Publications
European IP Bulletin, Issue 14, July - Patents
Patents
5. BTG Asserts Patent Rights Over Technologies And Is Now Seeking Royalties
On 14 June, The Daily Telegraph reported that British Technology Group (BTG) (whose main role is to represent inventors and patent owners who want to protect and enforce their patents) was asserting its patent rights over Teleshuttle Corporation technologies and is seeking both down payments and future royalties from a “number of companies” that it claims have already produced products that infringe its patents.
In 1998 BTG became the exclusive licensee for a patented technology from inventor Richard Reisman, founder of Teleshuttle Corporation. BTG has not yet divulged details of the patents in question. However, the technology in question relates to Internet information delivery and covers various ways of downloading software updates over the Web, including virus fixes and product enhancements. BTG has declined to say which firms could be affected by its claims although Microsoft is reportedly included.
When BTG became the exclusive licensee, Teleshuttle's technologies were already being used by Blockbuster to automatically download monthly updates for the rental chain's “Guide to Movies & Videos”. Unsurprisingly people question why BTG waited until now to enforce it. Some view that the company is trying to extract money from companies trying to make products and computers more secure. Indeed, BTG may be trying to make up for losses after one of its most promising technologies, its Varisolve varicose vein treatment, was not approved by the US drug regulator.
The privatised BTG is in the business of turning inventors' ideas into commercial products, which originally formed in 1981 as a result of the merging of the two statutory corporations, the National Research Development Corporation and the National Enterprise Board. BTG has a history of taking on bigger organisations and winning. In 1989 the company won an out-of-court settlement of £6 million from the Pentagon on a patent relating to the cushion of air used by a hovercraft.
It remains to be seen what will be the outcome of this issue.
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