NIPC News

St Salvator's College Author Andy Hawkins   Licence CC BY-SA 2.0   Source Wikimedia Commons   Jane Lambert Although St Andrews lost its law school in 1967 when Queen's College became the University of Dundee, St Andrews graduates continued to enter the legal professions of all parts of the United Kingdom and many other countries.  Their entry into the law is eased by the University of St Andrews Law Society  a student organization supported by Herbert Smith Freehills  and other leading law firms .  The Society holds activities that prepare students for law school and a career in the law including moots, talks and workshops.   I was invited to return to St Andrews on Monday 4 Nov 2024, to judge a mooting competition.  I sat with Mike Gettinby  Chief Legal Officer at the University of St Andrews and  Paulina Kachalova , Mistress of the Moots, to judge one contest and with Callum Friel , Master of the Moots, to judge the...

By Herbert Baker - https://www.flickr.com/photos/stevecadman/2347434439/, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=68619795 Downing College, Cambridge Jane Lambert I have been chairing sessions and speaking at the Cambridge IP Law Summer School  on and off since 2017 and have enjoyed every one tremendously but I think this year's was the best ever.  That was because there was an exceptional cohort of attendees drawn from the Civil Service, Magic Circle law firms, Sweden, Turkiye and business and an updated programme which included artificial intelligence, database rights, geographical indications and the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024. The Summer School took place at Downing College between Monday 12 Aug and Friday 16 Aug 3035. There was a different agenda each day.    The first day's agenda was  "Fundamentals" , the second day's was "Patents" , the third's was " Soft IP" , the fourth's  "...

By XrysD - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=133523323 English Local Authorities   Jane Lambert Local enterprise partnerships ("LEPs") were collaborations between local authorities, businesses and universities to take over responsibility for local economic development from the regional development agencies.  They were established by the Coalition government shortly after it came into office.  I wrote about their formation in Local Enterprise Partnerships Begin to Take Shape   in the  NIPC Inventors Club blog on 21 Oct 2010. In his Spring budget statement, Mr Jeremy Hunt MP, who was then Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced a consultation on transferring the functions of the LEPs to local authorities (see Government Plans to abolish LEPs  by Kwame Boakye in the Local Government Chronicle of 15 March 2023).  After an information-gathering exercise by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, and the...

Standard YouTube Licence Jane Lambert On 5 March 2024, I wrote in  Patents: a New Resource Hub on Standard Essential Patents in May and HMG's other Proposals on FRAND Licensing   that the IPO guidance document Standard Essential Patents: 2024 forward look  promised an online SEP Resource Hub by May 2024 which would be a repository of tools, guidance and other material designed to help SMEs navigate what the IPO called "the SEPs ecosystem." The guidance also promised signposting to dispute resolution procedures, information on patent pools, and court processes to resolve disputes. Possibly because an election was called in May the resource hub's launch was delayed until 22 July 2024. It is now up and running and can be accessed at  https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/seps-resource-hub on the Intellectual Property Office ("IPO") website.   The best place to start is the IPO press release  One-stop SEPs Resource Hub launched by UK IPO  ...

Ross Church / Downing College, Cambridge / CC BY-SA 2.0 Jane Lambert The 23rd IP Law Summer School will take place at Downing College, Cambridge between 12 and 16 Aug 2024 and I shall speak on FRAND  and IP Litigation in the English Courts .  I will also chair the sessions on patents  and contentious IP .  In Cambridge IP Law Summer School   I described the course as "a rare opportunity to listen to some of the leading practitioners in intellectual property law in beautiful surroundings in the company of some very bright young men and women from around the world."   This year's summer school promises to be one of the best ever with a revised agenda  and some excellent speakers .  Among this year's new topics Parminder Lally and Debora Dorn of Appleyard Lees will discuss IP and artificial intelligence and a speaker whose name is yet to be announced will talk about geographical indications . The knowledge imparted in the classroom is only ...

Author   Chensiyuan   Licence CC BY-SA 3.0   Source Wikimedia Commons   Jane Lambert The scheme known as direct or public access by which members of the public may approach barristers without first instructing a solicitor or other intermediary came into being on 1 July 2004. The 20th anniversary of the start of that scheme has coincided with the Bar Council's launch of a new Direct Access Portal  and three YouTube videos entitled What is Direct Access? , What does a Direct Access Barrister do?  and How to use the Direct Access Portal?    I was one of the first barristers to qualify for direct access.  I received my first instructions through the scheme within days of finishing the course.   I have continued to receive a flow of direct access work ever since. The scheme implemented the recommendations of a report by a working party chaired by Sir Sydney Kentridge KC with the title  Competition in Professions.  The   re...