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29 July 2013Trademarks

CIPA demands late changes to IP bill

The Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys (CIPA) has called for draft British IP legislation to be re-worded so that it targets only the “deliberate and sustained” copying of designs.

Under one provision of the Intellectual Property Bill, blatant design infringers will face up to 10 years in prison, although there will be exceptions such as for non-commercial use or teaching.

The bill, which is due to have its third reading before the House of Lords on Tuesday (July 30), says prison terms can apply to those producing designs that look “substantially” like existing ones.

But CIPA, a professional body for UK patent attorneys, says a 10-year prison term is an excessive punishment when the legal standard for similarity is merely substantial.

“CIPA does not see the need for this measure,” said CIPA president Roger Burt. “The existing ways of going after deliberate copying are adequate. However, if the government is going to make infringement of registered designs a criminal offence, it needs to be very careful about the wording of the bill. If it went ahead in its current form, it could affect hundreds of retailers and designers who certainly are not deliberate criminals.”

He added: “In some areas of design, it is commonplace for mass-market goods to be inspired by, or even look similar to, more exclusive goods. There is generally no intention to deceive. If this is now to become illegal, it will either clog up the courts and the prisons or, more likely, will cause designers to stop producing goods that bear any resemblance at all to current trends and fashions.  Neither outcome would be in the public interest.”

CIPA says it has made its views clear to the relevant members of the House of Lords, including IP Minister Lord Younger, that the bill’s wording must be changed so that it only criminalises the deliberate and sustained copying of designs.

The organisation’s views are broadly in line with the IP Federation, a UK industry representative on IP policy, which wrote to the UK Intellectual Property Office earlier this month to “strongly oppose” criminal sanctions for IP infringement.

The Law Society of England and Wales, which represents solicitors, supports criminal sanctions but only if they are limited to counterfeits and if more safeguards are built into the system.

Isabel Davies, the Law Society’s IP working group chair, said: “It’s vital that we strike the right balance between providing adequate protections for design owners but avoid creating an environment where criminal sanctions can be used inappropriately.”

If the IP bill passes its third and final reading on Tuesday, it will move on to the House of Commons, where it must pass three readings before becoming law.

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More on this story

Copyright
1 May 2013   The British government is planning to criminalise the “deliberate” copying of registered EU and UK designs, according to an official document.
Patents
30 July 2013   The Intellectual Property Bill, part of which is designed to criminalise the blatant copying of designs, passed through the House of Lords on Tuesday with a new defence.
Patents
24 October 2013   Government minister David Willetts is to lead the Intellectual Property Bill through the House of Commons, the UK’s IP minister has announced.