UK INTELLECTUAL
PROPERTY OFFICE News Release issued by The Government News Network
on 1 August 2008
Modernisation and
Consolidation of the Trade Marks Rules.
A new booklet launched today by the UK Intellectual Property
Office will help small businesses exploit their intellectual property.
The booklet "How Licensing Intellectual Property Can Help
Your Business" provides a wide range of information on IP
licensing which includes advice on how to approach and conduct a
productive IP licensing deal.
Licensing intellectual property is important to all types of
businesses and can be a key instrument to achieving success. For
example, licensing can be appropriate to those who invent a
product, to manufacturers and designers who configure or refine a
product's appearance to the producers of packaging and
marketing literature and materials. Through licensing businesses
can gain benefits, financial or otherwise, by allowing others to
use their intellectual property. Licensing also provides a means
to gain access to intellectual property other businesses hold in
order develop new products.
Ian Fletcher Chief Executive of UK-IPO said,
"The 'Innovation Nation' White Paper published
earlier this year, sets out the Government's goal to make the
UK the best place in the world to run a creative, innovative
business. We live in a world where "open innovation" -
the exchange of ideas, knowledge and intellectual property - is
becoming the way in which businesses develop and build new products.
Licensing is the fundamental mechanism within the intellectual
property system that facilitates open innovation. I am delighted
to publish this booklet today which provides an illuminating
account of the key elements of licensing from a newcomers
perspective. We want businesses to gain the most value they can
from their intellectual property and also to accelerate innovative
development by working in collaboration with other businesses in
using IP."
The new booklet was produced by the UK-IPO-led
Business-to-Business Licensing Working Group which comprises over
twenty individuals with a range of expertise and experience of
licensing. The B2B group was set up in response to the recent
Gowers Review of Intellectual Property, which highlighted the fact
that UK businesses experienced problems with IP licensing.
Editors Notes:
* The booklet "How Licensing Intellectual Property Can Help
Your Business can be viewed at http://www.ipo.gov.uk/licensingbooklet.pdf
* If you would like a paper copy of the booklet please
contact UK-IPO Central Enquiry Unit on 08459 500 505
* An IP
licence is a permission to do something that, without the licence,
would be an infringement of IP. An example of an IP licence is
the licence you get whenever you purchase a copy of software to
use on your computer.
* The Innovation White Paper can be
viewed at http://www.dius.gov.uk/publications/ScienceInnovation.pdf
* The Gowers Review of Intellectual Property can be viewed at
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/media/6/E/pbr06_gowers_report_755.pdf