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this series of articles on ip draughts is so very nice for
understanding collaboration and its many pitfalls.<br>
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/a<br>
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<td>[New post] One-sided contract term of the day (5): powers
of attorney</td>
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<td>Sun, 4 Mar 2012 14:41:35 +0000</td>
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<th align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap" valign="BASELINE">de la: </th>
<td>IP Draughts <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:donotreply@wordpress.com"><donotreply@wordpress.com></a></td>
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href="http://ipdraughts.wordpress.com/2012/03/04/one-sided-contract-term-of-the-day-5-powers-of-attorney/">One-sided
contract term
of the day
(5): powers
of attorney</a></h2>
<span
style="color:
#888;">by <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://ipdraughts.wordpress.com/author/markandersonlaw/"
style="color:
#888
!important;
text-decoration:
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color:
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Anderson</a></span>
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<p style="font-size:
14px; line-height:
1.4em; color: #444444;
font-family:
"Helvetica
Neue", Helvetica,
Arial, sans-serif;
margin: 0 0 1em 0;"><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://ipdraughts.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/unbalanced-scales.jpg"
style="text-decoration:
none; color:
#0088cc;
text-decoration:
underline; color:
#2585B2;"><img
moz-do-not-send="true"
style="max-width:
100%; height:
auto; clear: both;
float: left;
margin-right: 1em;
padding: 4px;
background-color:
white; border: 1px
solid #ccc"
class="
size-thumbnail
wp-image-4594"
title="unbalanced
scales"
src="http://ipdraughts.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/unbalanced-scales.jpg?w=150&h=132"
alt="" border="0"></a>We
continue our series
highlighting IP
Draughts’ “favourite”
one-sided provisions
in contracts. These
provisions are often
found in contracts
where there is an
imbalance of power
between the parties,
and where the party
with the power (let us
call him the “Patron”)
seeks to reduce a
sometimes theoretical
risk by imposing it on
the other party (the
“Supplicant”).</p>
<p style="font-size:
14px; line-height:
1.4em; color: #444444;
font-family:
"Helvetica
Neue", Helvetica,
Arial, sans-serif;
margin: 0 0 1em 0;">Today’s
one-sided term is:</p>
<p style="font-size:
14px; line-height:
1.4em; color: #444444;
font-family:
"Helvetica
Neue", Helvetica,
Arial, sans-serif;
margin: 0 0 1em 0;"><strong>The
Supplicant hereby
irrevocably appoints
the Patron as his
Attorney in his name
to execute any
document and do any
act or thing which
the Patron considers
necessary or
desirable to comply
with the
Supplicant's
obligations under
this Agreement.</strong></p>
<p style="font-size:
14px; line-height:
1.4em; color: #444444;
font-family:
"Helvetica
Neue", Helvetica,
Arial, sans-serif;
margin: 0 0 1em 0;">A
provision of this kind
sometimes appears in
intellectual property
assignments. For
example, IP Draughts
has seen such a
provision in many
assignments of
inventions from an
academic inventor to
his employing
institution.</p>
<p style="font-size:
14px; line-height:
1.4em; color: #444444;
font-family:
"Helvetica
Neue", Helvetica,
Arial, sans-serif;
margin: 0 0 1em 0;"><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://ipdraughts.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/legal-power.jpg"
style="text-decoration:
none; color:
#0088cc;
text-decoration:
underline; color:
#2585B2;"><img
moz-do-not-send="true"
style="max-width:
100%; height:
auto; clear: both;
float: right;
margin-left: 1em;
padding: 4px;
background-color:
white; border: 1px
solid #ccc"
class=" size-full
wp-image-4616"
title="legal
power"
src="http://ipdraughts.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/legal-power.jpg"
alt="" border="0"></a>The
provision gives the
Patron the legal power
to sign documents in
the name of the
Supplicant and make
the Supplicant be
bound by those
documents as if the
Supplicant had signed
them. For present
purposes, we are
considering a general
power of attorney and
are not considering
the special type of
power of attorney that
is obtained from an
elderly person who is
becoming infirm and
who wants a near
relative to look after
their affairs.</p>
<p style="font-size:
14px; line-height:
1.4em; color: #444444;
font-family:
"Helvetica
Neue", Helvetica,
Arial, sans-serif;
margin: 0 0 1em 0;">An
argument that is used
for including such a
provision is that the
inventor may leave the
institution and be
difficult to locate.
It may be necessary to
file documents with
national Patent
Offices at short
notice, and the patent
application should not
be delayed or
prejudiced by the
absence of an
inventor's signature
on a document.</p>
<p style="font-size:
14px; line-height:
1.4em; color: #444444;
font-family:
"Helvetica
Neue", Helvetica,
Arial, sans-serif;
margin: 0 0 1em 0;"><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://ipdraughts.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/student-power.jpg"
style="text-decoration:
none; color:
#0088cc;
text-decoration:
underline; color:
#2585B2;"><img
moz-do-not-send="true"
style="max-width:
100%; height:
auto; clear: both;
float: left;
margin-right: 1em;
padding: 4px;
background-color:
white; border: 1px
solid #ccc"
class="
wp-image-4617"
title="student
power"
src="http://ipdraughts.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/student-power.jpg?w=131&h=131"
alt="" border="0"></a>This
is a valid argument,
particularly in the
case of a student
inventor who leaves a
university without
giving the academic
department a
forwarding address, or
who uses their
parent's address and
collects post from the
parental home on an
infrequent basis.</p>
<p style="font-size:
14px; line-height:
1.4em; color: #444444;
font-family:
"Helvetica
Neue", Helvetica,
Arial, sans-serif;
margin: 0 0 1em 0;">On
a personal level, IP
Draughts would be
uneasy about giving
anyone a power of
attorney and as far as
he can recall (!) he
has never done so. In
the unlikely event of
him becoming an
inventor and assigning
his invention, he
would prefer to make
reliable arrangements
for ensuring that he
can be contacted at
short notice to
execute documents.</p>
<p style="font-size:
14px; line-height:
1.4em; color: #444444;
font-family:
"Helvetica
Neue", Helvetica,
Arial, sans-serif;
margin: 0 0 1em 0;"><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://ipdraughts.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/hairdresser-power.jpg"
style="text-decoration:
none; color:
#0088cc;
text-decoration:
underline; color:
#2585B2;"><img
moz-do-not-send="true"
style="max-width:
100%; height:
auto; clear: both;
float: right;
margin-left: 1em;
padding: 4px;
background-color:
white; border: 1px
solid #ccc"
class="
wp-image-4618"
title="hairdresser
power"
src="http://ipdraughts.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/hairdresser-power.jpg?w=133&h=133"
alt="" border="0"></a>Giving
someone a power of
attorney when both
parties are on the
same side or, to use
the jargon, "their
interests are aligned"
is understandable.
Less understandable,
from IP Draughts'
perspective, is giving
someone a power of
attorney so that they
can force you to do
something that you
don't want to do.
Occasionally, the
latter provisions
appear in contracts.
It might say something
like, in situation X
you will bring legal
proceedings against Y
and if you refuse to
do so we can do so in
your name, and to that
end you sign this
power of attorney. A
party would want to
think very hard before
agreeing to this kind
of provision.</p>
<p style="font-size:
14px; line-height:
1.4em; color: #444444;
font-family:
"Helvetica
Neue", Helvetica,
Arial, sans-serif;
margin: 0 0 1em 0;"><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://ipdraughts.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/power-cut-off.jpg"
style="text-decoration:
none; color:
#0088cc;
text-decoration:
underline; color:
#2585B2;"><img
moz-do-not-send="true"
style="max-width:
100%; height:
auto; clear: both;
float: left;
margin-right: 1em;
padding: 4px;
background-color:
white; border: 1px
solid #ccc"
class="
wp-image-4621"
title="power cut
off"
src="http://ipdraughts.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/power-cut-off.jpg?w=101&h=166"
alt="" border="0"></a>Another
variant is the power
of attorney that an
overseas patent
attorney sometimes
asks a client to sign,
to enable the patent
attorney to represent
the client before a
national Patent
Office. That last
sentence is confusing,
in that the word
attorney is used in
slightly different
senses in the phrase
"power of attorney"
and "patent
attorney". IP
Draughts was tempted
to substitute "patent
agent" to make it
easier to read, but
that might lead us
down the blind alley
of discussing the
conceptual difference
between an agent and
an attorney. That
will have to wait for
another day. For a
discussion of the
difference between an
attorney-at-law and an
attorney-in-fact, as
those terms are used
in the US, see <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attorney-in-fact" target="_blank"
style="text-decoration:
none; color:
#0088cc;
text-decoration:
underline; color:
#2585B2;">this
Wikipedia article</a>.</p>
<p style="font-size:
14px; line-height:
1.4em; color: #444444;
font-family:
"Helvetica
Neue", Helvetica,
Arial, sans-serif;
margin: 0 0 1em 0;">In
principle, it seems
understandable that
(a) a patent
attorney/agent (let's
call him a
representative, to
avoid confusing IP
Draughts' mind any
further) may require
written authority to
act on a client's
behalf before a
national Patent
Office, and (b) the
representative
requires the authority
to be in the form of a
power of attorney
(although that would
not a conventional way
of appointing a
representative in the
UK).</p>
<p style="font-size:
14px; line-height:
1.4em; color: #444444;
font-family:
"Helvetica
Neue", Helvetica,
Arial, sans-serif;
margin: 0 0 1em 0;"><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://ipdraughts.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/faustian-deal.png"
style="text-decoration:
none; color:
#0088cc;
text-decoration:
underline; color:
#2585B2;"><img
moz-do-not-send="true"
style="max-width:
100%; height:
auto; clear: both;
float: right;
margin-left: 1em;
padding: 4px;
background-color:
white; border: 1px
solid #ccc"
class="
wp-image-4599"
title="faustian
deal"
src="http://ipdraughts.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/faustian-deal.png?w=212&h=159"
alt="" border="0"></a>What
is less
understandable, from
IP Draughts'
perspective, is the
detailed wording of
some of the powers of
attorney that overseas
representatives
require to be signed.
IP Draughts has seen
documents that give
very broad authority
to open bank accounts,
purchase land, employ
staff, commence and
settle litigation,
etc. Sometimes, the
representative is not
willing to change
wording in their
template, and
sometimes clients are
not willing to spend
time and money in
debating the wording.
In those
circumstances, the
best you can do may be
to point out the issue
and let the client
take a view on whether
the risk is one they
are willing to take.</p>
<p style="font-size:
14px; line-height:
1.4em; color: #444444;
font-family:
"Helvetica
Neue", Helvetica,
Arial, sans-serif;
margin: 0 0 1em 0;"><strong>IP
Draughts' scoring
for extremeness:
7/10</strong></p>
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Anderson</a></strong>
| March 4, 2012 at 2:41
pm | Categories: <a
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drafting</a>, <a
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