Subject: More on BT who's
who
Date: Mon, 28 Nov 2005 16:46:28 -0800
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Thread-Topic: More on BT who's who
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From: "Gust, Kathe" <kathe.gust@hp.com>
To: "Philip Gust" <gust@NouveauSystems.com>
X-OriginalArrivalTime: 29 Nov 2005 00:46:29.0599 (UTC)
FILETIME=[560286F0:01C5F47E]
Peter Spours, ThinkFire's
London-based Executive Vice President and former Head of Licensing for
BT Group. Hired away in Sept. this year.
ThinkFire, the leading
intellectual property advisor to
information and communication technology companies worldwide, announced
today that it has created a division to assist clients with the purchase
and sale of patents.
Peter
Spours
Executive Vice
President, Europe
+44 (0)1483
285570
Peter is based in the UK and is
responsible for ThinkFire?s European activities. He advises on strategic
issues and undertakes all forms of licensing, including patent,
technology transfer licensing and the purchase and sale of intellectual
property.
Peter directed worldwide licensing
operations for British Telecom (BT Group plc) in the UK. In the first two
years, he delivered over $80 million in new royalties. Previously, Peter
managed business development for BT?s Internet business and set up mobile
ventures in Asia. His earlier experience includes Government and
aerospace sectors.
Peter graduated in Applied Physics
from Durham University.
http://www.thinkfire.com/05a_management.htm
========================================
Most recent patent news with a
name:
BT makes it into world patent
listing
BT is one of just seven British
companies appearing in the current Patent Co-operation Treaty
newsletter's listing of the top 225 organisations worldwide which had
more than 50 international patent applications published last year.
BT appears in 105th place with 93
published applications. Dutch electronics company Philips topped the list
with 2,278 - nearly twice as many as second placed German telecoms
company Siemens which had 1,180. France Telecom appeared in 59th place
with 136 applications and BellSouth - with one more application than BT -
was 102nd.
The only British applicants to have
more than BT were pharmaceutical and healthcare company Glaxo and foods,
household and personal care product manufacturer Unilever - with 178 each
- and security and defence technology company Qinetiq with 100.
Simon Roberts from BT group
legal's intellectual property department
said: "BT's applications reflect
its strategic priorities and covered a wide range of technologies. The
largest proportion - 46 per cent - related to broadband (25 per cent
relating to video coding, streaming, or analysis), followed by mobility
at 22 per cent and security at 15 per cent. The inventions which BT's
patents protect arise throughout the company, although the majority are
created at Adastral Park."
The Patent Co-operation Treaty (PCT),
which was set up in 1978, aims to provide a cost effective and
streamlined way to file patent applications in multiple countries,
allowing the patent applicant to keep patent coverage options open and
defer expenditure for 18 months. Not all patent applicants use the
system, preferring instead to file their patent applications directly
with national and regional patent offices.
A patent entitles its owner to stop
others using the patented invention. Although a patent gives its owner no
right to use the protected invention, it can be used to stop others
competing with the same or similar products or services.
Simon said: "BT's patent
portfolio provides BT with freedom of operation in that it deters other
patent holders from using their patents to attack BT. BT also generates
significant revenues by licensing and otherwise exploiting its
patents."
====================================================
Steve Day is BT Exact's Chief
Information Officer now,
not Stewart Davies as in the article
below.
http://www.btplc.com/Innovation/ForwardThinking/steve.htm
This is the R&D arm of the
company. Maybe he's worth a try. Not sure whether ipValue is
worth contacting in this case.
Digging for hidden treasure in R&D: INTELLECTUAL
PROPERTY: Companies looking to unlock the potential of their IP
portfolios should remember the legal considerations, says Joff Wild;
[London edition]
Financial Times. London (UK): Dec 23,
2002. pg. 10
Abstract (Document Summary)
Currently, most of the big action is in the US but British
companies are beginning to catch on. Take British Telecommunications. At
the beginning of this year, its R&D business, BT Exact,
announced a six-year deal with
ipValue, an IP commercialisation and
licensing consultancy. In return for a share of the revenue it generates,
the Silicon Valley-based company will look after
BT's patent licensing interests in the US and Canada,
making deals with businesses that want to use BT technology
and enforcing BT's rights when these are infringed.
As more companies wake up to the value embedded in their IP,
such strategic thinking will inevitably come into the mainstream. But
when it does, directors must not lose sight of the fact that IP is, in
the end, a legal matter. "I have learnt a hell of a lot about IP
over recent years. I know it is expensive and complex and that's why I
need lawyers to look at everything we do," says Mr [Stewart
Davies].
It is an attitude that Avril Martindale, co-head of the IP
group at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, believes is crucial.
"Although companies are becoming more aware of IP rights, it is
unfortunate that for many this awareness comes too late. By taking
appropriate steps when IP is being developed they can save themselves
heartache, effort and cost further down the line," she says.
Full Text (1138 words)
Copyright Financial Times Information Limited Dec 23,
2002
In May 2001, board-levelrepre sentatives of 20 FTSE-250 com
panies met in London to attend a breakfast seminar on commercialising
technology. Among the speakers was Tim Thorne, head of ventures at
Edengene, a corporate venturing business. Mr Thorne had prepared some
striking research for his audience.
"Many of the companies represented were in the defence,
FMCG [fast-moving consumer goods] and technology sectors," he says.
"And some of them published the figures relating to their annual
research and development spending. We did a quick analysis of eight of
the companies present and came up with a combined value for the
unexploited intellectual property assets this R&D
produces."
Although Mr Thorne asked for volunteers to guess the total,
no one spoke up. "They were visibly shocked when I told them,"
he says. The figure was £17bn.
Given such sums, it is no surprise that a growing number of
companies are looking closely at their IP portfolios. The money-making
possibilities for those that get it right are huge. Companies such as
International Business Machines and Texas Instruments now generate
hundreds of millions of dollars every year from licensing out their
patents, while the total licensing market is estimated to be worth $170bn
(£109bn) annually.
Currently, most of the big action is in the US but British
companies are beginning to catch on. Take British Telecommunications. At
the beginning of this year, its R&D business, BT Exact, announced a
six-year deal with ipValue, an IP commercialisation and licensing
consultancy. In return for a share of the revenue it generates, the
Silicon Valley-based company will look after BT's patent licensing
interests in the US and Canada, making deals with businesses that want to
use BT technology and enforcing BT's rights when these are
infringed.
"We have deep know-how relating to the technology but
we do not necessarily have the expertise in North America to put together
agreements," says Stewart Davies, BT Exact's chief executive.
"The people at ipValue understand technology licensing in the US, so
we are bringing two skill sets together to create a win-win
situation."
The ipValue deal is one of the results of a wide-ranging
re-evaluation of IP that began at BT Exact in autumn 2001. Until then,
the company's 15,000-strong patent line had been used primarily asa
defence weapon to keep others from moving into BT space. But with only 20
per cent of patents actively being used internally, the company began to
think what it could do not only to realise further value but also to
justify the cost of maintaining such a huge portfolio.
"We have spent a lot of money on creating IP, so we
have a responsibility to shareholders to get returns on that. It is a
corporate issue," says Mr Davies.
The company's board is now committed to exploiting as many
of its patents as possible. Millions of pounds have already been
generated by licensing out technologies in areas such as artificial
intelligence software, network technology and optical devices. Mr Davies
is confident the figure will soon be in the tens of millions.
"This is money that goes straight to the bottom
line," he says. "It obviously improves profitability but can
also be used to offset the cost of future R&D investment, which
becomes far more attractive when you can see it directly contributing to
financial performance."
The commercial possibilities for IP do not begin and end
with licensing. In many sectors the maximum royalty from licensing is
less than 5 per cent. Higher returns can come from a joint venture where
the company finds a partner with complementary technology or expertise
and then shares the risk in developing a product. This is a route the
pharmaceuticals sector has often taken, says Nick Anderson, assistant
director in the valuation and strategy group of PwC in London. "They
often reduce the costs of developing their R&D pipelines by looking
at partnering as a means to take research further without incurring the
full expense of doing it on their own."
BT Exact has done something similar in teaming up with
venture capitalists to spin out IP-based businesses from BT Brightstar,
its internal incubator. But because such options lie outside the core
business they are not easy. "You need to develop a coherent business
case for each technology," says Thorne. "This means
understanding the relevant intellectual property and how it may fit into
a particular market: what are the applications and the potential market
sizes? If the returns then look attractive, do you have the skill set to
develop a new business - either alone or with a joint venture partner -
or is it better to license to someone already in that market?"
As more companies wake up to the value embedded in their IP,
such strategic thinking will inevitably come into the mainstream. But
when it does, directors must not lose sight of the fact that IP is, in
the end, a legal matter. "I have learnt a hell of a lot about IP
over recent years. I know it is expensive and complex and that's why I
need lawyers to look at everything we do," says Mr Davies.
It is an attitude that Avril Martindale, co-head of the IP
group at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, believes is crucial.
"Although companies are becoming more aware of IP rights, it is
unfortunate that for many this awareness comes too late. By taking
appropriate steps when IP is being developed they can save themselves
heartache, effort and cost further down the line," she says.
Ms Martindale believes that as IP rights can be pivotal to a
business's future, it is vital for a senior executive to be responsible
for managing IP portfolios. "If you give the job to a junior person
you are asking for trouble," she says.
Those in charge have to be sure of what they own and where
they own it. Patents and trademarks have to be registered, while
ownership of unregistered rights such as copyrights and know-how has to
be properly established - Ms Martindale suggests an internal register of
rights that traces the creation and development process. Without such
protection, entire revenue streams are at risk. "So much is at
stake. New launches can be halted, plants can be closed down, millions of
pounds can be lost," she warns.
None of this will necessarily be easy to justify to
shareholders. But by understanding the legal basis of what it owns, a
company is in a strong position to avoid some costly problems. Careful
planning and getting the right advice are the keys. It may cost money and
it may take time - but in the end it is the only way to realise IP's
potential.
Philip Gust
Nouveau Systems, Inc.
phone: +1 650 961-7992
fax: +1 520 843-7217
mailto: gust@NouveauSystems.com
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