What happens when crooks are allowed to steal from inventors?
The Access to Justice Act 1999 removed legal funding for intellectual property cases.
The following chart highlights the UK’s international PCT patent performance.
Source: World Intellectual Property Organisation Statistics
Move along now. Nothing to see here.
posted by Deep Thunk @ 12:55
9 Comments:
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Hi there
It's a shame you missed out the data on either side of your graph, otherwise people would see that the situation is not as bad as you make out.
These are the numbers for PCT filings with a UK origin (source=WIPO) :
1990 1,957
1991 2,257
1992 2,374
1993 2,634
1994 2,838
1995 3,005
1996 3,144
1997 3,465
1998 3,667
1999 4,207
2000 4,795
2001 5,482
2002 5,376
2003 5,205
2004 5,031
2005 5,100
Notice the general trend upwards, with a bit of a dip around 2002 (maybe due to corporate nervousness because of the war in Iraq - the stock market dips at around the same time). However, the filings seem to be back on the rise again - we'll just have to see what 2006 brings.
Hi,
My figures are based on the chart contained in WIP0’S International Patent System in 2005 - Yearly Review of the PCT
It is chart 2.2: Top 15 Countries of Origin1
It starts at 2001 and ends in 2005. At the time I posted the chart the figures in 2005 were estimated (hence the range of 2001-2004 ;-)).
If you have a problem with the way the figures are presented I suggest you write to the WIPO and complain.
Your reason for the decline in international PCT filings in the UK does not bear scrutiny. None of the other countries in the top 15 (apart form Sweden) have seen such a steep and sustained drop.
The reason our performance is declining is bad laws and theft-based IP polices.
Simple as this.
See you on InnovationTalk
Hi DT
I don't have a problem with WIPO's figures, I just think you present them selectively in a misleading way to portray an overly negative situation. Incidentally, the 2006 figures to date I have extrapolated would indicate an increase in UK filings of 5-6%. Of course, that's still unlikely to be as much of a percentage increase as some countries, but at least it reverses the recent downward turn.
As far as the reasons why, well I think the answer is far from simple. There are a multitude of reasons, of which the war/stock market may be one. There havent been any major changes in UK law which would have caused the sudden decline indicated in the graphs so Im not convinced this is the reason either as you indicate.
I suppose one of the problems in recent years with the UK is the high cost of litigation compared to the rest of Europe, although we are still cheaper than the US! But the Woolf reforms have had an impact on this and various initiatives from the Patent Office amongst others have helped inventors resolve complaints more easily and cheaply.
BV
My figures are presented in a contemporary way. All such charts in ALL of the national media outlets follow the same form. The advantage of my presentation over newspaper broadsheet information is that I post a link to the original sources.
The reason that the figures LOOK negative is that they ARE negative. No source I have found (apart from you) claims otherwise (including government debates recorded in Hansard).
The reason the UK’s innovation rate is crashing is crushingly simple: we steal inventions form inventors. It is not a criminal offence to steal innovations from inventors. It is, however, a criminal offence for inventors to take them back – it is called piracy and counterfeiting.
It is now a de-facto business process to steal inventions form inventors. No other country allows this.
I’m sorry, but your assertion that there has been no major changes in UK law is completely false. The Access to Justice Act 1999 is a major piece of legislation. This insidious law REMOVES access to justice for inventors. It is probably the reason invention thieves are now on an unprecedented crime spree – they have no fear of rightful owners being able to afford to bring them to justice.
The patent office are not proactive in identifying thieves. They don’t even check the validity (or even existence) of named inventors.
What Im trying to get across is that the figures aren't as dramatic/negative as you portray them. Consider the situation where company A's turnover falls by 5%. That doesn't seem to good. If B's turnover falls by 50% by comparison then actually A is doing ok by comparison.
This is my point with the UK in the statistics provided. Its situation could be considered poor in isolation or compared to the best performers but not so bad in the whole picture (including the overall timescale, all the PCT signaturies).
However I guess we're never going to agree on this so I'll leave it that! ;-)
Incidentally most countries do not check the identity of the inventor - the US does in a sense by getting a signed declaration although I guess this could be faked. I imagine this would place undue burden on the respective Patent Offices, especially as I believe such occurrences are rare. As such there are generally provisions to sort out such errors eg s.37 under the UK Patent Act.
Hi Balanced view,
We are the only modern industrial democracy without an effective reward mechanism for innovators and inventors.
This shows up via our innovation performance. It is this simple.
It would not cost the Patent Office one single penny to ensure named inventors sign 7/77 forms. All they have to do is insist that inventors sign the forms. The cost and complexity will then fall on the applicant.
Just a comment on your last post - what do you consider the 'effective reward mechanisms' of other modern industrial democracies to be?
And also, how would the UK Patent Office ensure that it was inventors signing the 7/77 forms without it costing a penny?
BV
The effective reward mechanism is the constitutional right to benefit from our work.
To quote from two people – Thomas Hobbes and John Locke. In the 17th century they said: “people have a 'natural right' to own whatever they create”.
They didn’t say that: “fat-cats had the right to steal what people create”, did they?
The UK is a theft-based failing system. It needs to be changed, and fast.
In the last 30 years no British inventor has EVER benefited from the provisions in the 1977 patent act. This fucking stinks.
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