York Minster Centre of Excellence for Heritage Craft Skills

Author MatzeTrier Licence  CC BY-SA 3.0 Source Wikimedia Commons

 

Jane Lambert

The fire at Notre Dame, the Christchurch earthquake and the 1984 fire at York Minster are reminders of the fragility and vulnerability of the world's cathedrals.  The skills of the craftsmen who erected and decorated those places of worship are as much in demand at present as they were when those buildings were constructed. 

An initiative to keep those skills alive is The Centre of Excellence for Heritage Craft Skills and Estate Management which will establish a campus for research, education and training in stonemasonry, glass painting and setting, joinery and other traditional skills.  The Centre of Excellence will comprise a Heritage Quad and a Works and Technology Hub.  The Minster has published a video on Youtube which offers a virtual tour of the campus.  According to Miran Rahman, the City Council has now approved plans for the new construction (see York Minster Centre of Excellence plans win approval 2 Sept 2022 TheBusinessDesk).

None of the announcements in the press or on the Minster's website mentions intellectual property but at least some of the works of the craftsmen and women at the Centre of Excellence are likely to generate or be capable of generating substantial.  Most of the works will be works of artistic craftsmanship within the meaning of s.4 (1) (c) of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.  The Centre and Quad are likely to acquire goodwill which can best be protected by trade mark registration.  There will be plenty of trade secrets and possibly even some inventions at the Works and Technology Hub.

Like most research and teaching institutions the Centre is likely to develop an IP policy if it has not already done so.  In many cases, the works of those craftsmen and women will belong to their employers but in some instances, it will be theirs to exploit.  Happily, there are a lot of patent and trade mark agencies and specialist IP lawyers in York.  There is also an IP clinic at Leeds Central Library.

Anyone wishing to discuss this article may call me on 020 7404 5252 during office hours or send me a message through my contact form.

What's happening to Yorkshire?

A Wooden Spoon

Author David Jackmanson
Source Wikipedia

Creative Commons Licence

Yorkshire and the Humber have a population of nearly 5.3 million according to the 2011 census which is 8.4% of the population of the UK and larger than the populations of Norway (5.2 million), the Irish Republic (4.6 million and New Zealand (4.2 million) but the region contributed only 6.5% of the nation's UK patent applications in 2014 (see page 7 of the IPO's Facts and Figures for 2013 and 2014). Whereas there was a slight increase in the number of UK patent applications from 14,946 in 2013 to 15,187 Yorkshire's share actually dropped from 983 in 2013 to 980 in 2014. Yorkshire was 7th in the number of patent applications trailing London (2,766), South-East England (2,701). East of England (1,938), South West (1,510), North West (1,239) and the West Midlands (1,144).

It is the same story in trade mark applications (2,872 compared to London's 14,308, the South East's 12,484, North West's 4,676, South West's 3,597, East of England's 3,415 and West Midland's 3,127) and registered design applications (310 compared to London's 1,120, South East England's 988, North West's 585, West Midland's 505, South West's 452, East of England's 389 and Scotland's 326) though to be fair the region's registered design applications increased from 69 in 2013 to 310 in 2014).

With some of the nation's greatest research universities at Leeds, Sheffield and York, a highly developed financial services industry including business angel networks and private equity investors, Business and IP Centres in Leeds and Sheffield and strong cultural institutions, Yorkshire and the Humber should do better. In the next few months we shall investigate why our region under-performs and what can be done about it. We shall consult local enterprise partnerships, local authorities, chambers of commerce, universities and professionals throughout the region to see where (if anywhere) we have been going wrong and what (if anything) can be done to put it right. In the New Year we plan a day long conference to coordinate our activities. If you want to be involved email me or call me during office hours on 01484 599090.