The Channel Island
States of Guernsey have been in the IP news headlines recently. Yesterday Guernsey announced publication of its
draft proposals for a registrable Image Right. Today, The SPC Blog has received a reader's question specifically relating to that charming holiday isle with a lightly-taxed population of just some 65,000 souls:
"Does a United Kingdom SPC automatically extend to a registration of the corresponding basic patent in Guernsey and/or Jersey?"
Any thoughts would be much appreciated, particularly if they can point or link to any explicit legislation -- and don't write in to say that, given the location of Guernsey and Jersey, it would be easier to extend a neighbourly French SPC than a more distant UK one ...
The 2009 Patents Ordinance, Schedule 3 gives the Guernsey registrar a power to extend patents where there's an SPC. The exact provision needs reading to see what it actually does - it's not quite that simple.
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