Mediation, IP practice and the good of one's soul

If only ...!

When an actor is out of work, he is never said to be unemployed: the polite euphemism is that he is "resting". Euphemisms for "unemployed" extend far beyond the sphere of thespianism, though. Thus a footballer who is no longer selected to play for his team is "regaining match fitness"; a politician who is voted out of Parliament is "considering his options"; IT consultants are "between projects", and so on.

Recent conversations with intellectual property practitioners -- both those who are unemployed and those who are underemployed -- have caused me to wonder whether we too have a euphemism for this condition. It's called "doing some mediation".

It's true that there are some fortunate souls who excel in this area, bringing not only satisfaction to those who engage them but creating and sustaining an income stream that, if not constant, is at least relatively stable and predictable. Many others, it seems, are only really dabbling in mediation as a means of keeping their hands in, retaining their sanity and temporising until something better comes up.

There are some good courses on mediation both within the IP sphere and outside it, and -- while there is little case law on the topic unless you count domain name dispute resolutions --while there is also a small but growing body literature on the subject, it seems to me that there is not much that's available on the subject which is so close to so many people's hearts, and that is their wsallets. How do you bill for your services with genuine conviction and turn IP mediation into a real living? Or is it, like a practice based on a minor IP right like registered designs, always likely to be the icing on the top of the cake rather than the cake itself?

IP/IT lawyers in India

I am trying to find a reasonably priced IP/IT lawyer in India to review an NDA and later, if my client proceeds with developers in India, a development agreement for an IPAD game.  This is essentially just a rubber stamping exercise as the document is written under English law, and drafted by us.  I would not expect to pay a lot for lawyer in India to read the drafts in order to let me know whether there are any changes required to comply with local laws. As I myself virtually always works to fixed fees, based on an hourly rate of £250, it came as a surprise to find Indian lawyers charging more like £450 an hour.    Does anyone know a commercially minded, less expensive IP/IT lawyer in India?  

Ipsum is now facto

After Ipsum, the IPO's next service is going to be called
Possum. The 'Po' bit stands for 'Patent Office' -- but
readers are invited to guess the rest of the acronym ...

In April, Filemot posted a piece on SOLO IP which mentioned the virtues of Ipsum; she also trialled the Beta version (see IPKat review here). Today there's more news, this time from the IPO, in the form of a media release:

"New online patent inspection service launched

UK business could save nearly £100,000 per year thanks to a free patent system launched by the Intellectual Property Office (IPO). The new online service, called Ipsum, will remove the cost to businesses of requesting patent documents; instead they will now be available for free at the click of a button.

The service is open to anyone, benefiting businesses researching patents, patent attorneys working for clients protecting their IP rights and potential inventors looking for the best way to find information on patent applications. This can help them understand why a patent was granted or rejected or know more about particular patents.

Previously each document requested by a business would cost £5 and by the time it had been delivered it might already be out of date. Ipsum is updated in real time so businesses will now have the up to date information on patent applications they need. ...

The service is available on the IPO website – www.ipo.gov.uk/p-ipsum...".

Important information for SOLO IP readers will be found on the Ipsum website:

"Our search services are usually available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, except for 2 hours at the weekend, usually on Sunday 20:00 - 22:00 (UK time) [that's a shame, bearing in mind how many sole and small practitioners seem to be online on Sunday evening, playing catch-up or readying their desks for their Monday tasks]

If you have any questions about intellectual property, or if you just need to speak to us, please contact our Information Centre on 0300 300 2000 or +44 (0)1633 814000. Our office hours are 09:00 to 17:00 Monday to Friday, excluding Bank Holidays [how many of our readers have such an easy time of it?].

If you notice a problem with this service, please contact us using the form below. Maintenance staff are available 08:30 to 17:00 Monday to Friday. Problems outside these times may not be rectified until maintenance staff are next available".

WIPO 'British Day' for Patents

WIPO is holding a day of discussions for UK patent practitioners on 13 October - next Thursday. At least it will if enough people sign up for it. The IPKat publicised it this morning, and I'm doing my bit too - having signed up to it myself. Details from http://www.ipo.gov.uk/whyuse/events/events-calendar/events-britishday.htm. It's at teh UK IPO's London place in Bloomsbury Street. 

Worliday, Taking Control or Loss of Work Life Balance?

Worliday is a term coined by Lucy Kellaway, of the Financial Times, in an article earlier this summer. A ‘Worliday is a bit like a holiday and a bit like work. ‘It’s the future for most professional workers, and actually, contrary to what most people would have you believe, worliday is really rather nice’, she states.

Having just come back from my own worliday I entirely agree. As someone running my own law firm, the idea of a holiday without any connection to the office seems both challenging and unnecessary. Modern technology is a real boon in enabling people like me to continue overseeing the office whilst on holiday. As Lucy Kellaway points out ‘the worliday is not family unfriendly at all as families get twice as many holidays.’

However, the idea of taking a ‘worliday’ has received mixed reviews from bloggers.

Chris Abram of ‘Marketing Conversations’, blogged in praise of the worliday, claiming that ‘working at Abraham Harrison is a little like an everyday worliday if you play it right and get your work done’. 

On the other hand, Tim Bratton General Counsel of the FT who tweets as @legalbrat likes his holidays to be just that, a holiday. He wrote a blog disagreeing with Lucy’s pro worliday stance. He feels the need for a holiday that is totally work free. He wants to relax and recharge. George Marshall agreed with him, stating ‘Leisure should by default dominate every day of your life with work being a mere sideshow.’

Image by SP Ingram 

Although combining a holiday with work may seem the opposite of relaxing for these bloggers, in my view the ability to work remotely whenever we like, whether we are on holiday or travelling on business, represents freedom.                                         

I wonder whether this divergence of opinions has something to do with the fact that women are reportedly (though not scientifically proven) believed to be better at multi tasking than men. Or is it just that people who run their own businesses are never off duty (and possibly don’t want to be)?

Tim Bratton criticises technology for encouraging us to work more, asking ‘is that really what we’re inventing new technology for? To make it easier to work?’ 

I disagree with this view because I feel that technology enables people to have the freedom to work where they want and when they want. Having the choice is what matters.

Technology gives those of us who run our own businesses the opportunity to go on a relaxing holiday and spend time with our families, and yet not worry about how the business is doing, and whether it is coping in our absence. 

I have no problem combining relaxation with work. Indeed, I so love my business, that a worliday presents an ideal opportunity to work ON the business as it gives me more time to think when I'm sitting by the pool, or taking a walk. I come back recharged, with many new ideas for the business, while having spent quality time with my family. 

I do find working IN the business less pleasurable, and so avoid doing the actual work as much as possible whilst on holiday.  However, even when that is unavoidable, taking a half day to deal with something doesn’t spoil the holiday for me.  It doesn't mean I haven’t had “work life” balance. I wonder what fellow IP practitioners think?

Design: Call for Evidence

These are a few further reflections from the seminar on Wednesday.

As part of its efforts to implement Hargreaves, the IPO has launched a call for evidence and the idea of the seminar was to review and discuss the results of the research ("evidence") that has already been delivered to the IPO.

There is also a survey (not for lawyers, but for our design clients) and then we get a formal consultation which will likely contain some substantive proposals for change to UK design law. Prepare to say a fond farewell to the much mangled Registered Designs Act 1949 and lets look forward to a whole new codification of design law that kicks out copyright and gives a national system  that is understandable and consistent with European law.

Design registration in the UK has never had the uptake governments would have expected and the UK IPO would like to know why. I confess I do too. Since we work with clients with an interest in design perhaps we have some insights we can share with the IPO team. Personally I struggle to add value for design clients. Once they have grasped how to get the drawings right then its often better to make the applications themselves as the idea is its supposed to be a cheap and easy process. Getting the drawings right is no mean feat. Some unscientific  research on the UK Designs Register shows that most applicants do represent themselves and if you are a litigator you might worry a lot if you were trying to rely on some of these registrations.

Proposal 1 for further research then is to analyse the users of the current system from the UK and see whether they feel they can access the support and help they need to make the system work for them.

The paper based filing system is the first problem area and the purring of the IPkat has already been heard by the IPO team and it got plenty of support at the seminar. However you can understand some reluctance to implement a system if it will be underused. WIPO was represented at the Seminar by Gregoire Bisson who runs the Hague system. He reports that his software came from OHIM but they have improved it. It certainly seems to pass the useability test for the in-house user.  If he can get the US to join Hague (and he has it in the sights)  then he will have a much more valuable system.

The focus of the seminar tended to be on the designer and it assumed that copying was bad. We need to test that.  Registration and attempted enforcement of unoriginal design could have a chilling effect on creativity and the London Design Festival, which ended yesterday, certainly shows that the UK has the creativity.   Chapter 3 of the Research a paper based on a small pilot study showed that experience of copying did not increase likelihood of registration. Proposal 2 is that the attitude to copying needs to be investigated and understood. Anecdotally I can say that there seems to be a preference for *muttering*;   getting media attention and even the deplorable practice of sending cease and desist letters with no intention of follow -up enforcement.  Is this because UK business has lost faith in the judicial system or that there is a rationalization that the actual damage does not justify even the management time of serious complaint.  Maybe even its a *do as you would be done by* approach. If I complain will I find myself at the receiving end of complaints.

Design protection needs to be manageable more like copyright protection than patent protection. Maybe we should see the IPO offering more advice and support in the development and implementation of protection strategies. Perhaps the call for evidence can support a pilot workshop or two to give how to file advice to those who should be using the design system so that it is clearer how or whether online filing would help. That is Proposal 3.

What do you think - is there a future for design protection in the UK or should we just leave it to Europe and use this legislative opportunity to delete the UK law on this topic.

IPO Seminar at Design Council

Tony Clayton of the IPO has been bringing economic perspective to IP issues for two years. This is my first mobile post so sorry if it's a bit terse.