Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Business and IP Centres

Cambridge City Centre

Author Cmglee Licence CC BY-SA 3.0 Source Wikipedia Cambridge

Jane Lambert

The British Library Business & IP Centre National Network is a nationwide network of public libraries that are affiliated to the British Library Business and IP Centre.  They offer free access to databases, market research, journals, directories and reports worth thousands of pounds and hold free or low-cost events and workshops such as business planning, marketing and intellectual property.  The latest libraries to join that network are Cambridge Central Library and Peterborough Central Library.

In Where to get free basic Information on Intellectual Property 18 Dec 2013 NIPC Southeast, I wrote:

"Whatever the nature of your business you are bound to have some intellectual property. It may be a patent for a groundbreaking new invention or it may be something simple like the goodwill that is attached to your business or a secret recipe. Whatever it is you will need some basic information and maybe some advice."

I added

"A good place to start is the British Library Business and IP Centre in St Pancras. They have a lot of useful information about business networking, business planning, IP and market research. There is a good introductory video by Anthony Lau who invented a cycle lock and started a business to market his invention. The Centre holds frequent workshops and seminars on all those topics. To access these resources you will need a reader's card which is issued free on production of a passport or driving licence and a utility bill or other evidence of residence. The British Library also has groups on Linkedin and Facebook which you can join on-line."

It is still worth visiting the British Library which is located literally next door to St. Pancras and a very short walk from King's Cross, but now many of those resources are close to hand.

Cambridge Central Library offers access to national and international databases of patents and design and trade mark registrations, business and consumer information, reference books, workshops and seminars and facilities for networking. The library hosts occasional IP clinics in its small interview room. These are free 30-minute consultations with local patent attorneys.  Contact details and other information is available on the CIPA website.

Peterborough offers access to databases and resources that are similar to those at Cambridge. It also holds workshops and seminars.  However, the patent clinic takes place in the offices of Baldwin's a local firm of accountants.  Again, particulars are available on the CIPA website. 

Local networks that may interest entrepreneurs and other creative and inventive folk in Cambridge and Peterborough include The Cambridge Network and Cambridge Angels. The Cambridge Network describes itself as

"a membership organisation based in the vibrant high technology cluster of Cambridge, UK. We bring people together - from business and academia - to meet and share ideas, encouraging collaboration and partnership for shared success."

Cambridge Angels "are a collaborative Cambridge-based group, actively mentoring and investing in innovative entrepreneurial teams and their ideas, to achieve returns and help realise their full potential. We have a strong ethos of backing merit and supporting entrepreneurship." Information about private equity and venture capital investors is available on the Business Investors and Funding Networks page of the Cambridgeshire County Council website.

Anybody from the East of England wishing to discuss this article or IP for business startups generally may call me on 020 7404 5252 during office hours or send me a message through my contact page.

An Example of how Patenting can work

Electron Micrograph of the Zika Virus

Author Cynthia Goldsmith, Centre for Disease Control and Prevention
Licensed by US government
Source Wikipedia 

Jane Lambert

In Patent or No Patent 28 Aug 2016 NIPC Inventors Club I warned of the risks and costs of patenting, discussed alternatives to patents and suggested a simple methodology by which companies could identify the type of legal protection for their intellectual assets (intellectual property) would be right for their businesses. There are, however, circumstances when only a patent will do and although those are much more likely to arise in the case of big companies there are still instances when a patent can assist a small one or even an individual inventor with a bright idea.

I was slowly coming to at 06:15 this morning when I heard an interview on BBC Radio 4's Today programme with an entrepreneur called Peter Laing who claimed to have developed a new response not just to the zika virus but also to dengue fever as well. Laing was asked how the technology was developed and he replied largely in his head. He added that he had a patent for the basic idea. He also talked about his company's business strategy which was to license the technology to multinationals like GSK and Xanofi with the manufacturing capacity and distribution channels to market a vaccine for zika and dengue.

That interview got me out of bed with a start and I started googling. I discovered an article by Andrew McConaghie in Phamaphorum entitled Single vaccine against Zika and Dengue to be developed 18 Aug 2016 which seemed broadly consistent with the item on Today.  That led me in turn to the website of a company at the St John's Innovation Centre in Cambridge called Excivion Ltd. and to one Peter Laing its CEO. I also made an Espacenet search against Peter Laing and found several entries where he was named as an inventor.

Now this is not an endorsement of Dr Laing or Excivion Ltd. I have no more inkling than anyone else whether this business strategy or technology will succeed. This article is not to be read as an investment tip or even a work of journalism. I am a patent lawyer and not an investment analyst or a journalist. My point is simply that patenting can work for very new and fairly small companies including start-ups even in advanced technologies and this could be an example.

It is important to note that Dr Laing has an exceptionally strong academic record having read biochemistry and carried out research at the University of Bath and after holding postdoctoral appointments in New Zealand, Bristol and the USA and teaching at the University of Nottingham. He has also had a very impressive business career holding senior appointments in research and development and setting up a successful consultancy. Not every private inventor has those sort of credentials.

It also appears from the home, about, intellectual property, news and media and consultancy pages of its website that Excivion has integrated its IP strategy into its business plan as I suggested in Why every business plan should take account of intellectual property 3 April 2016 NIPC News.  That is another important ingredient of success.

I urge any readers who are thinking of going into business to exploit a new technology to follow this company (as it will) to see what can be learned from its success or failures. Naturally I hope it will be very successful and I wish Dr Laing and his colleagues well with their venture But if for any reason it does not work there will be lessons to be learned that could be even more important than a success story.

National College for the Creative and Cultural Industries

The Royal Opera House's Manoukian Production Facility

Source Wikipedia

Creative Commons Licence

Jane Lambert

In his Autumn statement the Chancellor of the Exchequer promised to support "a new National College for Creative and Cultural Industries will be based in Essex (subject to due diligence)". Doubtless he was referring to the college announced by Chris Shipman on the Royal Opera House website in First National College for the creative and cultural industries to be established at High House Production Park, Thurrock on 11 Dec 2014. This college will be located in the Backstage Centre which is run by Creative and Cultural Industries Trading Limited for a number of important businesses and institutions in the creative industries including the Royal Opera House. Live Nation, White Light and the Association of British Theatre Technicians.

The College will open in September 2016 with a curriculum developed in consultation  with the University of the Arts to meet the needs of employers in the creative sector, particularly those in the High House Production Park.

Many types of intellectual assets are created by the performing arts some in permanent form such as back cloths, costumes and props and others ephemeral like an actor's soliloquy or a dancer's steps, turns and jumps. The investment in developing those assets is protected by copyright, design right, registered designs, rights in performances and  so on upon which we shall always be glad to advise. Should anyone wish to discuss those issues he or she should call me during office hours on 020 7404 5252 during office hours or send me a message through my contact form.

Protecting your Business Name or Trading Style

Jane Lambert

Every business in the world has some intellectual property even if it has never registered a single patent, design or trade mark. At the very least it will own the goodwill - that is to say the loyalty or other factor appealing to its customers - that is attached to its name, logo or trading style. If someone else uses the same or similar sign in the same market it can lead to a lot of confusion. The business that was here first may lose business to the newcomer, Or the newcomer may get an unmerited free ride on the back of the established trader.

The Clock v The Clock House Hotel 

A good example of that happened nearly 80 years ago in Hertfordshire. It concerned two roadhouses, one called The Clock in Welwyn and the other The Clock House Hotel in Barnet. It resulted in a case that went all the way to the Court of Appeal with King's Counsel and junior barristers on each side. The case, which is called The Clock Ltd v The Clock House Hotel Ltd 53 RPC 269 is still discussed today. Were a similar case to come before the courts now it would probably be decided the same way.

The Dispute

In 1929 The Clock Ltd. opened a roadhouse, that is to say hotel and restaurant near the Welwyn bypass. It was built in the Tudor style and its most distinctive feature was a gabled clock tower. The building was burned down some years ago and it had ceased to be an hotel some years earlier but there are some photos of the establishment in its prime in The Clock Hotel Welwyn by Susan Hall on the Herts Memories website. According to the law report, The Clock House Hotel Ltd, opened an establishment called the Clock House Hotel on the Barnet bypass some 5 miles away in 1934. Fearing the possibility of confusion and consequent damage The Clock House Ltd. applied to the High Court for an injunction restraining

"the Defendants, their directors, officers, servants and agents from carrying on the business of an hotel, road house or restaurant under the name of ' The Clock House,' 'The Clock House Hotel' or 'The Glock House', Hotel, Limited" on the premises now occupied by the Defendants or any name colourably resembling the Plaintiffs' name or the name 'T'he Clock' or from otherwise carrying on business under any description calculated to produce the belief that the Defendants' business is that of the Plaintiffs or that the one is a branch or department of the other."

The company's application was successful. The action was heard by Mr Justice Farwell who granted an injunction in those terms.  The Clock House Ltd appealed to the Court of Appeal but the judges who heard the appeal - Lord Wright MR and Lord Justices Romer and Green - could find no reason for disturbing the decision of the judge below.

Why the The Clock Ltd won

Then as now a claimant in an action for passing off has to prove three things which were summarized conveniently some years later by Lord Oliver in Reckitt and Colman Products Ltd v Borden Inc [1990] 1 WLR 491, [1990] RPC 341, [1990] WLR 491, [1990] 1 All ER 873, [1990] UKHL 12:

"a goodwill or reputation attached to the goods or services which he supplies in the mind of the purchasing public by association with the identifying "get-up" (whether it consists simply of a brand name or a trade description, or the individual features of labelling or packaging) under which his particular goods or services are offered to the public, such that the get-up is recognised by the public as distinctive specifically of the plaintiff's goods or services. Secondly, he must demonstrate a misrepresentation by the defendant to the public (whether or not intentional) leading or likely to lead the public to believe that goods or services offered by him are the goods or services of the plaintiff. Whether the public is aware of the plaintiff's identity as the manufacturer or supplier of the goods or services is immaterial, as long as they are identified with a particular source which is in fact the plaintiff. For example, if the public is accustomed to rely upon a particular brand name in purchasing goods of a particular description, it matters not at all that there is little or no public awareness of the identity of the proprietor of the brand name. Thirdly, he must demonstrate that he suffers or, in a quia timet action, that he is likely to suffer damage by reason of the erroneous belief engendered by the defendant's misrepresentation that the source of the defendant's goods or services is the same as the source of those offered by the plaintiff."

The Clock House had no trouble proving each of those elements.

Goodwill

In his judgment Lord Wright said:

"We have had some illustrations of the road house of the Plaintiffs. They show a very attractive set of buildings equipped for the delectation of the travelling or visiting public. It is equipped with a garden and a lawn; it has a swimming pool, a restaurant and tennis courts 20 which are available in connection with the premises. There is no accommodation for people to sleep other than the domestic staff; there is no sleeping accommodation for visitors. It is not, in any case, a hotel and it has not a licence. The building is in Tudor style and on one side of the building is a clock on a pedestal of its own. Close to the clock is the sign "The Clock, 25 " Welwyn." That business has become very prosperous; it has been very successful and a great many motorists either go there. specially in order to have luncheon, tea or dinner and take part in dancing or other amusements, or stop there on their way up and down the Great North Road. As I have said, that business was established in 1929 and has been going on ever since."

That was sufficient to satisfy the first requirement.

Misrepresentation

Although the defendant did not call its hotel The Clock House with an intention to deceive the trial judge and the Court of Appeal held that that was the result. The businesses were too similar and the distance between them too close to eliminate the risk of confusion.  Because of such confusion there was a real risk that the Welwyn establishment would lose trade to the one in Barnet.

How would this case be handled nowadays?

A similar case today would almost certainly be allocated to the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court and could possibly be heard in the small clams track. The small claims track has jurisdiction in passing off matters so long as damages are limited to £10,000. The case is heard by the district judge. Liability is determined and damages are assessed in the same hearing.  Recoverable costs are limited to just a few hundred pounds. I have written a lot of articles about starting proceedings in the small claims track and a good starting point would be How to take proceedings in the IPEC Small Claims Track 12 July 2014 IP South East.

Further Information

If you want to discuss this matter further give me a ring during office hours on 020 7404 5252 or send me a message on my contact form.

Gravity Fields Science and Arts Festival

St Wulfstan's Church, Grantham

Businesses in Cambridgeshire and elsewhere in the region may wish to visit Grantham a few miles up the A1 for the Gravity Fields Science and Arts Festival between 24 and 28 September 2014. There is a wide range of events from rocket workshops for 2 to 5 year olds to lectures on quantum computing and other topics by the country's leading academics. For those who are more interested in the performing arts there will be an exciting new ballet Chasing the Eclipse by Chantry Dance Company in which Dominic North will dance with Rae Piper.

Our chambers contribution to the festival will be an IP workshop and clinic at Grantham College on 26 Sept at 14:00. Speakers will include Jane Lambert of 4-5 Gray's Inn Square, Gary Townley of the Intellectual Property Office and Keith Loven of Loven IP. More details of the event are available in Grantham Science Festival - there is a practical side to science 4-4 IP 1 Sep 2014.

After the event there will be opportunities for one to one consultations with one of the speakers.  An hour with a patent attorney or counsel can cost many hundreds of pounds so this is your opportunity to pick the brains of one of those specialists on any of the IP issues affecting your business for free.

Demand is likely to be heavy so advanced booking through Eventbrite is essential.  We look forward to meeting you.

IP Events in Suffolk - Every Business Owns IP. What do you own?

Gainsborough's Mr and Mrs Andrews (1748–49)

Photo Wikipedia

Jane Lambert

Two interesting IP events are taking place in Suffolk over the Autumn. Both are called "Every Business Owns IP. What do you own?". The Intellectual Property Office is taking part in both events.

The first takes place in Bury St Edmonds on 7 Oct 2014 between 09:00 and 13:00 at Denny Bros, Kempson Way, Bury St Edmunds, IP32 7AR as part of the Bury St Edmunds Business Festival. You can find further information and make an on-line booking here.

The second is in Ipswich on 18 Nov 2014  between 09:00 and 13:00 at IP City Centre, 1 Bath Street, Ipswich, IP2 8SD and is organized by Menta Marketing. Dummett Copp are also taking part.  More information and booking details are available here.

Please note that if you book for the Ipswich event and fail to turn up the organizers will be after you for £30. But as they are laying on free food why wouldn't you come?