One is a database of patents which are available for licensing.
The other is a collection of inventions whose patents have expired,
and therefore which are available for use without restriction in
the UK.
The IPO said that it hoped that the publication and maintenance
of the databases will help businesses to identify opportunities
they might not otherwise have been aware of.
"The introduction of these two new free databases, which were
recommended in the Gowers Review, will we hope, give UK businesses
ready access to good ideas and new opportunities," said Sean
Dennehey, assistant comptroller and director of patents at the
IPO.
The creation and maintenance of the databases was one of the
recommendations of 2006's Government sponsored Gowers Review of
Intellectual Property, conducted by former Financial Times editor
Andrew Gowers.
It said: "the Patent Office should publish and maintain an open
standards web database, linked to the [European Patent Office]
EPO’s esp@cenet web database,
containing all patents issued under licence of right."
It made the same recommendation for expired patents.
The databases will be updated weekly, the IPO said. They can be
searched or sorted by the date their licence started on or went out
of force.
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