Immediate IP First Aid Nationwide

Field Hospital in First World War

Author National Museum of Health and Medicine
Source Wikipedia
Creative Commons Licence

Jane Lambert

I have been conducting free monthly consultations on IP law in London and the North for the last 10 years or so. I have seen lots of clients in that time and can count a number of successes as a result.

However, that service does have some five limitations.

1. it requires my presence and I can only be in one place at any one time. 
2. A month can be a very long time to wait when a  matter is urgent or you are impatient for information. 
3. I often need to refer clients to another professional such as a patent or trade mark attorney or a product design consultant which results in further delay. 
4. Many problems can be dealt with by a simple phone or Skype call or email. 
5. Clients who need to see me sometimes have to travel for miles.

I have therefore decided to improve and extend my IP Clinic in the following way.

Anyone who wants a free IP consultation with me or some other IP professional should call

020 7404 5252

during office hours and ask for an appointment to speak to me by telephone. I am not always available because I may be in court or a meeting but someone will take your name and number and arrange for me to call you back. Tell the person who takes your call that you are calling about my IP clinic.

Alternatively, you can send me a message through my contact form.

I should be able to give you some basic advice there and then and there will be no charge for that service. Should it appear to me that you need to see some other professional I will call at least one member of the relevant profession who practises in your area wherever possible and ask whether he or she would be willing to see you for an initial meeting or talk to you by telephone for up to 30 minutes free of charge. If the answer is "yes" I will pass you on to him or her.

Please note that you can only use this service once. If you want to consult me or any of the other professionals to whom I may refer you again you will have to instruct us in the usual way and that will usually require a fee the amount of which will be negotiated at the time.

In the next few days, I shall launch an IP clinic website which will provide further information including a knowledge base of answers to frequently asked questions.

Resources for Inventors in North West England

North West England consists of the counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. It includes the Greater Manchester and Merseyside metropolitan areas as well as Blackburn, Blackpool, Burnley, Carlisle, Chester, Lancaster, Preston and Warrington The region covers just under 14,165 square kilometres and has a population of just over 8.85 million.

Regional Development

The North West Regional Development Agency has co-ordinated regional development until now. This agency will be abolished together with the other regional development agencies by March 2012. Proposals have been accepted for local enterprise partnerships for Cheshire and Warrington, Cumbria, Greater Manchester and Liverpool City Region.

Business Link

Business Link North West is based at Brian Johnson Way, Preston, PR2 5PE, Tel 0845 00 66 888. There are local advisers throughout the region.

Clinics

The Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys usually holds patent clinics in Liverpool and Manchester Central Libraries but both of these libraries are closed for refurbishment. The Manchester clinic has moved temporarily to Manchester City Library at Elliott House, 151 Deansgate and meets every third Thursday. The Liverpool clinic is still looking for a new venue. Blackburn and Darwen Library arrange occasional clinics with local patent agents at Blackburn Central Library on request.

Funding

There is an angel network known as North West Business Angels.

There are no less than seven community development finance institutions in North West England:

• BBV (Bolton Business Ventures Ltd.);
• Business Finance Solutions;
• CART (Cumbria Asset Reinvestment Trust);
• East Lancs Moneyline;
• Lancashire Community Finance;
• Merseyside Special Investment Fund; and
• Moneyline Greater Manchester.

Inventors Clubs

There are inventors clubs in Blackburn (Ideas North West), Liverpool and Manchester. Like the Liverpool patent clinic, the Liverpool Inventors Club is looking for a temporary home pending the refurbishment of Liverpool Central Library.

Libraries

There are Patent Information Centres (also known as "PATLib libraries) in Liverpool and Manchester Central Libraries. Both libraries are being refurbished. The Manchester patent library has moved temporarily to City Library at 151 Deansgate. Blackburn Central Library operates an Inventors Information Point with an extensive collection of resources.

Professional Advisers

NIPC was the first and remains the only intellectual property chambers outside London was established in Manchester in 1997. Alex Khan is based in Manchester.

Janet Bray who practises from Hebden Bridge is on our patent attorneys' panel.

Michael Sandys and Joanne Shelley are solicitors specializing in intellectual property.

Michael Swift is a chartered accountant with experience of advising and assisting start-ups.

Jonathan Butters is an experienced product design consultant.

Further Information

We have a page on inventors' resources in North West England on the Inventors Club website

which we shall expand and update as and when we can. We have an Inventors Club group on Linkedin which covers developments affecting inventors throughout the UK. You can of course also join the Inventors Club if you want. The membership rules are here. There is no subscription but we may charge for special services such as showcasing inventions and access to professional services. Anyone who wishes to contact us should call us on 0161 850 0080 or use our online form.

Online IP Clinic

An IP clinic is a free consultation with an intellectual property professional such as a patent or trade mark agent or specialist lawyer. Sometimes you can also see some other professional like a business adviser or marketing consultant.

Since 2005 we have operated walk-in clinics in a number of towns and cities in the North of England with the help of local professionals. Our clinics have been hosted by friends such as Gumption and Bennett Brooks. Clients have been referred to us by other friends such as Bmedia and Business Link Yorkshire.

The North of England, however, is a big place and there is a limit to the number of people we can get to see. We also want to make sure that our clients see the right sort of professional. There is not much point is talking to a product design consultant about a complaint of copyright infringement or a barrister about funding. Also we have had enquiries from people as far apart as Buckinghamshire, Glasgow and South Wales.

So we have decided to put our clinics on line. Inventors and entrepreneurs can now get in touch with us by calling our roll free number, 0800 862 0055, or using our online form. Once they get in touch with us we contact an appropriate expert and ask him or her to give the client 30 minutes or so basic advice. It's all set out in the FAQ on our clinics website.

So what sort of enquiries can we deal with? The answer is: "All sorts." Just like other patent clinics we can introduce you to a patent or trade mark agent who can advise you on patenting or trade mark or design registration. But we also have

• barristers and solicitors who can tell you about enforcement, licensing, manufacturing and joint venture agreements
• engineers and product design consultants who can talk about prototyping and testing, and
• angels and community development finance institutions who can talk about funding.

So, whatever your industry, and whatever your position whether managing director, private inventor, academic or professional adviser, if you need a bit of help from your friends, give us a call.

Resources for Inventors in the East Midlands

The East Midlands covers the counties of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northanptonshire, Nottinghamshire and Rutland. According to Wikipedia the region's population is just under 4.2 million and its land area is 15,627 square kilometres. Major towns and cities include Nottingham, Leicester, Derby, Lincoln and Northampton.

Regional Development

The East Midlands Regional Development Agency is the regional development agency for the East Midlands. Proposals for local enterprise partnerships have been accepted for Derby and Derbyshire and Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, Leicester and Leicestershire, Lincolnshire and the South East Midlands.

Inventors Clubs

There does not appear to be an inventors' club in the East Midlands as yet. However, the Sheffield Inventors Group welcomes members from Derbyshire and the Birmingham and Black Country clubs are within comfortable driving distance of most of Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire. Should inventors from the East Midlands wish to set up their own club, we should be glad to help. Call us on 0115 824 9090 or use our online contact form.

Clinics and Libraries

There are no PatLib libraries and hence no CIPA clinics in the East Midlands. However, each of the county and district council library authorities have good on-line and printed business information resources. If anybody from the East Midlands wants advice on any aspect of inventing he or she can contact our clinic using this form. We shall put him or her in touch with a local professional advisor.

Business Advice

Business Link East Midlands is at Innovation House, Riverside Park, Raynesway, Derby, DE21 7BF Tel: 0845 058 6644.

Funding

East Midlands Business Angels Ltd. is the local angel network. There are three community development finance institutions in the region:

• Derby Loans
• First Enterprise, and
• Leicester Moneyline.

Professional Advisers

So far we have one panellist in the East Midlands, the trade mark attorney Mr. Philip Cooper of VeryMark.

There are several well known firms of patent and trade mark attorneys as well as law firms that specialize in intellectual property in the region but we do not yet know any of them well enough to recommend to recommend to private inventors with limited budgets. We advise inventors to shop around and tell us what you find.

Further Information

We have a page on Inventors' Resources in the East Midlands on the Inventors Club website which we shall expand and update as and when we can. We have an Inventors Club group on Linkedinwhich covers developments affecting inventors throughout the UK which you can join. You can of course also join the Inventors Club if you want. The Membership Rules are here. There is no subscription but we may charge for special services such as showcasing inventions and access to professional services. Anyone who wishes to contact us should call us on

0115 824 9090 or use our online contact form

Resources for Inventors in the East of England

This is the second of my regional surveys of resources for inventors.

The East of England covers the counties of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. According to Wikipedia the region has a population of 5.39 million in a land area of 19,120 square kilometres. It is home to one of the world's greatest research universities. According to the Intellectual Property Office there were 1,844 patent applications from the region in 2009 placing it third behind South East England and London with 2,777 and 2,752 respectively. Its regional development agency is the East of England Development Agency. Three local enterprise partnership proposals have been accepted from the East of England, namely Greater Cambridge and Greater Peterborough, Hertfordshire and Kent Greater Essex and East Sussex.

Inventors Clubs

I am aware of only one inventor's club in the region. That is CHASE (the Cambridge High Tech Association of Small Enterprises) in Cambridge. The Association meets on the first and third Tuesdays of most months, holds an annual dinner and an occasional conference. Further information can be obtained from Jeff Veil on 01223 721499. I would have expected to find inventors clubs in Bedford, Chelmsford, Colchester, Hatfield, Ipswich, Luton, Norwich and Southend. If inventors in any of those cities want us to help them set up an inventors club they should call us on 01603 343030 or contact us through this form.

Clinics and Libraries

There are no PatLib libraries and hence no CIPA clinics in the East of England. However, each of the county and district council library authorities have good on-line and printed business information resources. If anybody from the East of England wants advice on any aspect of inventing he or she can contact our clinic using this form. We shall put him or her in touch with a local professional advisor.

Business Advice

The HQ of the local Business Link is at Zenith Court in Hatfield. There are local Business Link offices in each of the major towns and cities of the region. Advice and mentoring is also available from Keith McCallum who holds the Business Doctors franchise for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire.

Funding

Eastern Capital Alliance is a local angel network. There are three community development finance institutions in the region:

• Foundation East in Bury St Edmunds; and
• NWES and WEETU in Norwich.

Professional Advisers

There are several well known firms of patent and trade mark attorneys as well as law firms that specialize in intellectual property in the region but we do not yet know any of them well enough to recommend to recommend to private inventors with limited budgets. We advise inventors to shop around and tell us what they find,

Further Information

We have a page on Inventors Resources in the East of England on the Inventors Club website which we shall expand and update as and when we can. We have an Inventors Club group on Linkedin which covers developments affecting inventors throughout the UK which you can join. You can of course also join the Inventors Club if you want. The Membership Rules are here. There is no subscription but we may charge for special services such as showcasing inventions and access to professional services. Anyone who wishes to contact us should call us on 01603 343030 or send us an email.