Neville-Rolfe steps down from UK government IP role
Baroness Lucy Neville-Rolfe has stepped down from her role as UK minister of state at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.
A statement from the government, issued yesterday, December 21, announced six ministerial appointments.
In the reshuffle, Neville-Rolfe was appointed as commercial secretary (minister of state) at Her Majesty’s Treasury.
Lord David Prior of Brampton has joined the business department as parliamentary under secretary of state.
Prior previously served as parliamentary under secretary of state at the Department of Health from May 2015.
Back in October, Prior described the UK’s vote to leave the EU as a “terrible mistake”, according to The Guardian.
“My personal view is that leaving Europe was a terrible mistake. But given that it was a mistake, we must do everything we can to ensure that we stay in the single market and that we do have access to the best people from around the world,” he said to an audience at the Royal College of Physicians.
Neville-Rolfe tweeted that she was “delighted” with her new appointment and would be bringing “a business focus to a great job”.
Mark Owen, partner at Taylor Wessing, said: "Baroness Neville-Rolfe was appreciated by the UK's IP community both because of the enthusiasm and interest she brought to the role but in particular because she held it for two-and-a-half years, which encouraged continuity and better joined-up policymaking than previously.”
He added that, before her appointment, there had been a “long list of short term and quickly forgotten IP ministers”, reinforcing the impression that “IP was not taken seriously by successive governments”.
Owen explained that while we don't know the reason for her move, “it is notable that it comes shortly after the most notable UK IP policy move this year”, ie, the planned ratification of the Unified Patent Court.
“It is quite possible that, with that done, she feels she has done her bit for IP, and a reshuffle just before the detailed effect of Brexit for IP rights starts to be hammered out is sensible timing, allowing the new minister time to get to know the area before the serious and long-term work of what the UK's new IP framework should look like,” he said.
Morag Macdonald, partner at Bird & Bird, said: “It looks as if this is just a standard move around of lower level ministers.”
But she warned that “it is somewhat disturbing that at least on the face of it there is no longer a minister for IP”, bearing in mind that “IP underlies the country's international trading activities and this is so critical to the economy post-Brexit”.
Macdonald added that it was a “real shame” to lose Neville-Rolfe, as “unlike most of her recent predecessors, she actually took a real interest in IP and how it relates to business”.
“Let's hope that her leaving the minister of IP role does not lead to IP falling completely off the political agenda, as this could be a real problem for IP and Brexit,” concluded Macdonald.
