It has been a day full of meetings, and it is not over
yet. This one is about pro bono
work. Why anyone would think patent
attorneys would be remotely interested in working for free is beyond me. We all know solicitors do pro bono work
because they want to be seen to be altruistic and cuddly. They probably have diversity policies too,
and do 360⁰ appraisals and team-building
events and all sorts of other namby-pamby stuff. That does not mean we need to go soft too.
However, today’s meeting is with the IPEC judge, Mr Justice
Hacon. The Mister Justice is quite clear
about pro bono being a Good Thing, especially for the poor souls who try to
represent themselves in his Court and end up getting their knickers in an
unsightly twist. We decide we will maybe
talk about perhaps coming up with a proposal to consider, with a view to
possibly establishing a potential pro bono group that could, in certain
circumstances but obviously not for the time-wasters and the lunatics, provide
some free IP advice and representation.
Now and then.
ITMA are at the meeting too.
They are soft as well. In fact,
all of us in the room are of the altruistic type, and we manage to convince
ourselves that this is a feasible project and that we can do great things for
the IP community in setting it up. This
is the British psyche showing itself again.
When a lunatic or an out-of-luck Nigerian prince asks us to work for
free, perhaps we should just say Yes of course and apologise for not offering
before.
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