Monday 13 April 2015

A manifesto, some Women in IP, and an inflatable fish

21 February 2015

I finish writing my Presidential manifesto and post it on my blog.  I tell Twitter® and LinkedIn® and my mum that I have done this.  The first two ignore me and the third forgets all about it.  Perhaps I have not made it saucy enough. 

 

24 February 2015, 10 am

Yay!  I am at the Women in IP Forum, to which I have accidentally been invited after all just to shut me up.  In amongst a sea of Women in IP, there are three or four Men in IP, who are being very, very careful to shut up and not fidget.  There is an awkward moment as we file out for coffee, because the men are not sure whether they are allowed to hold the door open for us.  One of them, true to his upbringing, decides it is only polite to hold a door for a woman.  He is still holding it when the coffee break ends.

It is reassuring to find that a Women in IP forum is like any other IP forum, in that there are talks about IP and questions about IP and not enough glasses of water to go round.

I leave early, feeling thirsty, and go to see IPReg.  The Pee is there too, along with two VeePees from ITMA who are our Friends because we are still hoping to get invited to their parties.  I do not think IPReg are very pleased to see us, but they give us some sandwiches anyway. 

 

24 February 2015, 5 pm

Mr Davies and I have come to visit a CIPA member who works in Cambridge but is sad because there are no other patent attorneys in his office.  Personally I cannot see why this makes him sad; in fact I would have thought it was cause for celebration.

Our host is much more pleased to see us than IPReg were.  After a brief chat about CIPA, he disappears for a while, looking very excited, and returns carrying a cardboard box.  The box contains a giant, remote-controlled inflatable fish.  He is very proud of this fish.  He says he uses it to teach his colleagues about the patent system.  He has some patent documents to go with it; they contain drawings of other remote-controlled inflatable things that a less patent-savvy person might think make the fish look Obvious.  And an examination report that says yes indeed the fish is Obvious.  Plus a solicitor’s letter that says Obvious or not, we are going to sue the pants off you (only that is not a threat, you understand; we are merely bringing the patent and the pants to your attention).

Mr Davies is over the moon.  He looks as though he’s been invited to six darts matches all on the same day.  Bring your fishy documents to Chancery Lane, he says excitedly, and we will teach the CIPA staff about the patent system too!  And he instantly goes online to purchase his own remote-controlled inflatable fish and a canister of helium.  I say are you not supposed to be the Chief Eggsek and doing serious things like Conflict of Interest policies and manifestos and audit reports and rewriting the Council minutes which you made too life-like last time?  But he is not listening.

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