CIPA
unprecedented. Te BBC, CNN, mainstream daily newspapers, and hundreds of
online
titles and specialist business and technology magazines, all regularly ran IP stories in 2012. High-profile industry figures, including Sir James Dyson and Trevor Baylis, were regularly quoted for their views on the IP system. CIPA clocked up more prime-time appearances than ever before, with spokespeople on the BBC, CNN and Channel 5 News, as well as letters, articles and comments appearing in print.
While Europe and the UPC did figure in
the media, it was the high-profile disputes involving household names that cropped up most and kept the headline writers busy. Te widespread coverage of the ‘smartphone patent wars’, involving Apple, Samsung and others, led to regular opportunities for patent attorneys to appear on TV and radio, to explain the background to high court injunctions.
Challenges of 2013
Firms of patent and trademark attorneys now have the option of operating under so-called
‘alternative business structures’ (ABSs). Under an ABS, a firm may have non-lawyers as owners or managers. As both CIPA and ITMA are regulated by the Intellectual Property Regulation Board (IPReg), the two institutes supported IPReg’s application last year to become an ABS licensing authority. If approved, it will join the Solicitors Regulation Authority and Council for Licensed Conveyancers as ABS licensing authorities.
Te two institutes see the application as strategic, enabling both ABS and non-ABS IP firms to continue to be regulated by the same regulator. It is a chance to put in place firms that are more vertically integrated in the services they offer, and to offer additional services such as investment and marketing advice.
Under ABS, it should also be possible for patent attorneys to join forces with accountants and help businesses to take advantage of the ‘patent box’. Tis is a tax reduction measure that is not only condoned by the government but was actually a government initiative. Te enabling legislation was passed in 2012. According to HM Revenue & Customs:
“Te patent box enables companies to apply a lower rate of corporation tax to profits earned aſter April 1, 2013 from their patented inventions and certain other innovations. Te relief will be phased in from April 1, 2013 and the lower rate of corporation tax to be applied will be 10 percent.”
Patent attorneys and tax accountants are likely to be busy in 2013 and beyond, trying to make sense of the legislation’s labyrinthine definition of “relevant IP income”, from which the tax benefit is calculated. Let’s hope that it has the intended effect of stimulating innovation.
Chris Mercer is president of CIPA. He can be contacted at:
chrismercer@ntlworld.com
CIPA CLOCKED UP MORE PRIME-TIME APPEARANCES THAN EVER BEFORE, WITH SPOKESPEOPLE ON THE BBC, CNN AND CHANNEL 5 NEWS, AS WELL AS LETTERS, ARTICLES AND COMMENTS APPEARING IN PRINT.
Chris Mercer is a registered patent attorney and litigator, a member of CIPA’s council and a former president of the European Patent Institute. Mercer has worked as a consultant to patent attorneys Carpmaels & Ransford since retiring from full-time practice in 2010. He has considerable experience in dealing with the European Patent Office and the US Patent and Trademark Office, and has an MSc in biochemistry from the University of Oxford.
www.worldipreview.com
World Intellectual Property Review e-Digest 2013
15
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