What could be done with the Bradford Odeon

Bradford Odeon in 1937 Source Wikipedia

The Bradford Odeon is a magnificent building set between the Alhambra Theatre and The National Media Museum in one of England's handsomest cities. Like much of that great city the Odeon has seen better days. It closed in 2000 and by at least one account it is in a terrible state of repair (see Will Kilner "Former Odeon 'unsafe' says survey", Bradford Telegraph & Argus, 29 Sept 2008. There have been calls to pull it down - even though there is already a massive derelict area of the city centre where a shopping centre was supposed to be - and the building has been saved largely by the efforts of BORG (Bradford Odeon Rescue Group), its allies and supporters.

Recently the burghers of Bradford enjoyed two bits of good news. First their football team won an important match at Wembley (BBC Sport 18 May 2013). Secondly, the local authority has acquired the Odeon for £1 (Rachel Covill "Odeon set to transfer to the Council" The Business Desk 1 May 2013). The question that now arises is what should be done with that magnificent building.

Here is my suggestion offered tentatively by an outsider albeit a good friend and neighbour of the city of Bradford. How about turning the building into an arts centre to celebrate the cultural diversity of your great city?  There is a model for such a centre in Tottenham (another community with a rich cultural diversity and a football club) namely the Bernie Grant Arts Centre.  

I visited the Centre last Saturday with a friend from Bradford who was already in London  for the football. I was there for to see Ballet Black as I greatly prefer ballet to the spectacle of 22 men and a ref chasing a ball around a field - a tedious exercise if ever there was one. You can see my review of the performance in "Why Ballet Black is Special" Terpsichore 20 May 2013.

Ballet Black performed in a very comfortable auditorium - by which I mean there was plenty of leg room - but there was much more to the Centre than that. There was a restaurant called the Blooming Scent, serving jollof rice from West Africa, jerk chicken from Jamaica and chips from London, whose proprietor, Gina Moffatt, has been honoured by the Prince of Wales and an enterprise centre with plenty of interesting local businesses. 

Now that I am spending a lot of time in London I hope to get to know the Centre and offer it my support in the way that I have supported entrepreneurs in Yorkshire with clinics, clubs, newsletters and blogs like this. But I shall never forget where I have come from.   If ever the transformation of the Odeon building - or any other Bradford business - needs the sort of help and advice I can offer I and my colleagues will be there for it.  And I now have lots of great colleagues to help me.  

If anyone wants to discuss this article call me on 0113 320 3232 or 01484 590090 or fill in my contact form. You can also follow me on Facebook, Linkedin, twitter or Xing.

Patent Box and R & D Credits: Dan Brookes's Slides

Tax Relief for Innovation: Patent Box and R & D Credits Regime by Dan Brookes of BDO 

I introduced the patent box and our guest speaker in "Leeds Inventors Group: Patent Box and R & D Credits" 4 May 2013. Here are his slides.

We had a good meeting on 8 May 2013 and although we were a little low on inventors we had rather more accountants and lawyers in the audience.  We were particularly pleased to welcome Ros Beattie of Company Solutions and Jordi Farré Gasol of Barcelona who is currently working with Schofield Sweeney of Leeds.  Ros knows more than most about start-ups having been chair of Bmedia. She is now contributing her experience to the Business Enterprise Fund.

In the questions and answers session after the talk, I asked "what happens to the tax if a patent is revoked? Must the tax be repaid?  This was a question that I had raised in similar presentations at Daresbury and Liverpool the previous month.  Dan did not know the answer off the top of his head but he promised to look it up.   This is his reply:

"Vince and I have spoken about the query you addressed with us at our respective events in Liverpool and Leeds. The attached link to HMRC manuals appears to infer that HMRC take the view that there will be no retrospective clawback of patent box benefits where it is clear that the company has claimed on a patent that has been granted by a qualifying patent office, even in the situation that down the line events take place which means that sales of product are no longer covered by the patent. In this scenario benefits are denied going forward but there is no retrospective clawback of relief.
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/cirdmanual/CIRD210180.htm

I hope this is helpful."

It is indeed helpful and my thanks to Dan and Vince Walker of the Manchester office of BDO for their trouble.

A lot of useful information on the patent box and tax law relating to IP generally can be obtained from Intellectual Property Tax which is edited by Anne Fairpo of Atlas Tax Chambers.  Atlas merged with 4-5 Gray's Inn Square just about the time I joined the set.  Anne is also one of the contributing editors to IP Finance. 

If anyone wants to discuss this article or IP or tax generally you can call us in Leeds on 0113 320 3232, Huddersfield on 01484 599090 or London on 020 7404 5252.   You can also contact us through our message form.

Leeds Inventors Group: Patent Box and R & D Credits

The patent box is a tax concession to encourage businesses to invest in research and development in the UK which came into force on 1 April 2013.  As  one of the few sets of chambers with expertise in tax as well as intellectual property we have been touring the country with our good friends in BDO and Jackson & Canter.

We have already held one workshop on the patent box in Liverpool on 29 April 2013 at which Vince Walker and I gave talks. You can download our presentations from "The Patent Box Workshop: Liverpool Inventors Club" IP North West on 3 May 213.   

There will be a similar workshop at Leeds Inventors Group which will take place at Leeds Central Library, Calverley Street, Leeds, LS1 3AB on 8 May at 18:00.   My presentation will be very much the same as at Liverpool but the the main speaker will be Dan Brookes tax director of BDO's office in Leeds whose face appears above.

If you want to discuss the patent box or any aspect of patent law call us on  0113 320 3232, 01484 599090 or 020 7404 5252 or send a message through our contact form. You can also follow me on Facebook, Linkedin, twitter or Xing.

Envestors to operate YABA

On my Inventors Club website, I described a business angel as  

"a wealthy individual who wishes to invest in a new business. Typically, he or she may well have already built up and sold a business and will therefore have acquired skills, knowledge and experience that can be shared with the new business. According to the British Business Angels Association ("BBAA"), the industry association for business angels, a typical investment will be between £10,000 and £750,000 in return for which the investor will expect a proportionate share of a new company's capital and maybe a seat on its board. The investment may be made by the angel individually or as part of a syndicate of angels and other investors."

I added that most business angels belong to networks some of which are regional and I referred to the Yorkshire Association of Business Angels ("YABA") as an example.  I also wrote a little primer on angel investment in "On the Side of the Angels" on my former chambers website on the 8 July 2011,

A notice on the YABA website states:

"Additionally, as of 1 April 2013, Braveheart’s wholly-owned subsidiary Envestors Limited has acquired the rights to operate the Yorkshire Association of Business Angels (‘YABA’) from Yorkshire Association of Business Angels Limited and will combine this with the YABA secretariat, previously operated by VFM.

Scott Haughton, a director of Envestors, said: “YABA has been adapting its business model to develop its longer term sustainability. Envestors is ideally placed to power the growth and sophistication of YABA with increased deal flow and syndication opportunities for its members alongside Envestors’ extensive private investor network.”

So what does this mean in practice for local start-ups and entrepreneurs?   

Envestors describes itself as:

"an award-winning investor network dedicated to helping find quality investment opportunities for its network of 1000 private investors and 30 family offices. We specialise in raising from £300k – £1m in younger companies, and from £1m - £10m in more established companies. We work across most industry sectors with investee companies ranging in size from the smaller, earlier stage, through to the more mature. Investments usually qualify for EIS (Enterprise Investment Scheme). Aligned to our investors, we seek outstanding management teams capable of delivering their stated business objectives."

Its holding company, Braveheart Investment Group plc, was formed in 1997 and has been quoted on the alternative investment market since 2007. It manages around £120 million and offers equity, loan and mezzanine funding to SME as well as advice on corporate finance and investment readiness. 

The company from which Envestors took over the management of the YABA network was VFM.   Those letters appear to stand for Viking Fund Managers which is another Braveheart business. Yet another is Finance Yorkshire which offers seed corn funding, business loans and equity linked investments of between £100,000 and £2 million.

On its "latest deals" page YABA reports four transactions between 15 Feb 2012 and 26 Feb 2013. I shall follow this page with interest over the next 12 months and report back in 2014 as to the practical effect of the new tie up.

Incidentally, both business angels and entrepreneurs seeking angel investment require advice on company law, contracts, employment, tax and, of course, intellectual property.   I can help with IP and I have written a short article "What Business Angels and VCs need to know about IP" which can be downloaded from the JD Supra website.  Now that I am in 4-5 Gray's Inn Square I have colleagues who can help with all these other issues.   Should anyone require advice or representation on any aspect of angel investment or launching a new business, please call us on 0113 320 3232, 01484 599090 or 020 7404 5252 or fill in our contact form.  Our chambers are developing a strong presence in Yorkshire and the Humber and can see you in conference in Bradford or Huddersfield as well as London.

If you want to talk to me about this article, you can reach me through my contact form or call me on any of the above numbers.  You can also follow me on Facebook, Linkedin, twitter or Xing.

New Chair for Leeds LEP

Roger Marsh, Senior Partner of the Leeds office of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP ("PwC"), will take over the chair of Leeds City Region Local Enterprise Partnership from Neil McLean on 1 July 2013.

Born in 1953, educated at Stockton Church of England Grammar School and the University of Leeds, Marsh joined PwC in 1976. Specializing in business recovery and insolvency he managed T&D Industries, Sheffield Forgemasters, Carpets International, Dixon Motor Group, Shotton Power and Bradford Cathedral.

Between Jan 2007 and Aug 2009 Marsh served as Director-General of Strategic Finance and Operations at the Cabinet Office and was an executive member of the Cabinet Secretary's board.  According to his Linkedin profile, his overall role was "to improve the operational efficiency and efficacy of the agreed strategic objectives of the centre of Government."

Marsh became Senior Partner of the Leeds Office in 2011 and will retire from that post on 30 June 2013. His successor will be Arif Ahmad.

Further Information
"PwC announces change of leadership in Leeds," PwC 26 March 2013

"New Chair for Local Enterprise Partnership". Leeds City Region LEP, 26 March 2013

Sheffield Inventors Group News

As the first Monday of this month fell on Easter Monday the April meeting of the Sheffield Inventors Group will take place on 8 April 2013 at 18:00 in the Jackson Room of Sheffield Central Library. The speaker will be Richard Hall of pd-m International Ltd.

Richard has spoken to the Group before and is well known as a product design and manufacturing consultant.  Samples of his company's work can be seen on the "Our Work" page of its website. Its clients range from private inventors, SMEs, manufacturers, universities and investors and its design portfolio covers medical, healthcare, consumer, industrial, lighting and nursery.equipment.

The title of Richard's talk is 'Production Development to Production - Avoiding the Pitfalls' which he promises to be a networking opportunity.

The other news from Sheffield is that the Group welcomes Susanne Knight as its new organizer. 

If you would like more information about the event or the group call or email Susanne on 0114 273 4727.

Enforcing a Confidentialty Agreement in the Small Claims Track

Although business advisers, patent attorneys, solicitors and are very eager to tell you about confidentiality or non-disclosure agreements ("NDA") and, of course, to charge you for drawing one up, they are much less likely to tell you what happens if your confidante who could be your collaborator, investor, licensee or even your employee breaches the agreement.  The courts will grant injunctions to enforce obligations of confidence but these can take time to get and cost a lot of money.  The fact is that unless you can enforce it a confidentiality agreement it is not worth the paper it is typed on and the rogues are aware of that.

Until the new Patents County Court rules came into force on 1 Oct 2010 clients were advised that their own costs of applying to the Chancery interim applications judge for an interim injunction would be £15,000, that it could take months to obtain if the other side opposed the application, that they might not get their order and that they should b prepared to pay the other side's costs which could be at least as great as their own if they did not.   For most start-ups and small and medium enterprises this was intolerable and word got around that NDA and indeed intellectual property generally was about as useful as a chocolate fire guard.

I tried to solve the problem by inserting an arbitration clause into my non-disclosure agreements and by setting up an arbitration service with rules that enabled the arbitrator to grant interim injunctions that could be enforced with periodic payments like the continental astreinte.   Rule 2 (e) provided that unless the Parties agree expressly to the contrary:

"The Tribunal may compel compliance with any orders it may make under s,48 (5) of the Act by awarding periodic payments from a Party in breach to an injured Party from the date of such order until the date of compliance."

Do you know what? Not a single person made use of that service.   I don't know why.   Probably, it was because small business people rely on their solicitors and litigation solicitors, who are incredibly busy people if they are any good, tend to think in the short term and do what they did last time.

Whatever!  It became much quicker and cheaper to enforce intellectual property rights after the 1 Oct 2010 when recoverable costs were capped at £50,000, applications had to be made in writing and trials were fixed for one or at most two days.   

However, even £50,000 is a fair old sum for a start-up which is why the government launched a small claims track for IP in the Patents County Court.   I wrote about it in "How Small Businesses in Yorkshire can protect their Intellectual Property" on 14 Oct 2012 and gave a presentation on the new jurisdiction to the Sheffield inventors club on 1 Oct 2012.   The new small claims track does not cover everything - in particular, it does not cover patents and registered designs - but it does cover breach of confidence cases.   You can't get an interim injunction from the court but you can get a final one which has the advantage that you do not have to give a cross-undertaking as to damages.   And for the time being it can be quite quick with district judges giving automatic case management directions immediately after the exchange of statements of case for final hearings two months afterwards.   Costs are limited to just a few hundred pounds and then only if you need a solicitor.

I spoke about the new small claims track to the Leeds Inventors Group on the 13 Feb 2013.  There had been snow earlier that evening and the traffic was terrible which meant that I arrived very late but there was a young lady in the audience from Walker Morris called  Emily Baeza-Chavez who later contacted me to ask about the fixed fee service that my chambers run for the small claims track in Lancashire.   There we have teamed up with patent agents HutchinsonIP and JWK Solicitors to offer an all in advocacy and litigation service for £1,2000 + VAT and we are open to similar deals with solicitors and patent agents on this side of the Pennines (see "The Patents County Court Small Claims Track" IP North West 6 March 2013).

I got a chance to revisit the subject in Sheffield on 4 March 2013. The advertised speaker dropped out at the last moment because he was afflicted with one of the bugs that are doing the rounds so I stepped in with my "All you need to know about confidentiality" presentation which I had previously given to the Leeds and Manchester clubs.   When it came to enforcement I talked about the new small claims track and how it meant that an inventor could enforce an obligation of confidence or indeed most other intellectual property rights cheaply and with minimal risk.

The new small claims track court really does shift the balance of power towards the small business and private inventor and it really would be worth your while to find out more about it.   You can now contact me on 020 7404 5252 as well as on 0113 320 3232 or you can send me a message through Facebook, Linkedin, Xing or twitter or indeed my contact form.