Of maps and treasure -- and global warming; Latest MIP

The recent Chancery Division (England and Wales) case of The Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office and Ordnance Survey v Green Amps Ltd, decided by Nicholas Strauss QC sitting as a Deputy Judge on 5 November, is unlikely to make the law reports. For that reason, if no other, the IPKat is grateful to Michael Hicks, who appeared for the claimants, for letting him have sight of the judgment.

Right: The Times They Are a'Changin': once upon a time the map led to treasure, but now the map IS the treasure, with an annual licence of £16,000 for use on a single computer terminal.

The IPKat proposes to gloss over the facts of this dispute, which are of little credit to the defendant who, having manifestly infringed the copyright in the claimants' digital maps, retreated behind a wall of illusory defences only to watch it vanish brick by brick. The IP fraternity is however grateful to the Deputy Judge for dealing with one issue that had long furrowed the brows of Britain's mightiest intellectual property scholars: was it a defence to an action for infringement of an IP right for the defendant to establish that the infringing act contributed towards a reduction in global warming?

In the absence of any decisive authority on the subject, Nicholas Strauss QC opined that no such defence existed, at least in respect of copyright infringement. Having considered the relevant statutory provisions at length, the IPKat is inclined to think that the learned Deputy Judge is correct. Merpel advises the defendant not to risk an appeal, considering how much hot air the Court of Appeal has generated in IP appeals over the years ...

Left: even hot air has its uses, says the IPKat ...

Green Amps here
Ordnance Survey homepage and mapshop
Find out how satellite navigation works here
Something you can do with your hot air here


The cover story of the November 2007 issue of Euromoney's near-monthly Managing Intellectual Property is the battle between the US Patent and Trademark Office and the rest of the world. Sadly, this is a battle in which there are not likely to be any winners, the IPKat thinks. The USPTO is under-resourced and ill-equipped to deal with the increasingly complex demands of its users, yet moves to enable the ailing giant to come to terms with even the bureaucratic dimension to its patent examination and grant activities are greeted with vitriol and hostility. Until US users of the office in particular can agree on what they want and how it can be achieved, and then help the USPTO to get there, that organisation will just wear itself trying to satisfy too many conflicting demands.

Other features in this excellent issue include a report on the current position of another embattled IP institution, WIPO Director General Kamil Idris; a review of the battle to keep UNCITRAL from providing IP-unfriendly guidelines for secured transactions; an enjoyable romp through a selection of IP news, views and developments in Australia and an extremely handy summary of the problems of obviousness in patent law from Wragge solicitor Gordon Harris (a must-read for anyone who has been asleep for several years and suddenly needs to bluff their way through a patent cocktail party).

Full contents of this issue here