The Pontio Centre: A Resource for Inventors, Designers and Makers in North Wales

Bangor

Author UA
Licence Copyright waived by the author
Source Wikipedia

Jane Lambert

On 1 Dec 2018, I attended a performance of Dylan Thomas – A Child’s Christmas, Poems and Tiger Eggs by Ballet Cymru in the  Bryn Terfel Theatre at the Pontio Arts and Innovation Centre of Bangor University. If you are interested, you can read my review of the performance in Ballet Cymru's Dylan Thomas Programme: The Company's Best Work Ever which I posted on 13 Dec 2018 to my dance blog Terpsichore.

The Bryn Terfel Theatre is just one of a number of facilities at the Pontio. There is also a cinema, restaurant, students; union, bars and cafés and, most importantly, the Hwb which is the Pontio innovation area.  I was unable to visit it on 1 Dec 2018 but here is the description on the "About" page of the Pontio's website:

"Pontio Innovation is about equipping individuals and businesses with the tools they need to succeed in the modern economy. With a focus on transdisciplinary working and rapid prototyping, the Co-Lab, Media Lab, Hackspace and Fablab areas are equipped with cutting-edge technologies. It will boost the University’s cross-disciplinary teaching programmes and encourage collaborative work between students, staff and local businesses. Check out the Innovation Events page for details about what's going on here and read more about the Pontio Innovation philosophy."

For artists, designers, inventors and other makers it is important to translate an idea in the brain or on a sheet of paper into three-dimensional objects that they can show to collaborators, investors and customers. That is where the three-dimensional printers, laser cutters and other equipment at the centre's FabLab can help.

A FabLab is a fabrication laboratory and I have written quite a lot about them in this and other blogs. Readers can find more information and links to some of those articles in Liverpool Inventors Club Re-launch - Fabulous FabLab 28 Jan 2012.  The Pontio offers training in the use of that equipment and access to the machines which can be booked through the centre's website. Details of those courses can be found on the "Innovation Events" page.

There is also some very good information about innovation generally on the "Pontio Innovation" page.  The only topic that appears to be missing from that page is a mention of intellectual property. For the benefit of users of the Pontio innovation space as well as artists, designers, inventors and makers generally I shall try to fill that gap here.

All the things that can be made in the Pontio FabLab and other parts of the Hwb are intellectual assets.  Expenditure of time and money on making those assets can be protected by a bundle of laws known as intellectual property.  Examples of those laws are patents for new inventions, trade marks and the law of passing off to protect brands, registered designs and unregistered design right to protect aesthetic and technical designs and copyright and related rights to protect creative output.

Users of the Hwb's facilities should be aware that the laws that protect their intellectual assets also protect other peoples'.  They must be careful not to copy beyond what is expressly or impliedly licensed, to check for registered rights such as patents, trade marks and registered designs and, wherever possible, to take out specialist IP insurance to enforce their own rights and to resist infringement claims by others.

Anyone wishing to discuss this article or any topic raised in it is welcome to call me on 020 7404 5252 during office hours or send me a message through my contact form.

The Intellectual Property Office looks at Additive Manufacturing

Turbine produced by 3D Printing

Source Wikipedia

I have written quite a lot about additive manufacturing including 3 dimensional printing over the last few years. You will find links to those articles at Liverpool Inventors Club Re-launch - Fabulous FabLab 28 Jan 2012. At the end of April 2015 the Intellectual Property Office published A Legal and Empirical Study into the Intellectual Property Implications of 3D Printing in the following parts:

• An Executive Summary
• Study 1: On-line Platforms and an Analysis of User Behaviour, and
• Study 2: The Current Status and Impact of 3D Printing Within the Industrial Sector:An Analysis of Six Case Studies.

The IPO had commissioned the study because Andrew Sissons and Spencer Thompson had recommended a review of the intellectual property implications of 3D printing in their report Three Dimensional Policy Why Britain needs a policy framework for 3D printing which was published by the Big Innovation Centre in Oct 2012.

Study 1 considered the legal framework in the UK and other countries and concluded that there was some uncertainty as to whether CAD files and their data could be protected adequately. Study 2 discussed additive manufacturing technologies and their application to date. The Studies concluded that from the data retrieved in Study I, there was nothing to indicate that the activity on 3D printing on-line platforms was a mass phenomenon yet. As such, there was no urgency to legislate on 3D printing. Indeed the report argued that

"a premature call for legislative and judicial action in the realm of 3D printing could stifle the public interest of 'fostering creativity and innovation and the right of manufacturers and content creators to protect their livelihoods.'”

Nevertheless, there was a need to clarify the law on  whether a CAD file is capable of copyright protection. It was thought that the territorial nature of copyright law, coupled with the extra territorial nature of on-line platforms and CAD files shared thereon, could lead to uncertainty and complex issues in the future. The Studies urged the IPO to

"establish a Working Group to cover the various IP rights which may need to be tackled in the future. The Working Group should also provide clarity on the status of CAD files and how they can best be used in industry. The Group should also consider how best to tackle the traceability of 3D printed spare parts."

In other words, pretty well much the same recommendation as Sisson and Thompson had made in their report nearly three years ago.

I take issue with some of those conclusions. Additive manufacturing may not be a mass phenomenon in the sense that there is a 3D printer in every home or a 3D print shop on every street corner but those technologies are developing rapidly and are finding ever increasing uses ranging from the fabrication of prosthetic body parts and the reconstitution of human tissues to precision engineering. The industry may be in its infancy but it is already big and it is growing quickly. Secondly, Study I concentrated on copyright but not other intellectual property rights albeit that Study 2 considered them in the context of the case studies. I do not anticipate any difficulty over whether copyright subsists in CAD files but I do see increasing scope for arguments over obviousness in relation to inventions developed with CAD technology. Also, there is an clear risk of counterfeiting through the use of such technology. However, I would agree that there is no need for specific legislation at this stage if ever. The existing legislative framework and the courts should be able to cope with all  foreseeable problems.

Should anyone wish to discuss these studies or the legal consequences of additive manufacturing technology in general, he or she should call me on 020 7404 5252 during office hours or send me a message through my contact form.

FabLabs - Jane Keats on "Factories of the Future"

On 5 Aug 2011 I wrote about the Manchester FabLab and the global FabLab network in my IP North West blog. On 21 Sept and 3 Oct 2011 the Leeds and Sheffield Inventors Groups heard from a FabLab user.

Jane Keats, a young New Zealand designer who is principal of Studio 52, presented "Factories of the Future", an introduction to the FabLab movement and additive manufacturing. Jane's slides cover the following topics:

1. FabLabs

2. The next industrial revolution

3. Factory of the Future

4. Open Innovation, and

5. Her Personal Experiences.

Here is a review of her talk to the Leeds Group on the 21 Sept 2011 in the LIG blog.

We in the Inventors Club are very supportive of the FabLab movement and I have advised and assisted the Manchester FabLab on a pro bono basis. On 12 Oct 2011 I chaired an Introduction to Intellectual Property and Licensing where patent attorney Tom Hutchinson, intellectual property solicitor Michael Sandys and I gave presentations. I shall upload our slides to Slideshare and make them accessible through this blog in the next few days.

As the Leeds review states, Bradford City Council and others have plans to set up a FabLab in Keighley and I have been in touch with the local authority to offer it our support. I brought the FabLab movement to the attention of Councillor Mehboob Khan, deputy chair of the Leeds City Region Local Enterprise Partnership, at the LEP Summit on 9 Sept 2011 so there is every chance that the project will get the support it needs. I will keep you posted.