Lambert to speak at C5 Pharma & Biotech Patent Litigation Conference on 28 Feb 2017

Jane Lambert

One of the most important cases of 2017 was the Supreme Court's decision in Eli Lilly v Actavis UK Ltd and Others  [2017] Bus LR 1731, [2017] UKSC 48.  That case is important for two reasons. First, it re-struck the balance that the law has to strike between the needs of inventors for reasonable protection for their inventions, competitors in the industry for certainty and clarity as to what they can and cannot do and the general the general public for reasonable competition much more favourably to inventors.  Secondly, the Court considered for the first time topics such as the "doctrine of equivalents" and "file wrapper estoppel" that are familiar to US judges and lawyers but not to their colleagues in this country.

I wrote about that case in The Supreme Court's Judgment in Eli Lilly v Actavis UK Ltd and Others: how to understand it and why it is important 13 July 2017 NIPC Law. My case note received a lot of hits and favourable comment including a "like" by the leading counsel for the appellant in that appeal.  As a consequence of that case note I have been invited to speak at C5's 10th Pharma and Biotech Patent Litigation conference at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Amsterdam on 28 Feb 2018.

According to the conference brochure, many of the world's leading intellectual property practitioners and legal scholars will speak on topics ranging from Cross-Border Litigation Strategies: Planning, Managing and Reacting to Patent Enforcement Proceedings in Concurrent Jurisdictions to Emerging Markets: Understanding and Overcoming the Legal Challenges in Key Regional Growth Markets. I am very excited and feel very honoured to have been invited to contribute to this event.

I shall be one of three speakers at the Infringements Under the Doctrines of Equivalence session that takes place between 11:15 and 12:00 on 28 Feb 2017. My talk will have to be very clear and focused because I share a platform with two very distinguished speakers from DLA, Paul Reeskamp who is a partner in the firm's Amsterdam office and Dr Plilipp Cepl, a partner at its Cologne office. During those 45 minutes, the three of us have to assess the different approaches across Europe to doctrines of equivalence and discuss significance of Eli Lily v Actavis for other companies and what patent attorneys and examiners need to know.  As the only English lawyer in that session much of the ground will have to be covered by me.

Those wishing to attend the conference may book through C5's website. Readers will note that there are different rates for practitioners from the industry and practitioners from private practice and that there are discounts for multiple bookings and bookings before 9 Feb 2018. Delegates who like ballet may be interested to learn that the Dutch National Ballet will perform Marius Petipa's Don Quixote on 28 Feb 2018 for which there are still a lot of tickets for sale.

Should anyone wish to discuss this article, he or she should call me on +44 (0)20 7404 5252 or send me a message through my contact form.