Covid-19 and the Intellectual Property Sector Round Up 1.
If you would like to feature in this round up and work in the broad IP sector then let me know. All bets are off if we go full apocalypse though, I’m eyeing up a fetching Mohican hair style (in green) and will be starting a gang, not sure on suitably menacing names – although ‘recruitment consultant’ seems to put fear into some peoples’ minds judging by the reaction we sometimes get to sales calls. Gang name suggestions always welcome, likewise if you have a line on toilet roll…The idea is that each day (or perhaps every other day) I’ll post a round up of any IP news that I spot, office closures, country specific issues etc. Initially this will be fairly haphazard but hopefully will become more organised as people see stuff and send it through (please do that). I’d of course appreciate you distributing and sharing this as much as possible, the more it’s shared the more valuable it becomes.
First a word on recruitment. It is still going on but in a much more limited way. We do have active vacancies we’re recruiting for and people are still attending interviews (mostly over Skype/VC). If you are keen to move firms then speak to us, we can advise on best strategy and get you prepared when circumstances begin to change. It is undeniable that much recruitment has been put on hold and we expect this to be the case for some time to come.
For patent firms in particular over the last few years it has been incredibly difficult to find patent attorneys with an electronics background. Now could be a potentially excellent time to find candidates. People will be working from home more so it will be easier for us to talk to them and what only a few months ago seemed to be a market with a myriad of choices has changed, so candidates may be more receptive to options. There will be candidates who are keen to move, perhaps who have not been able sit their EQEs this year and are worried that they will now be stuck in a job or firm they are not completely happy with for the foreseeable future. Even if you are not in a position to hire straight away you could, for example, make a conditional offer for positions to start in the next six months or so. We recruit internationally and have excellent research skills so wherever you are based, we may well be able to help. We are considering a wide variety of pricing models for this to ensure recruitment remains financially viable.
Now to other news.
CPA Global have set up the facility for over 2200 of their people to work from home whilst continuing to provide full operational services which is an impressive feat of technology!
IAM are making all content related to Covid-19 free to view. This also applies to WTR and Global Data Review.
ClarkeModet Group have created a very handy online space for current circumstances of Patent and Trademark offices in the countries in which they operate.
Kass of Malaysia report the Malaysian IPO (MyIPO) is closed until the 31st of March as things stand. Everyone from Kass is working from home but they are well set up to continue to work.
Dehns in the UK are continuing a marketing campaign to attract patent attorneys with an engineering background. If you would be interested in working for Dehns you can find out more here.
Unfortunately, a great deal of IP events have had to be cancelled such as the AIPLA Women in IP event in Manchester, UK on the 2nd April.
But initiatives such as IP Inclusive are very much active with meetings and events taking place on line (such as a recruitment event I’m involved in, in June). It’s important that the great work that IP Inclusive does is maintained through the crisis as much as possible.
Be safe everyone, don’t get too stir-crazy working from home and I’m always happy to chat about recruitment or anything else, just get in touch. I’d especially like to hear from you if you have an excellent gang name that you’re willing to license. We may have a spare hand sanitizer we can send you as a fee (no promises).
This article was first publised on LinkedIn by Pete Fellows on the 19th of March 2020 and has been slightly amended.