UK Announces Independent Review of its Intellectual Property Regime

The UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, has commissioned an Independent Review (Review) of the country's intellectual property regime to determine whether it is effectively encouraging innovation. Appointed to lead the Review is Andrew Gowers, the former editor of the London-based financial newspaper, Financial Times. A number of concerns with the present system have been identified, such as the high cost of patent protection and the complexity of the intellectual property regime being a barrier to smaller businesses. Other concerns are the defensive use of patents, in order to prevent others from developing a product, and the use of licencing pools which share rights for entities within the pool, but erect a barrier to those outside the pool. The ultimate concern is that the intellectual property regime may not be encouraging innovation, but may in fact be stifling it. The Review seeks to address these concerns in a report due in August. It has issued a call for evidence in an attempt to consult widely. Stakeholders are asked to submit their responses by April 21, 2006. The Independent Review's Website can be found at: http://makeashorterlink.com/?W68C1214C For current biographical information on Andrew Gowers, visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Gowers Summary by: James Kosa