Ballet and Intellectual Property - my Excuse for reviewing "Beauty and the Beast"

One of my passions is ballet. In a funny sort of way I owe my career in intellectual property to ballet because I discovered Lincoln's Inn while looking for free parking within walking distance of the Royal Opera House one matinee.

There are some connections between intellectual property and ballet which I discussed in some detail in "Cracking Nuts - Copyright in Choreography". That article was my excuse to review David Nixon's "Nutcracker" in my IP North West blog on 24 Nov 2011. As Yorkshire folk don't like to read stuff that's been served up before I have to think of something new now. Having squeezed the Massine v de Basil lemon dry in my other article I've decided to review Northern Ballet's "Beauty and the Beast" which I saw at The Grand Theatre in Leeds last night. I shall also mention some of the company's services to Yorkshire business as well as some of things that Yorkshire business can do for Northern Ballet.

Beauty and the Beast is not an easy story to choreograph. Scottish Ballet had a go with Thea Musgrave's score many years ago. I reviewed for "Aien" (St Andrews University student newspaper) when it was premiered at The King's Theatre in Edinburgh in 1969. Ballet Cymru also seems to have had a version in its repertoire. Another link with IP, incidentally, since Ballet Cymru is based in Newport, the same town as the Intellectual Property Office. And, of course, there is the Birmingham Royal Ballet's version. But none of those versions has ever achieved the popularity of works like Coppelia, Giselle, Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty or Swan Lake. Will David Nixon's version do any better? The answer is that I am just not sure.

Beauty and the Beast has an awkward story line with two sets of main characters:

• Prince Orian who gets turned into a wild beast; and
• a King Lear type figure with three daughters (one of whom is "Beauty") who are turned out of their house by the bailiffs as a result of the girls' extravagance and end up in an old bus in a forest where the old man gets mugged by the beast.

There are also strong roles for good and wicked fairies and the beast's steward. There's also a mishmash of music from Bizet, Poulenc and Saint-Saëns. No wonder my companion (a considerable artist in her own field) and I asked ourselves what was going on in the interval.

Beauty and the Beast is also a very big ballet demanding a very big stage for Duncan Hayler's set. The Grand is an intimate theatre not ideally suited for ballet and its stage did not do it justice.

As for Nixon's choreography the first two acts reminded me of early McMillan - works like Anastasia which are not performed very often nowadays for a reason. But the last Act reminded me of Balanchine and I think it was that Act which saved the ballet. The pas de deux between Beauty - danced exquisitely by Martha Leebolt - and the beast showed just what the choreographer can do. Also impressive were Victoria Sibson and Hannah Bateman who danced the fairies, Hironeo Takahashi, the beast's servant and the coryphées, Michela Paolacci, Ayana Kanda, Christie Duncan and Isabella Gasparini who were four sprites. The last Act of the ballet could well stand as a work in its own right. I hope to see that Act many times again but I would happily skip the first two acts with its old bus and bailiffs.

Before I turn to Northern Ballet's business services and how to sponsor a dancer, I should mention I-Candy, a gorgeous confiserie, patisserie and ice cream parlour a few doors down and on the same side of the road. My friend had one of their waffles with hot white chocolate and I had some chocolate cheesecake thereby undoing all the good work in the gym a few hours earlier. Well it is Christmas.

Now back to business. Northern Ballet's building can be hired for conferences, exhibitions and even a Girl Geek dinner. Are you listening Imran? You'd have a sell out. Here's a video about the place.


Businesses can also sponsor the company as a whole or indeed individual dancers. You will need a good IP lawyer for that. I shall certainly sponsor a dancer just as soon as I can. I hope that some of my readers - especially my patent and trade mark agent clients - will do the same.

Happy New Year folks.

Bradford Rising Stars: a local opportunity to implement Hargreaves

One of the recommendations of Prof. Ian Hargreaves in his review of intellectual property and growth published earlier in the year was for the IPO to draw up plans to improve accessibility of the IP system to smaller companies who will benefit from it. He added that this should involve access to lower cost providers of integrated IP legal and commercial advice.

I discussed this recommendation at some length in my article "Does Hargreaves say anything new?" (24 June 2011):

"The review recognized that SME want is an integrated source of advice which combines commercial and technical insight with legal expertise, helping them to commercialize, as well as protect, their IP. It also found that such advice is not always available from patent agents. That was just the sort of service that many – though, alas, by no means all - Business Link advisers used to provide. Hargreaves called upon the IPO to “draw up plans to improve accessibility of the IP system to smaller companies who will benefit from it”. The review added that “this should involve access to lower cost providers of integrated IP legal and commercial advice.” Again, these are worthy aspirations but there is a limit to what the IPO can do. The 13 PATlib libraries may be a better platform. Many such as Leeds, Sheffield and, of course, the British Library run IP clinics and inventors’ clubs. They also hold considerable collections of marketing and general business as well as legal materials which they make available to the general public. Unfortunately, our second city no longer offers the services of a specialist patent librarian and Liverpool library is closed for refurbishment."

The day before the IPO announced a package of measures to implement that recommendation I was at Bradford Chamber of Commerce meeting the Rising Stars team. The Rising Stars programme is a project funded by the European Regional Development Fund and Bradford City Council and administered by the Chamber to "help a select group of Bradford businesses to push ahead and grow." This help includes "a free, dedicated and personal advice service to entrepreneurs and established businesses within the Bradford area."

I was invited to meet the team because several had clients with intellectual property issues who had difficulty in obtaining affordable advice from patent and trade mark agents and reliable advice from anybody else. As Professor Hargreaves recognized at paragraph 9.9 of his review

"At present, long established IP legal advisors (for example, patent attorneys) seldom offer expertise on the commercial aspects of IP. Conversely, IP advisors with a business focus lack the detailed legal knowledge to assist SMEs in obtaining IPRs."

I had a very good discussion with the advisers. After explaining the difference between intellectual assets and intellectual property and the different types of legal protection that were available for brands, designs, technology and creative works, I outlined the services that were available for artists, designers and inventors and entrepreneurs and investors. I told them that these services were listed nationally and regionally on my Inventors Club website and updated regularly in my Inventors Club blog. I mentioned some of the services that I offer nationally through my NIPC Clinics and locally through my Third Thursday clinics at Gumption.

In Q & A I was asked precisely what I did and how my services differed from "pay-tent" attorneys and solicitors. After explaining as patiently as I could that the word for the monopoly of a new invention is pronounced "pat - tent" ("pat" as in grass at least as pronounced locally) and that "pay-tent" refers to the type of leather used for court shoes, I described the services offered by each of those professions. I explained how the relationship between patent and trade mark attorneys, solicitors and the patent bar was analogous to the relationship between general practitioners and consultant physicians and surgeons in medicine.

In answer to a question from Peter Briggs, who was determined to put this airy, fairy, uppity lady barrister in her place, as to when exactly he should send a client to me, I replied that I was a member of a referral profession and that in an ideal world clients should come to me through patent agents and solicitors. However, I added, I had noted that this was far from a perfect world and that by the time clients came to me it was often too late to help them. Sometimes they had spent all their money on applications for patents that they could not afford to renew let alone enforce or they had been to solicitors or other professional advisers on a learning curve who had tried to issue patent infringement claims in the local district registry or county court. That was why I had set up the clinics and inventors clubs to make sure that as many members of our local business community as possible get as much advice as possible at as early a stage as possible.

Mr. Briggs asked whether filling in the on-line form would oblige inventors to disclose their inventions. "No it wouldn't" I assured him. "It would simply enable me to find the best sort of help for them." I had a panel of experts with whom I had worked in the past and whom I could trust to do a good job at a reasonable rate:

• patent agents such as Michael Harrison, Alex Tomkinson and Tom Hutchinson;
• trade mark agents like Carin Burchill, Paul Dyson and Phil Cooper;
• US IP attorneys like Toni Tease and Doug Isenberg;
• specialist solicitors like Kate Reid and James Love;
• product design consultants like Richard Hall, John Biddleston and Alex Smith;
• brand consultants like Nick Burton

and all sorts of other specialists whose expertise runs from China to ceramics. "Well won't those folk charge" asked Mr. Briggs. "Only after they have identified the problem, decided whether they can help the client and quoted for the job" I replied.

The time at Bradford passed very quickly and, before we knew it, it was up. In an email to Carolyn Coleman who chaired the meeting I mentioned some of the other resources that I have not mentioned in this post such as my presentations on Slideshare, articles on J D Supra, blog on IP developments in the Gulf and, of course, my website.

Should anyone want to discuss this post or IP rights in general he or she should call me on 0113 320 3232 or use my contact form.

Latest IP Yorkshire Newsletter

The latest IP Yorkshire newsletter is out with articles on

• the LEP Summit in Leeds on 9 Sept 2011
• FabLabs for Yorkshire
• injunctions against ISPs
• IP law in the Gulf
• Gumption
• guidance for web designers
• inventors, and
• IP dispute resolution.

Earlier issues of the newsletter are archived. You can download them by clicking the links to the sidebar.

"Cost Effective Product Development" Leeds Inventors Group: 16 Nov 2011

Alex Smith's talk to Leeds Inventors Group "Cost Effective Product Development" on 16 Nov 2011 was one of the best presentations we have ever had. Alex is a product designer, a director of Trig Creative of Horsforth near Leeds and a visiting lecturer of Huddersfield and Leeds Met Universities.His talk explored the design process, getting a product to market, finding funding and a whole lot more. He also gave examples of some of his work. You will find his slides below.

If you want to contact Alex he is at

TRIG Creative Ltd
Dale House, 64 Fink Hill,
Horsforth, Leeds,
Yorkshire
LS18 4DH

Telephone: +44 (0) 113 258 0110

email: design@trigcreative.com

View more presentations from Jane Lambert

Gumption Centres at Leeds City Varieties

Gumption Centres are a set of serviced offices in the centre of Bradford started and run by my good friends David Robertson Brown and John Sims nearly 5 years ago. Just under 2 years ago David and John branched out into VoIP and virtual office services with GB Offices. Yesterday, I checked out their latest venture which is meeting room accommodation at Leeds City Varieties.

Leeds City Varieties is one of our few surviving and thriving music halls (not unlike Vaudeville in the USA) and its auditorium is one of the most beautiful theatres anywhere. For many years it was the venue for the BBC varieties show "The Good Old Days" where members of the audience wore period costume.

My late mother, who came from Bramhope, one of the posher Leeds suburbs, would have been horrified by my visiting the Varieties because it was no place for a lady when she was a girl. As you can see from the photo, times have changed. I was given a conducted tour by the centre manager. I photographed her in Gumption's space at the Centre.

Another lady I met at the Centre, was Gaynor Beckett, an employment law and litigation consultant. Gaynor, who qualified as a solicitor and worked for trade unions and in local government, offers practical advice on employment law. Essentially keeping folk out of trouble and legal expenses down. As the legal services industry is undergoing changes comparable to those that revolutionized the financial services industry in the 1980s I am sure she iwill do very well indeed.

Why Gumption Centres? When I moved to the Huddersfield Media Centre at the end of 2004 I arranged an exhibition and conference on invention and innovation at the Media Centre and the University called "Brass from Gumption" on 18 Feb 2005. It was a triumph with speakers of the calibre of Trevor Baylis and Lawrence Smith Higgins of the IPO and visitors from all over England. David helped me arrange the event. After the conference he asked me whether he could use the name for his business which I was glad to let him do so. He and John helped me over the years by hosting conferences and seminars and other services and I have assisted them with advice and drafting in return.

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.

Regional Growth Fund: who got what in Yorkshire

In "Tarzanned" I wrote about the Regional Growth Fund Roadshow in York in my Inventors' Club blog on 1 June 2011. Today, the Department of Business Innovation and Skills has announced the successful bidders for the second tranche of the £1.4 billion fund.

The companies and local authorities in Yorkshire and Humber that have been offered a share of the £950 million are as follows:

• SEW Eurodrive UK
• Cummins Turbo Technologies
• Surgical Innovations Ltd
• BOC Ltd
• East Riding of Yorkshire Council
• University of Sheffield - AMRC
• Sirius Minerals, Plc
• Leeds City Region
• North Lincolnshire Council
• Wakefield Council
• City of Bradford MDC
• Sheffield Forgemasters International Limited
• Stainless Plating Limited
• T&N Plastics Limited
• 600 UK Ltd
• RoadTankers Northern Ltd

• Heights Ltd
• Hindle
• VTL (Europe) Ltd
• i-plas Products Ltd
• Halifax Rack and Screw Cutting Co Ltd
• Treves UK LTD
• Severn Unival Ltd

It is hoped that these grants will create 3,000 new jobs directly and 13,700 indirectly.

As I said in the penultimate paragraph of my previous article this money does not come without strings and will have to be repaid if it does not bring the promised employment. However, with the exception of the Department of Culture Media and Sport's Broadband Delivery UK Fund this is the only large scale grant allocation that can be expected from HM Government in this Parliament. That does not mean to say that there are not other sources of funding including some grants but they will be not be distributed in the way that they were by the last government.

For further information about this article or raising investment in general call me on 0800 862 0055 or contact me through this form.