Sheffield Inventors welcomes Joyce Gray

Joyce Gray - Beginner's guide to business information 


Just over a year ago the British Library Business and IP Centre joined forces with Sheffield Central Library and 5 other PatLib libraries in the North of England and West Midlands to form a national network of Business and IP Centres. The Information Library Officer for Sheffield Business and IP Centre is Joyce Gray.

Just before the summer holidays Joyce gave a presentation to Sheffield Inventors on the considerable resources available to entrepreneurs and inventors at Sheffield Central Library and on-line.  Joyce's talk focussed on business information but that is of course only part of her portfolio. The other part is IP which includes clinics, prior art searches and, of course, Sheffield Inventors.

Sheffield Inventors' first event after the summer holiday will take tomorrow in the Jackson Room of te Central Library at 18:00, There will be a talk on the Federation of Small Businesses. I don't yet know the name of the speaker but I will announce it on twitter as soon as I find out.

Later in the month there will be a patent clinic on the 9th and Roger Tipple will visit the Library on the 17th. There will also be the "Movers and Shakers" event on the 22nd which I mentioned in "Forthcoming Events: Sheffield - Movers and Shakers"  on 13 Aug 2014.

If you want to learn more about any of these events, call Joyce on (0114) 273 5038 or email her at information.library@sheffield.gov.uk.

Forthcoming Events: Sheffield - Movers and Shakers

Joyce Gray of Sheffield Central Library who has recently taken over the organization of the Sheffield inventors club has brought the following event to my attention.

It is called Inspiring Entrepreneurs: Movers and Shakers and will consist of a talk by Rekha Mehr followed by a live streaming from London of a panel discussion by

• Michael Acton-Smith OBE, founder of MindCandy
• Vanita Parti, founder of Blink Brow Bar
• Sam Bompas, founder of Bompas & Parr.

The event will take place at The Electric Works, Sheffield Digital Campus, Sheffield, S1 2BJ on 22 Sept 2014 between 17:45 and 21:00. Click here to book your place.

Holding your Own - How to stop others from ripping you off if you are a Private Inventor

Sheffield Central Library, Monday 7 April 2014 18:00 - 19:45

On Monday 7 April 2014 at 18:00 I shall deliver a talk to Sheffield Inventors Group at the Business and IP Centre of Sheffield Central Library on how to stop others from ripping you off if you are a private inventor.

Until very recently the blunt answer to the question "How can I stop others from ripping me off?" was "You can't". That was because the cost of proceedings in the Patents Court or even the Patents County Court was prohibitive. Litigation in common law countries such as England and the United States has always been more expensive than in civil law countries like France, Germany and the Netherlands.  Moreover, in England the losing party usually has to pay the winning party's costs whereas in the USA it does not.  Moreover, lawyers in the USA have always been allowed to accept instructions upon the promise of a share in any damages that may be awarded whereas until recently English lawyers were not. All of those factors combined to make England one of the most expensive and hazardous jurisdictions for individuals or small or medium enterprises ("SME") to enforce their intellectual property rights ("IPR") in the world,

Up to 2002 that did not matter so much because legal aid was available for IP claims as it was for most civil proceedings. In April of that year paragraph 1 (h) of Schedule 2 to the Access to Justice Act 1999 came into effect which abolished public funding for matters arising out of the carrying on of a business.  Word quickly spread that enforcing a patent or other IPR was too expensive and too risky for all but wealthy individuals and big companies and organizations.  Consequently, fewer and fewer individuals and SME bothered with patent applications with the result that the country of Newton and Faraday now trails not only Germany and France but even the Netherlands with one third of our population and Switzerland with one eighth in the number of applications to the European Patent Office (see "Why IP Yorkshire" 10 Sep 2008).

Since I wrote that article there have been a number of changes that make it cheaper and easier for individuals and SME to protect themselves. First, the costs that a successful party can recover from the other side  in the Patents County Court were capped at £50,000 on 1 Oct 2010 (see "New Patents County Court Rules" 31 Oct 2010 NIPC Law). Secondly, a new small claims track in the Patents County Court was launched on 1 Oct 2012 for claims up to £10,000 (see "Patents County Court - The New Small Claims Track Rules" 20 Sept 2012 NIPC Law). I gave a talk on this new jurisdiction to the Sheffield Inventors Group in "How Small Businesses in Yorkshire can protect their Intellectual Property" 14 Oct 2012. The Patents County Court was abolished on 30 Sept 2013 but it was replaced by the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court ("IPEC") which operates in exactly the same way and with the same rules as its predecessor. Thirdly, new insurance and funding options are now available which reduce the cost and risk of litigation (see "Intellectual Property Litigation - the Funding Options" 10 April 2013 NIPC Law). Finally, HM Government has entered an agreement with most of its EU partners to set up a Unified Patents Court which will hear disputes over unitary patents (European patents treating the territories of the contracting states as though they were one country) (see "Unified Patent Court Comes One Step Closer" 17 Aug 2013 NIPC Law).

In my talk on Monday I shall discuss:

• the Institutions: the Intellectual Property Office, European Patent Office, Chancery Division, Patents Court and IPEC;
• the Legislation: the Patents Act 1977 and other IP statutes, the European Patent Convention, Part 63;
• Practice: Patents Court, Chancery and IPEC Guides;
• Claims for breach of confidence: How to bring proceedings in IPEC's small claims track;
• Entitlement Proceedings
• Infringement Proceedings in IPEC and the Patents Court
• Threats Actions
• Revocation Actions
• Insurance
• Unified Patent Court.

I shall explain each of these concepts and steps in everyday non-technical language with links to other materials and I shall later post the slides to this website. 

I do hope to see as many readers as possible on Monday but if you can't make it and want to discuss any of these points don't be afraid to give me a ring on 020 7404 5252 during office hours or send me a message through my contact form, tweet me, write on my wall or get in touch through G+, Linkedin or Xing.

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.

100th Post: IP News Roundup - November 2012

Probably the biggest IP news in Yorkshire as it was for the rest of the country was the launch of the Patents County Court small claims track on 1 Oct 2012. I gave a presentation on the new small claims track to the Sheffield Inventors Group on 1 Oct 2012 and have written a lot of articles about it which are linked to Patents County Court - the New Small Claims Track Rules.

Having spent most of my career persuading businesses in Yorkshire and their legal advisers to make more use of the Leeds District Registry and County Court I now find myself settling proceedings or applying for cases to be transferred to the Rolls Building.   Sure, you can still issue claim forms for intellectual property actions in Leeds and in theory you can still have a trial here but why would anyone want to? The Patents County Court can hear claims up to £500,000 in the multitrack, cases are tightly managed, trials must be over in 2 days and there is a recoverable costs ceiling of £50,000. Where the relief sought is simply an injunction the quick, cheap and simple process offered by the small claims track is even more compelling.

And yet. 

When His Honour Judge Blackett-Ord retired as Vice-Chancellor of the County Palatine of Lancaster in 1988 there was a widespread fear that he would not be replaced.  Chancery practitioners in the North mounted a campaign to keep the ancient palatinate jurisdiction which was led by Peter Keenan from my old chambers.   We wrote a memo to the Lord Chancellor to which I contributed an economics argument.   Central to my case was that a chancery court demanded expertise which created an infrastructure of other professionals who could offer a wide range of services such as intellectual property.  Creating a cadre of specialist counsel, solicitors and patent attorneys, I argued, facilitated R&D, the arts and commerce with it the wealth creating businesses that make the difference between a large town and a metropolis.   

I think the renaissance of Leeds as well as Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle and the other great cities of the North over the last 20 years proves that I was right.   I fear the exodus of intellectual property cases to the Rolls Building could be the beginnings of a haemorrhage of intellectual property expertise in our region.

On a more cheerful note, Leeds Inventors Club enjoyed a fascinating presentation from Gordon Macrae, Special Projects Manager of Gripple on 18 Oct 2012.   Among other things, Gordon spoke about Incub, his company's new product ideas bootcamp which will work with up to six entrepreneurs to evaluate the idea from a technical and market perspective.  Just the sort of thing that inventors need.

Sheffield Inventors Group will welcome Steve Van Dulken on 5 Nov 2012 who gave an excellent presentation to Leeds Inventors on 18 July 2012 (see the Leeds Inventors blog post of his talk for the 18 July 2012). Like me, Steve is a blogger and his "Patent Search Blog" is well worth following.  As I am discussing Sheffield Inventors I should like to express sincere thanks on behalf of the whole membership to Lynne Hinchcliffe for all her sterling work for the group which has grown steadily under her stewardship.  We wish her a long and happy retirement. We look forward to working with Lynne's successor Nicola Avella and congratulate her on her appointment.

Turning from intellectual property to intellectual assets, Huddersfield Choral Society began its winter season with an interesting programme of Vaughan Williams's "Five Mystical Songs" and Brahms's "Ein Deutsches Requiem". Both works offered great scope for Roderick Williams, the baritone soloist who was excellent. There was less scope for a soprano (which was a pity as we had Sarah Tynan) and the chorus; but there was at least one opportunity to hear the inimitable Huddersfield sound in "Der Tod ist verschlungen in der Sieg" in the penultimate movement.  Performing with the Choral was the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, one of my favourite orchstras, conducted by Vasily Petrenko, one of my favourite conductors.

If you want to discuss any of those topics call me on  0113 320 3232 or send me a message through my contact form. You can also follow me on Facebook, Linkedin, twitter or Xing.

How Small Businesses in Yorkshire can protect their Intellectual Property

The Patents County Court Small Claims Track from Jane Lambert


I have spent most of my career at the intellectual property bar championing small and medium enterprises in the North of England.  Until very recently I would encourage their solicitors and patent and trade mark attorneys to issue proceedings in the Leeds or some other Chancery District Registry unless the claim related to patents, registered or registered Community designs, semiconductor topographies or plant breeders' rights.   The reason I did that is that is that the chancery judges in Leeds have been every bit as good as those in the Royal Courts of Justice - at least since Richard Scott was appointed Vice-Chancellor - and it is nearly always cheaper and more convenient for a business owner and his solicitors in Yorkshire to litigate in Leeds than traipse down to London.

Nearly all these cases were claims for injunctions and in almost every case the action was settled on undertakings or when the claimant obtained or was refused an interim injunction.   In very few of those settlements did the defendant agree to pay any damages at all to the claimant.   In the few cases where he or she did so agree, those damages seldom exceeded £5,000.   It is very rare for an intellectual property claim to go to trial and rarer still for there to be an account of profits or inquiry as to damages.   Indeed, I have had only one brief for an inquiry and that took place in London before Master Bragge.

It follows that many, if not most, of those cases could have been brought before the small claims track of the Patents County Court had it existed at the time.   That jurisdiction has power to grant injunctions and other relief in any intellectual property claim provided that the claim for damages is less than £5,000 except claims involving patents, registered or registered Community designs, semiconductor topographies and plant breeders rights which must still be brought in the Patents Court or the multitrack of the Patents County Court. Thus the small claims judges could hear claims by an inventor against a prospective licensee or investor for the breach of a non-disclosure agreement, an established trader against an upstart competitor who has adopted a similar trade name and labelling or a small manufacturer whose nifty merchandise has been knocked off.

The costs that can be recovered in the small claims track are very low:   up to £260 if counsel or solicitors have been instructed in relation to an injunction plus the costs of issuing proceedings which ranges between £35 and £120 depending on the amount of damages sought and compensation for travelling and loss of earnings for attending a hearing.   Accordingly, the risks are very low which means that intellectual property owners cannot be stymied by security for costs applications.   The procedure has been simplified in that there will be limited disclosure, the strict rules of evidence are relaxed, evidence need not be given on oath, cross-examination can be limited and anyone can represent a party at a hearing even if he or she is not qualified as a lawyer or patent or trade mark attorney.   Indeed, many cases are likely be disposed on on paper.

The Ministry of Justice has appointed no less than five district judges and deputy district judges to this new small claims track of a very high calibre, including the head of litigation of a mobile phone manufacturer, the legal adviser to the Society of Authors, a former partner of Linklaters and a former partner of Barlow Lyde & Gilbert (now Clyde & Co,).   Clearly, the Ministry expects the court to be busy and by the quality of its appointments it has shown that it means business.   As counsel I have great confidence in all of those judges.

So, how do you or your solicitors use this new tribunal?   I gave a brief guide in the above presentation to Sheffield Inventors Group on 1 October 2012 which you can download.   If you missed it I shall give the same presentation again to the Liverpool Inventors Club at the offices of QualitySolicitors Jackson & Canter at 88 Church Street in Liverpool on 29 October at 17:00.   If you want to attend you can book on-line or call Michael Sandys of QualitySolicitors Jackson & Canter on 0151 282 1700.   Admission is free but as space is limited you will need a ticket.

If you don't want to negotiate the M62 or the start of the Merseyside rush hour here is a step by step guide as to what to do:

1. Ask the other side nicely to stop whatever they are doing.   You need to send a letter before claim in accordance with Annex A of the Practice Direction - Pre-Action Conduct.  You must be careful how do that otherwise you could end up getting sued yourself for groundless threats as indeed could your solicitor if he does not know much about intellectual property. I kid you not.  I have given some guidance as to how that can be done in "IP Dispute Resolution in England and Wales: why sending a US style “Cease and Desist Letter” or old style “Letter before Action” may not be a good idea" JD Supra 13 Jan 2012 and I have even drafted a model letter before claim for a design right dispute.  You are likely to be better off getting a barrister, solicitor or patent or trade mark attorney to draft such a letter for you and I will do one for you or your solicitor for a fixed fee if you want to get in touch. You are likely to be even better off if you get a specialist solicitor to put it on her notepaper and, if you don't have a specialist solicitor in Yorkshire, Kate Reid of Pemberton Reid sends letters drafted by me on her stationery for an extra £100 + VAT.  I have arranged with solicitors and patent and trade mark agents in other parts of the country to offer similar deals to my clients.
2. Issue your claim form out of the Rolls Building    A claim form is what we used to call a writ and blank forms can be downloaded from HMCT Service website or obtained from the Court. You have to issue it out of the public counter of the Rolls Building off Fetter Lane in London and pay the fee that I mentioned above.   The claim form must be accompanied by particulars of claim which should set out your claim in detail.  In addition to specifying your right, how it has been infringed and the remedy you require you must say that you have complied with the Practice Direction - Pre-Action Conduct and that you want this case to proceed in the small claims track.   Again, this is tricky and you main need some help.   Again, I am happy to settle particulars of claim for a fixed fee if you would like to contact me,   You must then serve the claim form with the particulars of claim and a response that on the other side or get the court to do it for you.   It is very important that you serve all the paperwork or you case will stall and any order or relief that you may be granted will be set aside.
3. Wait for the other side to respond.   They have a fixed time to lodge their defence and any counterclaim against you the duration of which will depend on whether you complied with the Practice Direction.   If they don't lodge their defence in time you can apply to the court for judgment in default of defence which will probably require a hearing if you want an injunction.   If they do respond in time the court will give directions which may include fixing a date for a final or a preliminary hearing.   You must comply with all the directions of the court within the time specified if you want to get into or remain in the judge's good books.    
4. Attend the Hearing    Unless the judge has indicated that your case is suitable to be disposed of in writing and everyone has agreed you must attend the hearing which will take place in the Thomas Moore Building in the Royal Courts of Justice which is a few hundred yards from the Rolls Building.   The judges of the Patents and Patents County Court have said in their guide that they will sit in London for the convenience of the parties and to save costs but I have only known a few occasions when they have done so.   You should have enough notice of the hearing to book a saver ticket and a Travelodge so it is hardly going to break the bank if you go to London and you should get some of your dosh back if you win.   Also, you and your Mrs. (or hubby) can combine a trip to the court with a visit to some of the other attractions that the Smoke has to offer.

If you want to learn more about this small claims track there is loads of info including links to my other articles and other guidance at "Patents County Court - the New Small Claims Track Rules" 20 Sept 2012 in my IP/IT Update blog.   You can also give me a bell on   0113 320 3232 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            0113 320 3232      end_of_the_skype_highlighting or send me a message through Facebook, Linkedin, Xing or twitter or indeed my contact form.

"SpeedFunding", Lean Startups and Teaching Children about Invention

On 29 March 2012 I wrote that my friend Amanda Lennon had been appointed to run Angels Den in Yorkshire and the Humber. On 14 May 2012 I was delighted to introduce Amanda to the Sheffield Inventors Group to speak on "Raising Business Growth Investment- alternatives to bank finance".  She attracted a good audience and held their attention for the best part of two hours.

After outlining the types of funding available and how to raise it, Amanda focused on equity funding in general and angel investment in particular.   She told us who angels were and what they did.   She discussed angel networks such as Angels' Den and their relationships with angels and entrepreneurs before introducing us to her company.

Angels Den differs from other angel networks in that it pioneered a process called "SpeedFunding"(TM).   According .to its website the concept is rather like speed dating. Entrepreneurs are given an opportunity to pitch their proposition individually to a number of angels for up to 3 minutes at a time.   The advantages of this process to the entrepreneur is that he or she gets an opportunity to refine his or her pitch and possibly his or her business model as well as meet a wider selection of potential investors than would otherwise be the case in the course of the session.   I imagine that it can also be very entertaining - at least for the angels.

When Amanda spoke about "SpeedFunding" (TM) I was immediately reminded of Eric Ries's concept of "the lean startup", a process that I mentioned in my Inventors Club blog (see "Lean Startup" 6 May 2012).   Could the 3 minute pitch be compared to the "minimal viable product" and the angels to "early adopters"? I asked myself.   If you want to learn more about "lean startup" there is a lean startup group in Manchester which meets regularly at the Manchester Business School and I know there was a meeting at Sheffield University last week to set up a similar group in Yorkshire.   If you contact me I would be glad to pass your name on to the organizer

Anyway, returning to Angels Den, the company appears to offer more conventional ways of raising equity funding, though those appear to be more expensive than "SpeedFunding" (TM) (see "How much do you charge" on the Angels' Den website).   The company charges £799 + VAT for the SpeedFunding (TM) package plus a 5% success fee when funding is raised.   Apparently, entrepreneurs get opportunities to choose the approach at "funding clinics" held from time to time and to develop their pitch at training sessions known as "pitch school" (see "10 steps to getting funded through Angels Den").

While I do not endorse any particular angel network and emphasize that angel funding is not for everyone I hope to arrange a forum where angels can meet some of the bright lads and lasses from the North's inventors' clubs and "FabLabs" in July as well as a Northern innovation academy in September.   I will invite Amanda or one of her colleagues to speak at both events.

Sheffield and the other great cities of Yorkshire indicate that this county once had an entrepreneurial culture which must have been very similar to that of Silicon Valley in the 1980s and perhaps the BRIC and CIVETS countries today.   Can this can do culture be revived?   The success of Silicon Roundabout and Tech City in London shows there is no reason why it cannot.   Many of those responsible for those new businesses in London were either born or educated in Yorkshire.   The well known inventor Trevor Baylis has suggested that pupils should be taught about innovation and enterprise at school.   Visiting the Sheffield Quaker meeting house yesterday I was delighted to see in the children's meeting (equivalent of Sunday school) a popup book on invention for young children.   It was attractive, entertaining and informative.   Leafing through the pages, I learned something new from it even though I am old enough to have been the kids' grandmother and have practised patent law for the last 35 years.   That sort of book could do more good in the long term than the loan scheme announced by the Prime Minister today (see "PM wants start-up loans scheme to help young" 28 May 2012 on the BBC website).

If anyone wants to discuss this article further, call me on 0113 320 3232 or click here.

FabLab Airedale: Introductory Offer and Visit

FabLab Airedale is open at last. We had been looking forward to it for months just as children look forward to Father Christmas (see "A FabLab for Keighley" 9 Nov 2011 and "FabLabs for Yorkshire: Progress Report" 16 Jan 2012).  Now I have actually seen it.   I visited it on 20 April 2012 and was given a grand tour by the manager, James Kitson (see my report "Keighley FabLab opens for Business" in my Inventors Club blog of 1 May 2012).

I also met Jane Bilous, the Masterplan Delivery Officer of the Airedale Partnership, while I was there and Jane, James and I discussed a number of ways in which we could co-operate.   The first of these will be a visit by the Leeds Inventors Group on 16 May 2012 between 18:00 and 19:45 (see "16th May Leeds Inventors Group -visit to Fablab Airedale" in the Leeds Inventors Group blog of 30 April 2012).   As there will not be a meeting of the Sheffield Inventors Group in May because the first Monday falls on a public holiday, inventors from Sheffield are also invited.   It will be the first opportunity for members of the two Yorkshire clubs to meet.  Places however are limited so you must call Ged or Stef of Leeds Central Library on 0113 247 8266 to book your place.

Other projects that we discussed were an introductory seminar on IP like the ones we gave to FabLab Manchester on 12 Oct 2011 (see "FabLab Manchester: Introduction to Intellectual Property" IP North West 8 Nov 2012) and Freerange Artists in Carlisle on 8 March 2012 (see "Introducing IP to Freerange Artists in Carlisle" IP North West 10 March 2012), a funding workshop with business angels, bankers, community development finance institutions and venture capitalists and maybe an inventors' academy in conjunction with the Manchester FabLab, Carlisle's Freerange and the Sheffield Refab Space.

For a limited period, businesses in the metropolitan district of Bradford can receive up to one day's free machinery time and technical support from the FabLab staff which could include rapid prototyping, 3D printing or other consultancy. Since commercial design agencies charge a lot of money for those services, this could be quite a saving.   Call 01535 606703 or email info@fablabairedale.org  to register your interest.

If anybody has any questions or comments about this post or FabLabs generally, he or she can contact me through my contact form,, Facebook, Linkedin, Xing or twitter or call me on 0113 320 3232 .

"Refab - a fabrication laboratory for Sheffield"

Last week I reported Integreatplus's "Learning Lunch" at the Electric Works in Sheffield.  One of the two star speakers was James Wallbank of Access Space.  Access Space has recently been listed as number 2 in The Guardian and Nesta's pantheon on Britain's 50 New Radicals. So James is something of a celebrity.

Sheffield Inventors Group is delighted to welcome him as guest speaker on Monday, 5 March 2012 at 18:00.   

The title of his talk will be on "Refab - a fablab for Sheffield".  He will talk about Refab-Space and what it can do for inventors, craftsmen and women, artists, designers and entrepreneurs in South Yorkshire.   Since some of those bods will set up businesses that will require professional services and investment, this talk should also appeal to patent and trade mark agents, design consultants, angles and banks in the county.

The meeting will take place at

Sheffield Central Library, 

Surrey Street,
Sheffield
S1 1XZ.

Admission is free but you are strongly advised to book your place in advance.   Call or email Lynne Hichcliffe on 0114 273 4736 to let her know you are coming.   The last Sheffield Inventors Club meeting was packed.  Standing room only.

Meet a patent examiner at Sheffield or Leeds Inventors Group

I have just announced on my Inventors' Club blog that patent examiner Kalim Yasseen will be talking to Sheffield and Leeds Inventors Groups on 6 Feb and 15 Feb respectively. For more information, see my post
"Straight from the Horse's Mouth:"Filing a UK patent application - process and procedures".

The Sheffield will take place on 6 Feb at 18:00 at

Central Library

Surrey Street

Sheffield

S1 1XZ

Call Lynne Hinchcliffe  on 0114 273 4736 for further information.

The Leeds event will be at 18:00 on 15 Feb at

Central Library

Calverley Street

Leeds

LS1 3AB

Call Ged or Stef  on  0113 247 8266 for more information.

Both events are free but do let the libraries know in good time whether you are coming as demand is likely to be heavy for both events.

A FabLab for Keighley?

"FabLab" is an abbreviation for fabrication laboratory. It is described in Wikipedia as "a small-scale workshop offering (personal) digital fabrication." It is typically equipped with a range of computer controlled tools that cover several different length scales and various materials, with the aim of making "almost anything". There are FabLabs across the world from Southern Ghana to Northern Norway including one in Manchester that I mentioned in my IP North West blog yesterday ("FabLab Manchester: Introduction to Intellectual Property" IP North West 8 Nov 2011).

Jane Keats gave a presentation that focused on FabLabs entitled "Factories of the Future" to Leeds and Sheffield inventors clubs on 21 Sept and 3 Oct 2011 (see "Jane Keats on 'Factories of the Future'" in my Inventors Club blog of 7 Nov 2011 and "LIG 21st Sept 11 Fablabs - Factories of the Future? Jane Keats" in the Leeds inventors Group blog). Also, the Keighley News reported that a mobile FabLab would be set up in Keighley on 8 Sept 2011 to coincide with the British Science Festival (see "Chance to go and explore Universe", Keighley News 8 Sept 2011).

In her talk Jane mentioned the possibility of a permanent FabLab in Keighley there are at last signs that that may be happening. Much of the equipment for the Keighley site was purchased some months ago and is now being stored at FabLab Manchester. Now the post of CEO for the "Centre for Manufacturing Excellence" at an annual salary of £45,000. The job advertisement notes that:

"The CME will also operate a Fab Lab. A Fab Lab is a digital fabrication laboratory, originating from MIT in the States around ten years ago to “empower individuals rather than institutions to be able to make almost anything”.Fab Labs are a facility for rapid prototyping and assistance with product development. Labs also provide educational and training workshops for schools, colleges and open access to the community.


The CEO on appointment will initially establish a smooth and effectively operating Fab Lab, exploiting different markets to generate revenue to sustain the Fab Lab operations.The Fab Lab will attract commercial clients, sole inventors, schools, colleges and a diverse community."

I drew these developments to the attention of Councillor Mehboob Khan, leader of Kirklees metropolitan borough council and deputy chair of the Leeds City Region local enterprise partnership at the LEP Summit in September. Councillor David Ridgway, another Kirklees Councillor has also offered his support.

The job description for the Keighley FabLab stipulates that the successful candidate will have "an understanding of intellectual property rights". That is to be welcomed though he or she and the interview panel should be aware that additive manufacturing technologies present particularly complex. As a starter, however, they would do worse than begin with the presentations that patent agent Tom Hutchinson, specialist solicitor Michael Sandys and I gave to FabLab Manchester on 12 Oct 2011.

If anybody has any questions or comments, he or she can contact me through my contact form, Facebook, Linkedin, Xing or twitter or call me on 0113 320 3232.

Sheffield Hallam University Enterprise Centre

Sheffield has two great universities:

• the University of Sheffield, and
• Sheffield Hallam University.

Sheffield Hallam University's Enterprise Centre is literally just across the road from Central Library which hosts Sheffield Inventors Group. Hallam has an enormous pool of expertise ranging from Arts and Humanities to Transport and Logistics.

Yesterday the Inventors Group welcomed Heath Reed from the University's Art and Design Research Centre and its designfutures consultancy to talk about how Hallam can help inventors, start-ups and other small and medium enterprises. They seem to have done some work for Andrew Jones one of Huddersfield's institutions. To read more about Heat's talk, see my article "Sheffield Inventors Group: A Link with Hallam" in my Inventors' Club blog.

Pork pie packaging is just one example of Hallam's expertise. To find out more it is worth checking out the Innovation Futures page on its website. Some of their research and consultancy work may be funded.