"Doubtless you will have read the Scottish referendum White Paper from cover to cover [Indeed, says Merpel, I make it a point of reading little else]. If not you can find it at https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/ref-whitepaper/scotland+future+white+paper+november+2013.pdf. XY here [at the Intellectual Property Office] is looking at the claims on IP summarised below for those who couldn’t download the 700 odd pages [they're not all odd, says Merpel, who checked every one of them and discovered that round about half of them were even]:
Page 102/3
• independence will ensure continuity of legal framework for protecting IPRs
• Independence will allow Scotland to offer “simpler and cheaper, more business-friendly model than the current UK system, which is bureaucratic and expensive, especially for small firms. The UK is one of the few EU countries which does not offer a scheme which covers the basics of protection. Scotland could follow, for example the German model which protects technical innovations.” [This sound like fun: the McGebrauchsmuster]
• Scotland has dispute resolution expertise
• Scotland will amend immigration rules to enable the recruitment of international research talent and students
• There’s then a bit on how the Scottish Govt is building relationships with the likes of Walt Disney [no mean achievement: the man died in 1966]
Page 398
“Q66 Will intellectual property rights be protected?
Yes. Intellectual property will continue to be protected. As an EU member state [not so fast: will Scotland meet the admission criteria?], Scotland will meet European regulations and directives on IP rights protection, as well as international patent and trade mark protections.
Q67 Will independence offer improved intellectual property services?
Yes. Independence will allow Scotland to offer a simpler, cheaper and more business-friendly business model than the current UK one which is seen as bureaucratic and expensive, especially for small firms. The UK is one of very few EU countries which does not offer a “second tier” , or “utility” protection scheme which covers the basics of IP protection and is cheaper and quicker to access. Scotland could follow for example the German utility model which is more a protection of technical innovations.”
If you have a moment, I’d be grateful for your thoughts on what’s there to feed into our thinking/discussions".
