Visitors to UKIPO

The IPKat has learnt of some important visitors to the UKIPO.

Yesterday, Lord Triesman visited the Newport Office, stating after his visit:
"I found the Office to be well focused and professional in its work, staff are clearly highly motivated."
The IPKat is very excited by Lord Triesman, as he is Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Intellectual Property and Quality (hurray – a minister for intellectual property!). However, the description of his brief in the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills’ 4 July press release makes him sound rather less IP-focused:
*The Student Loans Company (and Customer First programme)
*The student loan debt sale
*Endowments and voluntary giving for higher education
*Quality assurance of Higher Education
*UK Intellectual Property Office
*Students as ‘customers’
*Scenario building across DIUS
*Departmental efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability
However, all this pales into insignificance in comparison with some other important guests is South Wales. The IPKat is thrilled to learn that the UKIPO has put up bat boxes. Although the UKIPO webpage alleges that this is to benefit a rare local species, the IPKat suspects that this is a cunning move to decrease turnover times for applications by employing a colony of winged, nocturnal examiners.
Visitors to UKIPO Visitors to UKIPO Reviewed by Anonymous on Thursday, July 12, 2007 Rating: 5

10 comments:

  1. hmmm...wikipedia has reliably informed me that "In 1970 he [Lord Triesman] joined the Communist Party and he stayed in that party until the winter of 1976/1977..."

    An (ex-)communist in charge of property? Whatever next?!

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  2. Lord Triesman is not a minister; he is a PUS (Parliamentary Under Secretary).

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  3. Hm - I see I'm out-pedanted. Well, I can return fire. According to the press release, the correct acronym for Parliamentary Under Secretary of State is PUSS. Coincidence? The IPKat thinks not...

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  4. Ilanah

    You are dealing with someone who used to work for the men in grey suits.....the accepted abbreviation for Parliamentary Under Secretary is and always has been PUS (see, for example, this link to the UK MoD website http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/AboutDefence/People/SeniorOfficials/SecondPermanentUnderSecretary.htm)

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  5. I think, Simon, that my learned colleague is right. She did not describe Lord Triesmann as "The Minister" - for he plainly isn't. She did describe him as "a minister", which my Collins English Dictionary defines, inter alia, as "a person who acts as the agent or servant of a person or thing". I think that just about sums him up.

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  6. Whoops - before anyone writes to complain, I confess that I accidently typed a redundant "n" at the end of the good minister's name. Incidentally, "Triesman" is almost an anagram of "a minister" ...

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  7. Point taken. And nice use of the term "minister".....He's still a PUS, though....

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  8. It's been a busy time - Ian Watmore, the new Permanent Secretary was down here on Friday. And Ilanah modestly fails to mention that she also has visited the Office recently, giving a talk on trade mark dilution and look-alikes.

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  9. Yes, and I've got to say that both Ilanah and Ian Watmore left pretty deep impressions.

    Quite why the former MD of Accenture ,earning goodness knows what, wanted to come into public service is beyond me. I read somewhere that he said he had had a "momentary lapse of reason". All I can say is that this madness has given us a most charismatic and enthusiastic leader.

    He has credentials, having managed IP contracts in the past, but most importantly, he knows the current price of a download from iTUNES (usually 79p, and £1.89 for videos). This boy will go far !!

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  10. The photos are the wrong way round. That guy is bats.

    ReplyDelete

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