I think I missed the original e-mail about this. By law all UK publishers
(which includes those with say London in the imprint, hence including many
American publishers) must deposit a copy with the British Library within one
month of publication. This does not include non-print material.
Few if any deposit before publication and it certainly doesn't get on the
shelves or into the catalogue rapidly -- we're not miracle workers ! Some
fail to deposit at all and if we notice they are chased up, but nobody is
prosecuted for failing to deposit -- this hasn't happened since the 1850s.
Steve van Dulken
British Library
-----Original Message-----
From: simmons.es@pg.com [mailto:simmons.es@pg.com]
Sent: 30 October 2002 21:53
To: Julia Deboys
Cc: Williams, Caroline; piug-l
Subject: Re: Prior art and UK deposit libraries
Most patent offices require absolute novelty for patentability. This means
that
the claimed subject matter has never been available to members of the public
anywhere in the world. In the "old days", you could usually overcome a
rejection if you could prove the date when the publisher of a journal had
shipped the the article and add evidence of the minimum amount of shipment
time
to the first subscribing library,. The information about shipping date
would
have to come from the publisher, because copies would reach libraries at
different dates and the date it reached the first library is controlling.
Now that we have electronic distribution of journals before the official
publication of an issue, the publication date for patent purposes is the
date
the article was posted on the publisher's website. Some publishers are
aware of
the legal implications - ACS journals carry the "ASAP" date on all articles
that
were available electronically before print publication. Other publishers
don't
understand the problem and don't record the date of electronic publication.
When asking for a declaration to support an argument against rejection of
patent
claims, you really need to be specific about the need for the earliest date
of
distribution on any medium.
Edlyn Simmons
Internet Mail Message
Received from host: [193.123.78.40]
[193.123.78.40]
From: "Julia Deboys" <quisitor@btinternet.com>@derwent.co.uk on 10/30/2002
09:39
AM GMT
"Julia Deboys" To: "Williams,
Caroline"
<quisitor@btinternet.com>@derwent.co.uk <CWilliams@marks-clerk.com>
Cc: "piug-l"
<piug-l@derwent.co.uk>
(bcc: Edlyn Simmons-ES/PGI)
Sent by: owner-piug-l@derwent.co.uk Subject: Prior art and UK
deposit libraries
10/30/2002 04:39 AM
Please respond to "Julia Deboys"
Dear Caroline
In my previous posting, I wrote:
"I'm not sure about the timing of the copyright deposit system in the UK:
would
the British Library receive a copy in advance of the publication date, and
how
would that relate to both the accession date and the date when
the publication
was accessible on the shelves?"
I put this question to Gill Cooper, Reader Services Librarian at the
Radcliffe
Science Library in Oxford (part of the Bodleian which is Oxford
University's
library). She is happy for me to post her reply to the PIUG list provided I
make it clear that this is her personal understanding of the subject and
does
not imply any policy or official statement of any UK deposit library:
"The answer to the above is not AT ALL simple.
For a start the British Library legal deposit is different from that of the
other legal deposit libraries and I know nothing whatever about it.
As far as 'we' go, (i.e. Oxford, Cambridge, Nat. Libs. of Scotland and
Wales
and Trinity College Dublin) many publishers send their copies to the agency
in
London which works for us all. The agent then forwards everything they
have
collected once a week, in routine van deliveries. Our material then takes
a
tour round various departments of the Bodleian before finally hitting our
shelves.
HOWEVER
Some publishers have circumvented all that and now send their copies direct
to
the libraries. These are mostly major publishers of things like Nature,
which
will come as part of the publishers' normal mailing to subscribers. We just
will not have to pay for it.
Either way I don't think that anything would be available in a legal
deposit
library BEFORE its official publication date. It is much more likely to be
late, very late. We date stamp everything so that we know exactly when they
have arrived. Very, very occasionally we have had to supply this date for
legal purposes. We are aware of 'prior art' considerations and also the
possibility of accusations of plagiarism and so forth. We do not have
accessions registers, just computer records, which display the dates on
which a
record has been altered, but do not reliably indicate when a book has
arrived.
Again I don't know about the British Library but I very much doubt that
anything would be available ahead of the publication date, and if it showed
up
early it may well be embargoed. I don't know whether they would be
prepared to
answer questions about dates of arrival.
BUT TO OPEN A FEW MORE CANS OF WORMS.
What about electronic editions of journals? These are often available
before
the paper editions hit the shelves and some journals now make individual
articles available as soon as they are ready and well before publication of
a
whole journal issue. Access might depend on how you are accessing an
electronic
title. Some of the intermediaries are much slower to make information
available than you can obtain it by actually going to the publisher's
website -
assuming you have the necessary privileges to access it in that way.
What about review copies? or copies sent to peer reviewers of journals?
Basically the only way to find out precisely when something became
available is
to ask the publisher. They may refuse to tell you if there are legal
implications." Gill Cooper
I hope this is helpful.
Julia
Julia Deboys (formerly Fletcher)
Managing Director
Quisitor Ltd - Patent Analysts
The Old Coach House
56 High Street
Harston
Cambridge CB2 5PZ
UK
Tel: +44 (0) 1223 873098
Fax: +44 (0) 1223 874457
E-mail: quisitor@btinternet.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------
The information contained in this email is confidential and intended
only for the use of the individual or entity named above. If the reader
of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified
that any dissemination, distribution, or copying of this communication
is strictly prohibited. Thomson Scientific will accept no responsibility
or liability in respect to this email other than to the addressee. If you
have received this communication in error, please notify us
immediately via email: postmaster@derwent.co.uk
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------
**************************************************************************
Free exhibitions at the British Library Galleries :
50 Years of Number Ones : Listen to any one of over 930 pop music chart
toppers 1952-2002 (from 11 October)
Magic Pencil : Children's Book Illustration Today (from 1 November) original
graphic work of 13 contemporary artists
*************************************************************************
The information contained in this e-mail is confidential and may be legally
privileged. It is intended for the addressee(s) only. If you are not the
intended recipient, please delete this e-mail and notify the
postmaster@bl.uk : The contents of this e-mail must not be disclosed or
copied without the sender's consent.
The statements and opinions expressed in this message are those of the
author and do not necessarily reflect those of the British Library. The
British Library does not take any responsibility for the views of the
author.
*************************************************************************
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Fri Feb 14 2003 - 11:57:14 GMT