Cambridge IP Law Winter School

Author Monsarc Public Domain Source Wikimedia Commons

 














Jane Lambert

One of the high points of my year as an intellectual property lawyer has been the Cambridge IP Law Summer School at Downing College, Cambridge. It is addressed by some of the world's leading IP practitioners and scholars.  For the last few years, I have been invited to contribute to their discussions.  

Not even Covid19 managed to stop the event though it did change it.  Last year it was held online.  The presentations and the Q & A discussions were, as always, excellent.  The only element that we missed was networking.  Cambridge is a place to learn but it is also a place to have fun.  In previous years, the event organizers Informa Connect had offered all sorts of evening entertainments from a black-tie dinner to punting on the Cam. It was not possible to present those activities online.

Narinder Hayer, Informa Connect's organizer, told me that she had hoped to return to Cambridge this year.  As the vaccine rollout was less advanced and travel was still restricted, many overseas speakers and attendees would have been unable to come.  Instead of running it online again. Informa has moved the event to early December. Obviously, the name of the event has had to be changed to "winter school" but the agenda and lineup of speakers will remain the same.  Also, a great programme of indoor and outdoor winter social activities has been arranged.  

Sadly, there is always the possibility of a surge in Covid, flu or other infection which could prevent our returning to Downing at the last moment,  Narinder has assured me that should that happen she will run the event online as we did last year.  It will NOT be cancelled.

I shall be chairing the talks on patents and reviewing the cases on FRAND, a topic upon which I have written and spoken frequently. In anticipation of the publication of the 2nd edition of Helen Tse's Doing Business After Brexit: A Practical Guide to the Legal Changes to which I have contributed the chapter on IP and data protection, I shall cover the changes to IP law brought about by Brexit. Another topic upon which I have spoken and written extensively.  I shall chair the last session on enforcement.  In 2019 and 2020 I presented some work on enforcement that Prof Frederick Mostert and I had carried out for, and presented to, the WIPO. Not every attendee was as familiar with civil litigation as I had expected. Consequently, our research was not fully understood or appreciated.  This year I shall make sure that every attendee knows about CPR Part 63, the Patents Court Guide, the Intellectual Property Enterprise multitrack and small claims track guides, the hearing officers' tribunals and the alternatives to litigation.

To encourage more barristers to attend this conference, Narinder has offered very generous discounts on the conference fees to members of the IP Bar Association.  For further information, email her at narinder.hayer@informa.com or send her a message through Linked at https://www.linkedin.com/in/narinder-hayer/. Anyone wishing to discuss this article should call me on +44 (0)20 7404 5252 during normal British business hours or message me through my contact form.

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