The Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand (IPONZ) announced in November last year that it would be 'adopting a new visual identity' to align with the 'fern branding' already applied to some other government departments and activities. (The 'fern' in question is New Zealand's widely-recognised national emblem, the silver fern, or cyathea dealbata.)
In the corporate world, rebranding is usually an 'overnight' affair, of out-with-the-old and in-with-the-new. Theory has it that one should not confuse one's customers or clients with conflicting elements of corporate identity and culture. Government departments, on the other hand, find it hard to justify expenses such as binning piles of unused stationery still bearing the old branding. As old stocks are depleted, these are being replaced with stationery bearing the new brand image.
In the past week, we have started to see patent examination reports on new stationery, suggesting that those old stocks, and the old image, are now on the verge of extinction.
So this is our farewell to the old IPONZ...
...and hello to the new!
Before You Go…
Thank you for reading this article to the end – I hope you enjoyed it, and found it useful. Almost every article I post here takes a few hours of my time to research and write, and I have never felt the need to ask for anything in return.
But now – for the first, and perhaps only, time – I am asking for a favour. If you are a patent attorney, examiner, or other professional who is experienced in reading and interpreting patent claims, I could really use your help with my PhD research. My project involves applying artificial intelligence to analyse patent claim scope systematically, with the goal of better understanding how different legal and regulatory choices influence the boundaries of patent protection. But I need data to train my models, and that is where you can potentially assist me. If every qualified person who reads this request could spare just a couple of hours over the next few weeks, I could gather all the data I need.
The task itself is straightforward and web-based – I am asking participants to compare pairs of patent claims and evaluate their relative scope, using an online application that I have designed and implemented over the past few months. No special knowledge is required beyond the ability to read and understand patent claims in technical fields with which you are familiar. You might even find it to be fun!
There is more information on the project website, at claimscopeproject.net. In particular, you can read:
- a detailed description of the study, its goals and benefits; and
- instructions for the use of the online claim comparison application.
Thank you for considering this request!
Mark Summerfield
0 comments:
Post a Comment