UK.gov relaxes patent application process

The UK government has rejigged the process for filing patents in Europe, which the Intellectual Property Minister Baroness Wilcox said would help bring down costs for Blighty's businesses. From 1 January 2011 anyone supplying paperwork to the European Patent Office (EPO) will be able to do so with fewer documents than had been …

[Flocke Kroes]

Is this ignorance or malice?

If the EPO could follow ID cards down the toilet then you would really see innovation take off.

[Stoneshop]

So

replacing European-wide patent protection through a slow and cumbersome process with *no* protection is going to stimulate innovation.

I doubt such matters work like that. Severely.

[Richard 33]

Reducing cost?

Certainly reducing the cost for the businesses filing patents. Massively increasing the cost for everyone else who has to think about whether their existing, older, independently created invention infringes.

[Graham Marsden]

So are we going to follow the USA...

... where patents go through virtually on the nod and then people start pointing out Prior Art?

Patent troll because...

[Peter Gathercole]

I initially thought this,

but I changed my mind when I considered what the article actually said.

It is not eliminating the need to provide searches, which would be disastrous, but to allow the application to the EPO to use the previous searches that were provided for the initial UK patent application automatically, without needing to re-submit them searches to the EPO.

This will reduce the paperwork, and thus the cost to the applicant, without seriously reducing the protection. This would appear to me to be quite sensible.

The only downside I can see is that the UK searches will not have been against the EPO records, but I guess that it would still be necessary to perform those.

[JaitcH]

Well done, Gov.UK - smart move

Any red tape reduction allowing people to file their IP and then to get on making use of it is to be welcomed, particularly the EU wide concept.

The only thing we should hope is that EU patents don't become as confused and litigation prone as is the case with the U.S. system.

[Pal Sahota]

Will it stop things like this happening?

I have been let down by the previous UK and EU system. Will it help prevent similar cases to mine considering USPTO (i believe) are biased toward US Global software giants in granting software patents.

http://www.techeye.net/business/british-man-accuses-google-of-nicking-instant-search

[Lars]

Abandoning software patents too

Abandoning software patents would help too.

"would help bring down costs for Blighty's businesses."

Easy, bye dropping the cost for applying for a patent, but that, perhaps, is not what the Baroness has in mind.

[Pinky]

Using innovations ...

... is prevented by the slow patent process?!? Since when? As soon as the patent application is filed, the patented "innovation" is protected, and the originator can start using/licensing it. The only thing I can see happening as a result of this the a slow migration towards the US system (approve the application as soon as possible, and let the courts decide if the patent is valid when the holder enforces it).

FAIL, as that is what the EPO will hopefully do!

[henrydddd]

I wonder

Considering the number of patent trolls that exist now, I wonder if I can now get breathing patented?

[Anonymous Coward]

Just have to point out the small error

A patent attorney is not required to draw up or file an EPO patent application (although it is certainly recommended).

If you or your business is resident in an EPO member state, then you never need an attorney.

If you are from outside of the member states, then after the initial filing you will need to engage a European patent attorney (using a solicitor is also possible in some circumstances).

But like I said above, the complexity of the procedure means that dabbling as an amateur is a risky business!