Patents

Some useful lessons in patents, trademarks and design registraion can be learnt from this post on Steve Van Dulken's Patent Blog.
I'll reproduce it in full below:

The Tangle Teezer®

Dragons' Den is an entertaining TV programme as so often those asking for cash for their ideas are naive, but sometimes the experts do get it wrong. Shaun Pulfrey's Tangle Teezer® is an example.

A year ago he asked for £85,000 in return for a 15% stake in his new hairbrush. Its teeth are designed to flex just the right amount to minimise tugging while smoothing the cuticles, says a story on the invention. An experienced London hairdresser, Pulfrey had thought of the idea 15 years ago but only made a prototype in 2004. All the dragons dismissed it.

A few weeks ago, Boots agreed to stock the product at 600 stores. Turnover (largely on the Internet, at £9.95) is already £800,000 annually, a quarter of which is profit. It looks as if the dragons missed out on a nice profit.

I had a look at the intellectual property behind the idea. In March 2005 Pulfrey applied for a European Community trade mark for the name, probably his most powerful selling tool.

In March 2007 he applied for a British patent, which was published a week ago as a Hair care device.

Then in April 2007 he applied for a Community design, one of the drawings of which is shown here.

In October 2007 he applied for design protection in the USA with American "design patent" D576804.

Finally in January 2008 he filed for a US trade mark/ trademark for the name. There may be other applications waiting publication, such as, perhaps, an American patent application.

The difference between designs and patents is, broadly speaking, that the former protects the appearance while the latter protects how it works. He used Marks & Clerk, a firm of patent attorneys, to advise him on his strategy and to write the applications.

A problem for anyone interesting in foreign protection is that this must be sought within 12 months of filing for a patent, or within 6 months of filing for a design. "Filing out of convention" by missing those deadlines means that your own domestic filings can be used to show that the idea is not new. Many who might be interested in filing abroad do not (yet) have the finance, or are not certain of product appeal, and therefore decide not to gamble on filing. Failure to file in a country means that the idea can be used there by others.

Searching Intellectual Property

I'm by no means an expert on Patents, Design Rights and Copyright. I rely very heavily on the Intellectual Property Office, but luckily their website is very clear and loaded with help and information. If you need any guidance on what intellectual property rights you can secure, click here to visit it before going to an expensive Patent Attorney.

Another UK organisation with a vast body of knowledge is the British Library, whose patent blog is written by Steve Van Dulken. I read it through my RSS reader, and he probably updates about once a week, which is just about right in my book, many more update and I have too many blogs to read on a daily basis! Mostly he’s pointing out the quirky and ridiculous patent submissions through history, but sometimes he gives an insight into everyday but revolutionary products, such as the Dyson vacuum cleaner.

The British Library has a Facebook group for aspiring entrepreneurs, click here to visit it. They also have a YouTube channel, which for some reason I can’t locate right now, so check out this video on their Business and IP centre here.

I also subscribe to a website called ‘Killer Start-Ups’, which reviewed a new start up for searching patents. A Patent Search is the first thing you should do if you think you have invented something unique, and this website may help with that. A patent search will show you:

a) If you actually have got a unique invention,

b) Whether you’re infringing someone else’s intellectual property and

c) If it’s really worth pursuing!

If you want to read more about Patents and intellectual property in a language that doesn’t confuse or befuddle, read ‘A Better Mousetrap’ by Peter Bissell and Graham Parker. It makes it clear what you can do yourself and what is better left to the professionals. You don’t even have to buy it, NTU Library has a copy (I know I ordered it!)

Thanks so much to Neil http://www.husqvarnastudio.co.uk/ for giving up his time for free (and if you knew him you'd know what a gift that is!) and talking to us about customer service. I hope you found it enlightening. Dan, that bottle of Cava disappeared...has your mum bought that sewing machine yet? Anyhow- thanks Arkwright, it was a good one. We'll return to the subject very soon, I am sure!

I had the following email from Chris Davies http://www.bigtreeproject.org/ and will pass it on as requested - "Could you also pass on to Hive students Open Office http://www.openoffice.org/ You can open all Word, PowerPoint and spreadsheet documents, etc... AND its 100% FREE!"

I have been having a number of conversations with people about Intellectual Property (IP). I heard a really interesting Radio 4 programme last week called The Bottom Line, all about Trade Secrets and IP. It's hosted by Evan Davis, the guy in charge of the Dragons Den! http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/news/bottomline/bottomline.shtml. You can download the podcast or listen online within a week of the episode. It's worth 30 minutes listen anyway, I listen whilst I am washing pots!

(Why is there so much washing up by the way? There are only two humans in our house, but tons of washing up everyday..how does that happen? Is the dog leaving his washing up for me to do when I get back from work, are my neighbours eating their tea at my house, have I got greedy ghosts?)

align="justify">The Hive is a member of East Midlands Incubation Network http://www.emincubation.co.uk/ , as a result I get a newsletter from them each week. This week's newletter had news of the following e-tool which you may find useful. Iwatched the first five minutes, have a look and make up your own mind http://www.wipo.int/sme/en/multimedia/