THE inventor of the highly successful Dual Cyclone bagless vacuum cleaner,
James Dyson, is mounting a legal challenge to the cost of renewal fees charged
by patent offices in the 40 member states of the Council of Europe. He has
complained to the European Court of Human Rights about 鈥渦nfair treatment of
inventors鈥�. He says that his company has to spend 拢350 000 a year on legal
costs and fees when renewing patents around the world.
Dyson filed his bedrock patent application, European 042 743, in 1981, and
launched his vacuum cleaner in 1993. A conventional cleaner sucks dusty air
through a paper bag that acts as a filter. But the Dyson vacuum cleaner pumps
the air tangentially into a pair of cylinders to create swirling cyclones. These
act as a centrifuge and separate the dust from the air.
The patent renewal system, says Dyson, 鈥渧iolates the human rights of all
inventors鈥�. He wants the human rights court to 鈥渙utlaw鈥� the 鈥渕andatory and
exorbitant charges鈥� levied. He compares patents with copyright law, under which
protection is free and lasts until 70 years after the author鈥檚 death. However,
the British Patent Office says that renewal fees help to keep down its charges
for patent applications, which must be examined for technical validity and
novelty. Renewal fees, which range from 拢110 to 拢450 a year, cover
the cost of this examination, it says.
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