News
Government closes IP advisory body
23rd July 2010
The Government's independent advisory body on intellectual property issues will close within a year. The Strategic Advisory Board on Intellectual Property (SABIP) will be abolished, the Department ... Read More »
Men At Work ordered to hand over royalties
7th July 2010
Australian pop group Men At Work have been ordered to hand over five per cent of the royalties from their 1980s hit song Down Under after a judge ruled they had copied part of the tune from a ... Read More »
ProspectIP Innovation Award winner
18th June 2010
PSK won the ProspectIP Innovation Award at the De Montfort University Business Venture competition 2010 for their Postural Support Chair for Children. The postural support chair has been designed ... Read More »
Tony Benn - suitcase that comes with a seat
9th June 2010
Tony Benn, at the age of 85 could win legions of new fans with his new invention – the ‘Seatcase’, a suitcase that comes with a seat attached. This week his contraption has been given the ... Read More »
Green patent database launched
8th June 2010
A new database of green inventions to help the development of environmentally-friendly technology has been launched by Intellectual Property Minister Baroness Wilcox. The Intellectual Property ... Read More »
WIPO launches global on-line resource
3rd June 2010
WIPO launched on June 1 2010, WIPO GOLD, a free on-line global intellectual property (IP) reference resource that provides quick and easy access to a broad collection of searchable IP data and ... Read More »
Northamptonshire architects win major award for innovation
2nd June 2010
Northamptonshire architects, Victor J Wigley and Associates, have picked up a prestigious award for innovation. The award for Most Commercial Impact was presented by Wayne Hemmingway, one of ... Read More »
From high end to high street
28th May 2010
The Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A) is actively managing its IP to broaden its search for growth partners. Take a run-of-the-mill product - a garden fork, perhaps, or a frying pan. What ... Read More »
Designs of the future
27th May 2010
On a rainy and blustery day it is not unusual to get soaking wet whilst struggling with a troublesome brolly. One young British designer thinks he has come up with a solution. The enterprising ... Read More »
WIPO Director General highlights importance of Intellectual Property for Innovation and Technology Transfer
11th May 2010
The critical role of intellectual property as a tool for enabling innovation, the practical transfer of technology and industrial competitiveness were the focus of the remarks of WIPO Director ... Read More »
Boy, aged 12, could net thousands from putty invention
11th May 2010
Putty Monsters, a twist on the classic children's putty, has won a competition organised by the retail site Firebox for a new product. Tom Spring, from Leicester, who came up with the idea will ... Read More »
Companies should be able to register single letters as trade marks, says top court advisor
10th May 2010
A legal advisor to the European Union's top court has said that single-letters can be registered as trademarks. The advisor has said that the EU's trademarks office should not have been rejecting ... Read More »
Football fixtures copyrighted, UK court decides
26th April 2010
A UK High Court has ruled that football fixture lists are protected by copyright law, meaning betting companies and newspapers will have to pay to publish them. The Associated Press reports that ... Read More »
3 finalists in .5m prize for technology breakthroughs
26th April 2010
Three European inventors who helped create illuminated wallpapers, tiny fast processors in mobile phones and cheap, high-performance cells used in solar panels are finalists in the 1.1 million ... Read More »
Son's autism leads to innovation
23rd April 2010
The father of a child with severe autism has developed technology to help him communicate. Stephen Lodge said the idea for his Speaks4Me system came to him years ago but has been waiting for ... Read More »
Surgeon's invention goes on show in Geneva
23rd April 2010
A hospital tourniquet has been developed to include a pen torch, after a surgeon had trouble finding one while doing his ward rounds. Dr Stratos Sofos, from Rhyl, Denbighshire invented the ... Read More »
Labour pledges IP law reform, Conservatives pledge public procurement overhaul
16th April 2010
The Labour Party has said that it will further reform intellectual property law if it is returned to Government in next month's general election. The Conservative Party has said it will introduce ... Read More »
Rutland Telecom offers villagers fast broadband
14th April 2010
A UK village which raised £37,000 to offer 200 homes the super-fast broadband that BT could not deliver has launched its network. Rutland Telecom will offer the residents of Lyddington speeds of ... Read More »
RDA's launch Ethnic Minority Business Advocacy Network
13th April 2010
England's Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) have announced the launch of a new Ethnic Minority Business Advocacy Network (EMBAN). Ethnic minority businesses currently make up 6% of the total ... Read More »
Enter the Lord Stafford Awards 2010
12th April 2010
The deadline for the East Midlands’ businesses and universities’ entries for the Lord Stafford Awards will be 12pm on Thursday 29th April 2010. The East Midlands Development Agency-sponsored ... Read More »
Digital Economy Bill passed by House of Commons
9th April 2010
The Digital Economy Bill has been passed by the House of Commons and will become law before the general election. The Bill was passed amidst criticisms from inside and outside of Parliament about ... Read More »
UK Music calls for stronger copyright protection
31st March 2010
Shane Richmond writes in the Telegraph UK Music, the umbrella organisation that represents various parts of the British music industry, has released its recommendations for the future of the ... Read More »
Second phase of the Regional Innovation Strategy is launched
31st March 2010
East Midlands Development Agency (emda) has announced that the second phase of the Regional Innovation Strategy (RIS) has been approved by its Board, meaning that regional businesses will continue ... Read More »
Emda announces new support for aspiring high growth business
29th March 2010
East Midlands Development Agency (emda), has announced it is seeking 50 potential high growth businesses from across the East Midlands to take part in its new support programme for high growth ... Read More »
New patent and trade mark fees
25th March 2010
On 6th April 2010, the Intellectual Property Office is introducing a number of changes to the fees for applying for patent protection and renewing granted patents along with a range of changes to ... Read More »
Electronic publication of patent documents
25th March 2010
From 01st April 2010 the Intellectual Property Office will be utilising its on-line publication server as its official publication means for all published, granted and corrected patent publication ... Read More »
Transport iNet's Innovation Express told "innovation, flexibility and scope" key to supplying big business
25th March 2010
In the first event of its kind, small and medium sized businesses from the East Midlands boarded the Transport iNet’s “Innovation Express” this week. Twenty companies offering engineering, ... Read More »
UK IPO launches initiative to tackle patent backlog
25th March 2010
Mutual recognition with the US and Japanese patent offices will form the cornerstone of the UK intellectual Property Office’s plans to reduce patent backlogs. The schemes are being implemented ... Read More »
Entrepreneurs and Businessess.....the doors have opened!
25th March 2010
Entrepreneurs’ and businesses in the East Midlands have an alternative way to seek financial support, even if declined by the bank. Managed by First Enterprise Business Agency (FEBA) on behalf ... Read More »
Historian cautions against strong-arm tactics in copyright battles
25th March 2010
Copyright-dependent industries risk alienating the public and undermining intellectual property laws with their unregulated and aggressive tactics, according to a historian who has studied nearly ... Read More »
Folding plug wins British design award
19th March 2010
Min-Kyu Choi has won the Brit Insurance Design Award 2010 for his Folding Plug Choi designed the folding plug due to his frustration at having to use a heavyweight traditional British plug, which ... Read More »
Google ruling set to govern online trademark use in Europe
19th March 2010
Europe's top court, the Court of Justice of the European Union, will next week rule on whether or not Google can use trade marks to trigger ads when brands battle to reach online consumers. The ... Read More »
£20k awards to boost innovation
16th March 2010
Loughborough University have launched a competition to boost innovation in the British sporting goods and leisure sector. Lone inventors, start-ups and small to medium sized business can apply for ... Read More »
The first self charging phone
15th March 2010
Nokia, the mobile phone makers are developing a self charging phone, using kinetic energy created by a person’s movement it ensure the battery does run out whilst in the middle of an important ... Read More »
Intellectual Property is not a luxury
12th March 2010
During tough economical times, it is easy to consider Intellectual Property (IP) as a luxury, yet it can help businesses defeat competitors and improve profit margins. IP, such as patents or ... Read More »
Motorola versus BlackBerry
29th January 2010
Motorola has lodged a complaint with the US International Trade Commission to stop Research in Motion from importing its BlackBerry phone into the United States. Motorola has alleged Research in ... Read More »
Environmental Investment Fund
29th January 2010
The UK Innovation Investment Fund is off the ground with the first closing of the £125m Hermes Private Equity environmental innovation fund. It’s taken only 7 months for UKIIF to launch the ... Read More »
Innovative University scheme wins licensing deal
4th June 2009
ProspectIP, a De Montfort University initiative that helps commercialise novel business ideas and inventions has secured its first two licensing agreements and attracted a further £400,000 in ... Read More »