Our News
Two of our Principal Patent Analysts took part in the 52nd British Patent Information Professionals (BPIP) meeting recently, which was hosted by Simon Wilson at DePuy Synthes in Leeds.
Joanne Kirkwood attended the hybrid meeting in person and Davinia Collyer presented remotely on "Becoming a Qualified Patent Information Professional (QPIP) – my perspective". The programme also included topics such as the Unified Patent Court, biosequence input for European data exclusivity purposes, artificial intelligence as well as tips and tricks for patent searching and analysis.
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We are thrilled that Davinia Collyer, our Head of Life Science & Biotechnology, has been awarded the Qualified Patent Information Professionals (QPIP) Susan Helliwell Award 2022 and we congratulate her on her stellar achievement.
The company is fortunate to have such a talented analyst contributing to our company and to the needs of its clients.
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Victor Green & Company is now sponsoring the British Patent Information Professionals (BPIP) website
The BPIP is the main UK patent user group. It exists to share best practice and many of its members have achieved QPIP qualified status. It is a group of UK-based representatives of organisations which have interests in patent information matters. Its network of patent information professionals provides a forum for sharing knowledge, experiences and expertise. The BPIP has links with the Confederacy of European Patent Information User Groups (CEPIUG) and it connects with organisations such as The Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys (CIPA) and the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO). 25 Jan 2023
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We are delighted that two of our Principal Patent Analysts have recently received their certification as Qualified Patent Information Professionals (QPIPs). This adds a further level of training for these analysts and ultimately their respective departments, enhances their competence level and demonstrates they are all-round professionals.
Davinia Collyer, Head of Life Science & Biotechnology commented: “I am delighted to become a QPIP. Having worked in the profession for over 15 years, it is wonderful to be officially recognised as such and I hope it will provide further assurance to our clients both old and new that I have the skills needed to tackle their IP information needs. Although the examinations were challenging, I enjoyed testing my knowledge and look forward to maintaining and enhancing this knowledge via the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) required to continue my QPIP status.”
Joanne Kirkwood, Head of Chemistry reflected: “I am so pleased to have passed the exams and obtained my QPIP status. I too have been working in the profession for over 15 years and it is brilliant to be officially recognised that my work and skills match the quality of an industry standard. I look forward to continuing the CPD needed to maintain qualified status and to add to my knowledge in the upcoming years.”
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We are pleased to announce the appointment of Joanne Kirkwood as Principal Patent Analyst for Chemistry.
Previously Joanne worked at J A Kemp as their Patent Search Manager and she is a familiar face, having began her career at Victor Green & Company. She graduated from the University of Nottingham with an MSci in Chemistry.
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We also give a warm welcome to Nivedha Radhakrishnan, who recently joined us as an analyst in the Electronics team.
After completing her MSci in Physics, she worked as a postgraduate researcher at the University of Glasgow on the fabrication of single electron transistors. She then gained experience at Venner Shipley as a trainee patent attorney, specialising in the fields of data processing, mobile telecommunication, and semiconductor devices.
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WIPO’s INSPIRE offers a new way to select databases for patent searches, see our article on IPWatchdog.
Analysts at Victor Green & Company found that INSPIRE was a useful way to identify and compare sources.
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Huge strides have been made in the use of machine translation to enhance patent searches in the last decade. See this article from our analysts, including lead author Davinia Collyer, about the use of machine translation for multi-lingual search. Patents were identified on artificial intelligence relating to dogs.
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Victor Green & Company celebrated the World Intellectual Property Day 2020's theme "Innovate for a Green Future" on 26 April. Will the drop in emissions in response to the coronavirus pandemic, have a lasting, beneficial affect on the environment?
There would need to be a profound, long-term shift, according to the head of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), Inger Andersen, in order to counter climate change. She calls for a more sustainable economy that works for both people and the planet. Innovate for a Green Future highlights the role that intellectual property (IP) rights play in encouraging innovation and creativity.
Have inventors alluded to the Three Laws of Robotics? Victor Green & Company looked at how ethical considerations are covered in patents on artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics, see our recent article ‘Asimov and the Patenting of Ethical Robots’. January 2nd, 2020 marks the centenary of the birth of Isaac Asimov, known as the author of the Foundation stories of galactic empire and for his statement of the Three Laws of Robotics. Eighteen cases were discussed by our patent analysts including three that explicitly invoked Asimov or the Three Laws. The growth in applications since 2015 has its origins in the deep learning revolution dating from about 2012. Our article appeared in The Global IP Matrix, 6, p22-23, Jan 2020.
How can a thorough patent search help you gain a granted patent? Analysts at Victor Green & Company investigated this issue by studying oppositions filed against European patents. They were interested in whether there was a link with how comprehensive the prior art search had been. See the latest issue of The Global IP Matrix for details.
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Where can you find expertise in the blockchain area? Our analysts have considerable experience in this area and would welcome the opportunity to help you with your requests. There is a growing interest, that is accompanying the steep rise in patent applications in blockchain technology. Different types of data can be added to a blockchain, from cryptocurrency, transaction and contractual information to data files. The WIPO magazine commented on this trend and the EPO dedicated a conference to blockchain technologies and their impact on patenting. See "Talking about a new revolution: blockchain".
Are there any tools that can invent and create, locate prior art or draft a patent specification? Analysts at Victor Green & Company investigated the patent landscape for patent management technology. There seems to be increasing commercial interest in this sector, see our article ‘Patent analysis of patent management tools’. A shorter version of the article appeared in The Global IP Matrix, 3, p30-31, Jan 2019. The subject matter included computer generated inventions, automatic patent filing, location of prior art, methods for determining patentability and systems to grant patents. There were also tools for identification of potential patent infringement.
An article from Victor Green & Co "Unearthing the Russian Mole", described how patent information work is sometimes more colourful than one would expect.
In a memorable enquiry about a Russian device called the "Magic Mole", a great deal of detective work was required to find the answer. The Magic Mole was the subject of a US patent and our client needed to prove they were not infringing the patent claims by the sale of a similar product. We were able to identify an expert witness and the case was settled. See our article here and in The Global IP Matrix, 2, p7, September 2018.
