Disclaimer / Questions about Legal Advice on IP Issues

LEGAL ADVICE

All the academic work I have been involved in has had some connection with the commercial world and though retired I am interested to some extent in maintaining and extending such links. Much of my past research and some of my teaching also involved IP related issues. I have in the past qualified as a UK Patent Attorney and European Patent Attorney as well worked as a full-time patent attorney in private practice and industry. However I have now retired from both the lists of UK and European Patent Attorneys and as such am no longer a UK or European Patent Attorney though I remain a fellow of the UK Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys.

However, having now fully retired I am therefore not available to give fee-earning legal advice that you could otherwise seek advice about from a practising Patent Attorney in private practice.

If you have any questions relating to a commercial Intellectual Property issue that a Patent Attorney could normally advise you on, the only practical advice I can therefore give is that you contact another Patent Attorney or other suitably qualified professional who is in full-time private practice, who is suitably insured and able to advise you.

The following professional associations have membership directories which should help you locate appropriate professional help.

The Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys: http://www.cipa.org.uk

The Institute of Trade Mark Agents : http://www.itma.org.uk

European Patent Attorneys Database (maintained by the EPO) : https://www.epo.org/applying/online-services/representatives.html

If you are seeking advice on contracts or agreements related to Intellectual Property issues in general or non-technical IP law in particular such as that relating to literary copyright and publishing law you may need the services of a Solicitor specialising in Intellectual Property Law. The UK Law Society has a directory of such solicitors : https://solicitors.lawsociety.org.uk/?Pro=True

If despite the above you do ask my opinion about an IP related issue, whether or not in the context of having been taught, lectured to, tutored, supervised or mentored by me, please be aware that I will be unable to give you any professional advice other than that you should seek the advice of a practising and suitably qualified IP professional.

If I do pass any comment on issues that you ask me about or on IP issues in general, any such comments must be seen as merely an indication of issues that you or others you work with or for should consider raising with professional advisers and not professional advice to be relied on. Similarly any information I give which might relate to IP issues should also not be viewed as professional advice to be relied on but merely educative information and an indication of important issues that you or others you work with or for should raise with your professional advisers should you apply that information to any specific situation.

There is one essential bit of free advice I can give you though since it will in any event help preserve your rights. That is:

IF YOU HAVE THOUGHT OF SOMETHING POTENTIALLY PATENTABLE:

DONT TELL ANYONE ABOUT IT OR PUBLISH IT IN ANY WAY
until you have taken professional advice from a Patent Attorney.

Publishing details of an invention before a patent application is filed will almost always render such applications invalid.

Finally, if your question is of academic interest it will be more than welcome but please remember that if your question is primarily commercial it will usually be worth more to you than the cost of professional advice from a patent attorney.

If you are a member of Oxford University you might also consider reading the University IP Policy and consulting https://innovation.ox.ac.uk/ which is the website of the Oxford University Innovation the University's IP commercialisation company and especially https://innovation.ox.ac.uk/university-members/ which is the page for information for Oxford University Researchers.

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I can be contacted at :
St. Peter's College,
New Inn Hall Street,
Oxford OX1 2DL
Tel: +44 (0) 1865 278900 (Lodge)
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Personal Web Pages: http://users.ox.ac.uk/~mast0140

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