IP executives launch centre to raise awareness of rights

Intellectual property executives have launched The Center for Intellectual Property Understanding (CIPU), a non-profit aimed at increasing awareness of IP rights and their impact on people’s lives.

Brian Hinman, head of IP at Philips, Keith Bergelt, Open Invention Network CEO, and Harry Gwinnell, former head of IP at Cargill and founding president of the IPO Education Foundation, helped established the centre.

Open Invention Network is a company that was formed to promote Linux, a computer operating system. The network acquires patents and makes them available royalty-free.

IPO Education Foundation is a non-profit organisation devoted to educational and charitable activities designed to improve IP rights. Judge Paul Michel, who was chief judge of the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit from 2003 to 2011, helped to establish the non-profit.

In autumn 2017, CIPU will host a joint conference on innovation policy with Duke University in Washington, DC.

It will also undertake an independent survey of general and business audiences’ attitudes toward IP rights, and publish a white paper on differences in how various media cover patent disputes.

“The IP knowledge gap is growing,” said Marshall Phelps, former head of IP at Microsoft and IBM, and CIPU’s vice chairman.

“Many people, including the general public and many in government, haven’t a clue what patents and other IP rights achieve. The incentive for taking IP seriously is at an all-time low,” he said.

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