Patent Office to become corporation?

Press, 8 December 1987, Page 20

Patent Office to become corporation?

By

OLIVER RIDDELL

in Wellington A proposal to make the Patent Office a statutory corporation is part of a report to the Government by the Justice Department

It is one of the recommendations that follows a review of the Patent Office by the former chairman of the State Services Commission, Dr Mervyn Probine.

He had been asked to examine ways to improve the management of the Patent Office, enhance the examination and granting of property

rights, encourage the appreciation of the value of those rights, and the greater use of Patent Office information resources.

Dr Probine said the proposed self-funding corporation should be managed by a five-member board appointed by the Minister of Justice, with directors’ fees comparable with the private sector and the power to accumulate and invest funds. While the board would be responsible to the Minister and be required to furnish an annual report to Parliament, it would

have no power to instruct or influence its officers processing applications. His report proposed an interim board, with revolving Binding, until the proposed corporalion was set up by New Zealand had to be able to compete on international markets with products, processes and services, Dr Probine said. Infonnation held by the Patent Office was the largest single source of information in the country. It could be used with profit by companies involved in the development of new processes and products.