RE: [PIUG List] JPO to cut patent & trademark fees

Also, the last time I checked, the JPO was sitting on a $100 million
rollover surplus.

-----Original Message-----
From: Stephen Adams [mailto:stevea_at_magister.co.uk]
Sent: Monday, January 07, 2008 7:55 PM
To: Alan
Cc: PIUG Discussion List @ Listbox
Subject: Re: [PIUG List] JPO to cut patent & trademark fees

Dear Alan,
This is an interesting announcement, in that it seems to be a reversal
of previous philosophy. I well remember a conversation around 2003 with
a (ex-JPO) representative from JETRO, resident in Europe, who told me
that the JPO had deliberately *raised* its fees in an attempt to deter
filing of trivial inventions. The hope was that if it became more
expensive to file an application, inventors would take more care to get
it right first time, including at least a basic pre-filing search. This
was done at a time when the Office wanted to concentrate its examining
efforts on 'more substantive' applications.

Whilst there is not a direct correlation between nature of invention and
size of applicant, I think it is accepted that SMEs do contribute
disproportionately to the numbers of poorly drafted or un-searched
applications which get thrown out at an early stage of prosecution. To
that extent, the earlier JPO approach made some sense. Having said
that, the UK Intellectual Property Office has for some years had a
filing fee of zero, without apparent opening the floodgates to trivial
applications. It is even more of a risk in the UK, since an inventor is
not obliged to use a professional representative - they can do all the
drafting and administration themselves.

It's an interesting balance to get right - opening the patent system to
as many people who want to make use of it but not trivialising the
system. How long before a patent office starts using the same
strap-line as a popular brand of beer, "Reassuringly expensive" (!?).

Stephen

--
Stephen Adams
Magister Ltd.
Crown House, 231 Kings Road, Reading, RG1 4LS, GB
Tel: +44 (0)118 966 6520
Fax: +44 (0)118 966 6620
E-mail: stevea_at_magister.co.uk (replace _at_ by @ to use)
Website : http://www.magister.co.uk

Registered in England and Wales. Company No. 3407685




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Received on Mon Jan 07 2008 - 12:51:18