INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
OFFICE News Release issued by COI News Distribution Service. 19
January 2009
The Intellectual
Property Office has launched two new patents databases on its web
site this weekend (17/18 January 2009). One contains all patents
in force in the UK which are endorsed Licence of Right, and are
therefore open for licensing. The other contains all UK patents
which are no longer in force, and therefore contains inventions
which are no longer protected here.
Both the new databases will help businesses identify
opportunities they might otherwise not have found.
Sean Dennehey, Assistant Comptroller and Director of Patents,
said "The introduction of these two new free databases, which
were recommended in the Gowers Review, will we hope, give UK
businesses ready access to good ideas and new opportunities."
The databases are based on the design of the successful E-Patents
Journal available on the Intellectual Property website and will be
updated weekly. Each provides a searchable sub-set of data from
the Patents Register, and provides links back to the Register and
to esp@cenet (which is the web database service for viewing patent specifications).
Editor Notes
* The introduction of the databases is as a consequence of
recommendation 30a and 30b of the Gowers Review of Intellectual
Property http://www.ipo.gov.uk/policy-issues-gowersreport.htm
* The Intellectual Property Office web site address is http://www.ipo.gov.uk/
* The new databases can be found at http://www.ipo.gov.uk/p-dl-licenceofright.htm
* For enquiries about the Intellectual Property Office please
contact James Thomson Tel: 020 75966 547.