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SABIP

By Johanna Gibson, David Pearce, Jeremy Phillips and Ilanah Simon.

Before anyone else excitedly emails the IPKat to tell him, let him announce on this weblog of record that the new UK Business Secretary Vince Cable has today axed a number of Department for Business quangos -- the top of the list being the Strategic Advisory Board for Intellectual Property policy (SABIP). The body -- along with everyone else -- must have foreseen its demise, since it has already posted this statement on its own dissolution:

"On 19 July the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills announced changes in order to streamline its partner organizations by reducing the number of 'Arm's Length Bodies'. This includes the dissolution of the Strategic Advisory Board for Intellectual Property Policy (SABIP).

In building the evidence base to inform IP policy, and bringing external strategic thinking to policy questions, SABIP achieved much since it was created in 2008. Many organizations and people contributed to these achievements but they were due above all to the work of the SABIP Board members. The Government is very grateful to them.

The Government intends to build on SABIP's work. Its research programme will be integrated into the Intellectual Property Office's research work. The Office intends to ensure that there continues to be external oversight and challenge to IP research work, and input to strategic IP policy. Arrangements to achieve this may include use of informal panels of experts to steer research, and discussion events hosted by third parties to support the development of policy thinking. Further details on the specific structures, including how they will be overseen by the IPO's Board, will be announced in due course".

The IPKat has had a number of encounters with SABIP, not all of which were particularly pleasurable, and has been unhappy about it for a number of reasons since its inception. Having said that, he believes that its members have made a big effort to discharge their duties in the most difficult of circumstances and they have certainly contributed to the ongoing debate regarding the interface between IP in practice and the policy considerations that should drive it in future. He was also pleased to hear their repeated refrain that IP reform should be evidence-based. He wishes its board and secretariat every success in the future, and hopes that they will always cherish fond memories of the IP communities of which they were, so briefly, a notable part.

Full post as published by IPKat on July 19, 2010 (boomark / email).