This is in the nature of a d-i-y project, typical of New Zealanders. Perhaps some of you in the UK know of Boxpark.
Boxpark director Roger Wade seems peeved that a temporary mall has been built in Christchurch NZ after some 6000 earthquakes have demolished much of the city.. The mall has been built out of shipping containers. Does Boxpark want money for this rather obvious idea? Is Boxpark subject to earthquakes? I think not. Can somebody please tell Roger Wade to pull his head in?
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director of a British company taking legal action against Christchurch's City Mall project wants an apology.
The Restart project is being accused of copying a pop-up mall in London.
Boxpark director Roger Wade says members of the Restart team visited the Shoreditch mall in April to inspire ideas.
He says he wants to stress they aren't doing this for financial gain.
"We just want the Restart initiative and the Government who's backing the Restart initiative to recognise, as already has been recognised in emails that we've recived from them, that this idea to create a pop-up mall from chipping containers came from Boxpark."
Mr Wade says if this happened, he would be happy to sit down with Restart organisers and talk it through.
I suspect that Boxpark don't want to let this go - because if they do, they have little hope of enforcing a patent anywhere else.
But - a condition of granting a patent is "must not be obvious".
(and from my experience, I think the threshold should be very, very much higher, i.e. unless it took a lot of time and money to develop, and is genuinely clever - then it doesn't deserve a patent)
As shipping containers are frequently used as temporary offices/ industrial/residential units - it's obvious.
(and in UK/Europe, you can't get a patent on a business process - US, you can).
I'm sure we wouldn't have to look far to find some prior art either.
Sorry - but aggressive litigation riding on the back of pathetically obvious patents seems to be becoming the norm.
I have discovered that Boxpark will not be opening until December
2011. Since the Christchrch mall is opening this Saturday 29 October 2011, Boxpark is in fact not the "World=92s 1st Pop Up Department Store".
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marketing announced (on the 17th October 2011) that the =93World=92s 1st Pop Up Department Store=94 will open to the public in December 2011.
Boxpark=92s opening date has shifted twice. At first it was due to open in August 2011, which was then moved back to October 2011. So it=92s fingers crossed for their December launch.
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on Earth are Boxpark Shoreditch thinking??? October 27, 2011 by Avalon
As a negative publicity own-goal Boxpark Shoreditch appear to have scored.
The City Mall Restart project is being threatened with legal action after being accused of copying a =93pop-up mall=94 in London.
Director of the London Boxpark development Roger Wade emailed City Mall Restart organisers accusing them of a =93blatant breach of the Boxpark intellectual property rights=94.
=93Boxpark has now instructed legal action against the owners of City Mall =96 Pop Up Mall for intellectual property rights infringement,=94 he said.
Right =96 so because =93Boxpark=94 were the first people to think of turnin= g containers into shops =96 Christchurch are =93stealing intellectual property=94 by thinking the same thing might be a class idea to help while we rebuild an entire bloddy city.
But City Mall organisers have hit back, claiming Boxpark was being =93precious=94 and there were no similarities between the projects.
I think calling them =93precious=94 is incredibly polite.
Seriously =96 Boxpark =96 you are an embarrassment to the UK. Instead of being all arty-farty-silly-buggers what you should have done is wished City Mall the best of luck and asked if they needed any help. Instead you look silly, petty and selfish =96 and unbeleiveably naff.
New Zealand has been using Containers for years. We use them for prisons and we use them for housing. You are not significantly clever for coming up with the idea =96 so what if you are the =93first=94 to decid= e to use them for shops instead of homes.
Bear in mind that while Boxpark are creating a pop-up mall because they want to be leaders and clever =96 City Mall are doing it because their city has been utterly destroyed by a flippin earthquake. Some perspective is perhaps warranted.
Go City mall! And shame on Boxpark Shoreditch.
City mall opens on Saturday. This is a big deal for Christchurch =96 good luck to them!
Same everywhere, the application must concern an idea that is "not in the public domain" - a phrase that means describing it on tv/radio/ print/in a lecture open to the public - basically anything that isn't a "private communication".
A quick search has turned up his patent application:
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patent is incredibly poor (and I've read a lot of patents), but it has probably been prepared by a professional patent lawyer (though I would have expected a half-way decent one would have sent him away, rather than taken his money)
BUT - note the "publication date" - 2011-02-09
That date is always 12 months after the "filing date" (the date you actually sent the stuff to the patent office).
Basically once you "file", you have 12 months of radio-silence to start exploiting your idea - until it's published.
But you still haven't *got* your patent.
There then follows another 12 months for anyone to challenge the patent, by either making the patent office, the patent holder, or his lawyer aware of any prior art.
A common trick in making a challenge is to make the patent holder's lawyer aware - he/she then has a duty to pass that information on to the patent office - for which he/she may then try to charge the client for the cost of the lawyer's time!
Just sending a photo in should do the trick - particularly if the date can easily be verified e.g. a newspaper photo or bit of tv footage.
This isn't yet a done deal - the patent isn't yet "granted".
in 1981) The operators of the park use a system of relocatable dwelling units, which are located by crane and plug in to central services, as staff housing. You *might* be able to claim that using the same idea for shops is novel enough to get a patent, but I doubt it.
Especially as all political parties in NZ will be happy to make a retrospective law that none of Roger Wade's alleged patents are valid in NZ. There is a history of overseas companies threatening NZ companies for allegedly infinging on a trademarked name (e.g. certain names beginning with H). And a history of NZ companies thumbing their noses at such claims.
At work we've had a large storage area consisting of a central courtyard built from containers three high with a roof over the whole lot. Not a shopping mall, but thieves may treat it as one.
its subject of a new application, TBH if this is Murkydroid and Co`s idea of a patent wouldn`t be cutting them any cheques:
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if anyone`s bored and feels like making an objection to a patent, email is snipped-for-privacy@murgitroyd.com
looks like he can afford the legal fees, but many objections make big fees.
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is Brands Inc Ltd listed alongside Boxpark Ltd on the boxpark.co.uk site as involved
Brands Inc Ltd trades as
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Roger Wade is not on the board of or even a non executive director.
He is a director of Boxpark Ltd formed last year with no filed accounts as yet.
Sports Direct does have large sections about coprporate governance and responsibilty though, perhaps they should be told of the actions of an assosciate in their name.
List of tenants for Boxpark does make interesting reading, first one leaps off the page
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Amnesty International who are recruiting for vounteers to man their box at boxpark.
Do wonder if Amnesty would be confident of backing their landlord in his current action, think they should have the chance to know...
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bored enough with an hour to spare and a bit more searching for emails should be able to make Mr Wade sorry he woke up in the morning.
Even more effective from New Zealand email addresses Matty, tell your friends, personally stuck in waiting for courier Monday may have to object to an obvious patent....
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