PEOPLE with bright ideas in Britain鈥檚 Southeast must now spend more time and money to safeguard their inventions, following a decision by the British Patent Office to close its London office. Neither the Patent Office nor its master, the Department of Trade and Industry, warned the public about the closure.
The result is that as from 3 January, London no longer has a Search and Advisory Service. The service provides a senior Patent Office examiner to help inventors search for prior patents so they can avoid the expense of drawing up a patent application only to find their idea is not a novel one. Employing a patent attorney to carry out such a search costs about 拢400, while half a day using the service costs 拢200.
鈥淚t鈥檚 an excellent service,鈥� says Peter Stebbing, a European patent attorney. 鈥淎t least half the people I refer never come back, because they find their idea is old.鈥� In future, inventors who want to use the service will have to travel to the main Patent Office at Newport in Gwent.
Advertisement
The Patent Office says the London search service was being closed 鈥渇or management reasons鈥�. The Patent Office has already received complaints from patent attorneys about the closure, and says it is aware of the problems that the closure will cause. Officials say that the Patent Office is 鈥渓ooking at the possibility of running clinics in provincial cities鈥�, but so far has no firm plans.
The DTI has decided that the Patent Office should not be privatised, and should remain independent, after spending months considering a report on the possible sell-off by accountants Price Waterhouse.