Wednesday, March 24, 2010

UK Budget - quick review of IP-related announcements

Three main points - plus some more investment in green technology, but that's not specifically aimed at new IP.

Following consultation on design, the Government will introduce a tax relief for the UK video games industry, subject to state aid approval from the European Commission. No more detail than that, but it will presumably be similar to the film/sound recordings reliefs.

The Government is creating a £270 million Higher Education Modernisation Fund in 2010-11. This fund will enable universities to identify and drive efficiencies in the sector and fund an extra 20,000 undergraduates on courses starting in September 2010, with priority given to key subjects like science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

A little more news on the patent box announced in the 2009 Pre-Budget Report:
The Government will work with business to design a practical and competitive regime for patents to support the UK's strengths in innovative industries. This will include looking at how to identify and value embedded patent income and how to give relief to acquired patents. In addition to patents granted after legislation is passed in 2011, the consultation will also consider how to include patents not yet commercialised at that point, and how the regime will apply to equivalent overseas patents held by UK companies. The Government will be consulting with business over the summer.

More details to follow if I find any on digging through the press releases ..