you can join for a mere $75.

I was delighted, therefore, that INTA was organising a Roundtable in London. Something to justify that huge spend to my virtual financial controller. I got an email on Tuesday and replied on Wednesday. So slothful, I admit it. It turns out this event on the protection of well-known marks is limited to 20 and despite my suggestion there are no plans to move to a larger venue.

I absolutely applaud the desire for delegate participation, but limiting delegates to 20 when there are no less than FOUR high quality presenters seems unrealistic. I suspect the email I received was sent at least to the 273 member organisations in London, possibly to the much greater membership in the United Kingdom

According to a recent mailing I got from ITMA the UK IPO say the skills of trade mark agents in the UK have been overtaken. Come on INTA do your bit to help. The picture to the right is Richard Heath of Unilever who is this year's President of INTA. I hope some of the Unilever attornies managed to get a place at the roundtable as they have many well-known brands to protect.

An Alternative Business Model based on Quality

Consumers of business legal services including intellectual property who seek value, have discovered that direct access to barristers is a great way to go straight for the experience and expertise they need .

The barristers of Northern Intellectual Property Chambers embraced the opportunity of direct access since it first became possible in July 2004. NIPC continues this tradition today and as many of our readers know, Jane Lambert is a very effective networker devoted to enabling clients achieve their objectives. Last night she arranged a great gathering in Bradford of experts from her panel. Hence the picture of the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television taken by Gunnar Larsson . I took the opportunity to visit this wonderful exhibit (or rather a small bit of it) while straying so far from my London basement.

Jane hopes to build on her current practice by expanding the network to provide a Quality -Guaranteed referral network. As business people know the best advisers are those which come personally recommended by other clients. A recommendation from a peer comes without bias but a business peer may not know whether he has received the best possible device only other advisers know that. Jane is hoping to build a network that can leave Solo practioners running their own practices but with a platform that enables them to work in teams to provide the services the client needs. This is a great idea because there are business consumers who need experience and are offered only inexperience when they approach big branded law firms because they are compelled to ask for the lowest possible fee. Judging by the company last night there are huge opportunities for businesses to achieve excellent value by using solo practitioners and other great value practices that Jane has sought out.

I look forward to seeing how things develop as well as contributing to the clinics, publications and training as well as other initiatives. Entrepreneurs and established businesses can only benefit. This approach to putting the client's needs first is likely to help many solo practitioners develop their own practices while retaining their independence.