IP

Sue kicked off the session and talked us through the various soft IP rights that can exist, including copyright, trade marks, designs, goodwill etc. and put this in context by describing the inter-relationship of these rights using the Glastonbury Festival as an example. The session aimed to communicate that IP has many facets and a lot of the rights inter-relate. However it is vital that there is awareness of the rights both so they can be used and the problems that third party rights could present if there is lack of awareness of Soft IP and its value.

This proved to be a lively discussion as there were a number of patent attorneys at the session. A kick-off statement claimed that the IP system does not work for Technology Transfer offices, asserting that due to the lack of grace period, filing happens far too early.

Another view from the TTO side was that we need a system to enforce IP rather than going down the open access model. Some of the patent attorneys agreed with the idea of a grace period while others took the view that having a grace period would add to the uncertainty of the situation.

Tom Flanagan, RTTP, Director, DIT Hothouse, Dublin Institute of Technology, chaired a fascinating discussion of the difference in processes for resolving disputes using mediation, arbitration and court proceedings. The panel included The Honourable Mr Justice Peter Kelly, Judge of the Court of Appeal in Ireland, formerly Judge in Charge of the Commercial Court in Ireland; Judith Schallnau, Lawyer, IP Disputes Management Section, WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Centre; David Perkins, Arbitrator / Mediator for WIPO and other international arbitration bodies.

Intellectual property are knowledge assets that both universities and business create, but to own and manage these assets they require legal rights.

When most people think of IP they think of the rights that attribute ownership rather than of the knowledge content of the asset. Intellectual property rights typically take the form of a document, such as patents or copyrights, that describes the knowledge content and attributes ownership of the asset.