A history at the forefront of technology

As readers may be aware, the European Patent Office (EPO) recently extended its online filing software to allow online filing in post-grant opposition and appeal procedures.

As part of our history of working with the latest technologies, Brookes Batchellor was one of the first firms to use the European online filing system, within 6 months of its introduction in December 2003. Now that the system has been broadened, we are pleased to report that we have again taken the technology on board and made use of the technique in an opposition we are handling.

Of course, knowing the value of our clients' patents and the importance of ensuring that the correct patent documents are filed, we have always taken a cautious approach and even in this case we also filed a confirmation copy by registered post.

It is in this spirit that we have been involved in ongoing discussions with the UK Patent Office about its choice of carrier to transmit documents to the European Patent Office after diligence by our Records staff revealed that two patent applications filed at the UK Patent Office for transmittal to the European Patent Office had not arrived at the EPO within the normal period.

In this case, our quick response, (well before any other Patent Attorneys noticed) was enough to prompt the UK and European offices into action and ensure that the documents were located by the delivery service and arrived at the European Patent Office just in time to avoid losing the filing date they had been accorded.

Brookes Batchellor Quiz Success

Brookes Batchellor fielded a team for last night’s CMS Christmas Quiz for patent and trademark attorneys near the world-famous Barbican Centre in Central London.

The team included Nigel Shindler, David Bailey, Tim Roberts, Mark Jolly, Iain Russell and Joanna Winwood who finished mid-table, but were top in the patents round and scored highly in the trade marks rounds, showing good knowledge of recent case law.

The quiz included music, movie and general knowledge questions, such as how many pints of Guinness are consumed worldwide per day; the answer being around 10 million. The patent and trade mark questions involved identifying brands based on their earlier logos and identifying obscure inventions (such as a pencil including a cigar cutter) from their drawings.

Iain Russell won a “spot prize” for being the first person at the quiz correctly to attribute the statement that “heavier than air flying machines are impossible” to Lord Kelvin.

So, if you want to talk about films, you should probably look elsewhere, but if you are looking for patent attorneys with a good knowledge of the law and the ability to spot inventions, Brookes Batchellor is the team for you.