Gowers Review Recommendations made
January 2007
The long-awaited Gowers Review on Intellectual Property in the UK has now been published. The review recommended 54 separate reforms. Key recommendations included:
Introducing accelerated grant process for patents to complement the accelerated examination and combined patent search and examination process.
Introducing a fast track registration for trade marks.
The Patent Office should pursue work-sharing arrangements with EPC member States, and trilaterally with the USA and Japan to reduce cross-national duplication of effort.
The length of protection on sound recordings and performers’ rights should be retained at the current period of 50 years.
Change the name of UK Patent Office to the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) to reflect the breadth of functions the office has, and to dispel confusion.
An executive summary and full copy of the review is available at
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/media/583/91/pbr06_gowers_report_755.pdf
For further comments by Haseltine Lake Partner, David Brown, on how the Gowers Review has proposed changes in the area of Chemical, Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology patenting, please click on the link below.
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