The Intellectual Property Office ("IPO") has announced new measures designed to help small and medium-sized enterprises ("SMEs") protect their intellectual property.

The measures form part of the government's new Innovation and Research Strategy for Growth, which is intended to increase investment in research and innovation in the UK.

The changes are a consequence of the Hargreaves review which proposed that the IPO should produce plans to improve the accessibility of the intellectual property system to smaller companies.

The Department for Innovation, Business and Skills has said SMEs will benefit from:

• Free IP audits through organisations such as the Technology ...

Sainsburys have announced that they are trialing shopping trolleys with inbuilt iPad docks. 

The move is in partnership with Sky to promote their Sky Go service which allows users to watch live sport or news on their portable devices. 

The trolleys come with a tilting iPad holder, speakers and an on board battery powered by a self-charging solar panel. 

In addition, the high tech trolley has a sensor on its front bumper which beeps if the trolley gets too close to something preventing users crashing into other people while engrossed in the live action.

The innovative ...

Apple have obtained a preliminary injunction from a German court preventing Samsung from selling its Galaxy Tablet in the EU (except for the Netherlands) due to potential infringement of Apple's patents. This has resulted in European customs officers preventing Galaxy shipments entering the EU. In addition to this success, Apple also obtained a similar court order last week delaying the launch of the latest Galaxy mobile phones and tablets in Australia.  

This is just a further example of Apple's willingness to enforce its IP rights to prevent its rivals from selling, what it feels, to be, products that infringe ...

This month has seen the publication of two reports by the Intellectual Property Office (IPO). The main report, 'The Role of Intellectual Property Rights in the UK Market Sector' and the accompanying report, 'Film, Television & Radio, Books, Music and Art: UK Investment in Artistic Originals' discuss the impact of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) on the UK economy.  

The reports analyse various statistics and data, including official data from the UK National Accounts. Together the reports examine both the proportion of knowledge investment in the UK that is protected by IPR (copyright, designs, patents and trade marks) and the ...

A recent Patents County Court case has analysed the requirements for infringement of unregistered design rights ("UDR") and highlights the importance of documenting the design process.

The Claimant, 'APL', claimed that the Defendant, 'Nampak', had infringed their UDR relating to their design of packaging for tortilla wraps.  A copy of the case report can be found here. 

APL manufactured and supplied their tortilla packaging to Sainsbury's between 2006 to 2008 through an intermediary.  In 2008, Sainsbury's changed its packaging supplier to Nampak.  APL subsequently brought a claim against Nampak claiming the Defendant's product was an infringing copy ...

Today Professor Ian Hargreaves released his report entitled "Digital Opportunity – A Review of Intellectual Property and Growth" (the "Review"), a link to the report can be found here.  

As we previously reported here, the Review was commissioned by the Prime Minister in November 2010 to assess the UK's intellectual property laws and to make them fit for the digital age. 

In its executive summary the Review states that it "proposes a clear change in the strategic direction of IP policy direction designed to ensure that the UK has an IP framework best suited to supporting innovation ...

Since Apple first brought out the iPad so successfully, the tablet has been the next big thing in the computer world. Sales of computers are declining, tablets are still on the rise. However, earlier this month the Guardian also reported that over the next four years the iPad's share is expected to fall to 47%, in a market selling 294m annually, as tablets running Google's Android operating system, HP's WebOS and RIM's PlayBook join the competition.Therefore, the competition for consumers is hotting up, soon Motorola's Zoom tablet will be available and Sony's Android 3.0 tablets are due in the Autumn. ...

In London yesterday, George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, unveiled plans for this year's budget in the UK. In the speech he delivered to Parliament he set out the Government's 'radical' plan to get the UK economy growing.  

The Chancellor pledged to encourage enterprise and investment and stated that we are to have a "Britain carried aloft by the march of the makers". The aim being to make the UK the best place in Europe to start, grow and finance a business, including the digital and creative industries where the intellectual property regime will be improved.  

The Chancellor coined the ...

In November 2010, we reported that David Cameron had announced an independent review of the current intellectual property framework in the UK and how it might be changed in the interest of promoting innovation and economic growth was to take place.

The review is being lead by Professor Ian Hargreaves who is being assisted by a panel of experts.  The review is due to report to the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and to the Chancellor of the Exchequer in April 2011.  However, in the meantime, the review team has called for evidence to be submitted on ...

David Cameron gave a speech this afternoon to high tech business leaders and entrepreneurs in East London. 

He has announced that he proposes to review Intellectual Property laws in order to make them fit for the internet age and allow "companies more breathing space to create new products and services".  Cameron said that the founders of Google felt that they would never have been able to set up their company in Britain as they feel that the copyright system is not as friendly to innovation as the US and this was something he wanted to address. 

Cameron has ...