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Banks urged to engage with UK government over challenges faced in supporting IP-rich businesses


Banks in the UK have been urged to explain what challenges they face in developing products to support businesses to exploit the value of their intellectual property (IP).

The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) has asked for the views of banks as a part of a new consultation exercise (10-page / 729KB PDF) it has opened. The IPO said that it "wants to find ways to stimulate collaborative innovation and increase licensing opportunities for intellectual property rights".

The IPO said that it was aware of calls for banks and other financial firms to "offer more IP-specific products to help IP-rich businesses access lending based on their intangible assets". A previous report the IPO published in 2013 "highlighted that intellectual property was not appreciated in mainstream UK lending and that potentially millions of pounds worth of business assets were not being taken into account in lending decisions", it said.

"We are keen to hear from both business and the financial sector in respect of this issue," the IPO said.

"In particular, we would like to understand more about some of the challenges faced [by] businesses in obtaining debt funding based on their IP assets and also from those that have been successful. Additionally we would like to hear from banks as to how the government can help them overcome some of the challenges they face in developing IP based products and also any providers that are already in the market," it said.

According to the IPO's consultation paper, the department said it wanted to hear views on the potential of IP trading platforms for enabling IP assets to be exchanged. It said the platforms could help provide financial firms with confidence to lend to IP-rich businesses.

The IPO also said that it is considering whether a new system should be introduced in the UK to help resolve disputes over the licensing of standards-essential technologies. It said the system could work in a similar vein to the existing tribunal it operates for resolving disputes between businesses and collective management organisations over the licensing of copyright works.

The IPO also said it was keen to hear from stakeholders over whether there was appetite to develop Lambert toolkit-style materials to help businesses collaborate and share knowledge.

Industry views have also been sought on whether setting up a new voluntary IP register for copyright works and unregistered design rights in the UK would be beneficial.

"The benefits of a public registry could include legal certainty for creators, providing a means of establishing authorship and/or ownership of rights, and could help to reduce the number of future orphan works," the IPO said. "It could also provide greater certainty around the term of protection for UDR (unregistered design rights), as well as reducing investment risk in intangible assets."

The IPO said that it is looking to see whether "targeted, non-regulatory interventions" could be made to the UK's IP framework to "maximise the incentives provided by our world-class IP system" through its call for views.

Feedback will help shape the development of the UK's industrial strategy, the IPO said, which the UK government consulted on earlier this year.

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