Cambridge IP Law Summer School 2022

Punts on the Cam
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Jane Lambert

This year's Cambridge IP Law Summer School lived up to expectations. Cambridge is delightful at any time of the year.  It was good to see it just before Christmas when the winter school took place. The course is stimulating even if it is held online as happened in 2020.  But the best place to hold it is Cambridge and Summer is the best time.

The course takes place at Downing College which has produced many of the country's leading practitioners and academic lawyers.  One of them was Christopher Stothers whose talk on arbitration of intellectual property disputes was one of the highlights of my week.  We had a lot of good speakers from several countries. Delegates came from Belgium, Denmark, the Irish Republic amd Saudi Arabia as well as the UK.

IP law has changed significantly since our departure from the EU. Our government is negotiating free trade and other agreements with the governments around the world which I try to follow in IP after Brexit. Several of the delegates work for the Department for International Trade which is carrying out those negotiations.  One of those officials, Donia Alwan, gave another memorable presentation which covered everything from the interpretation of art 61 of the TRIPs agreement to traditional knowledge. I would encourage the course organizer to consider presentations on TRIPS and the other IP treaties next year.  As geographical indications and traditional knowledge arise frequently in trade negotiations the organizer may want to include those topics in the future.

As in previous years, I chaired the sessions on patents and dispute resolution and spoke on FRAND and IP litigation.  A few days before the course started, I was asked to cover Hiroshi Sheraton's talk on cross-border patent strategy.  We had excellent presentations that day.  I particularly enjoyed those of Sen Leach, Andrew Payne, Tim Powell and Lucy Barnes. 

Save for a walking tour and punting all the social activities took place in Downing College.  Dinner was served in hall every night except for a black tie dinner on the last night when we met in the room where we had dined during the winter school.  Those were magnificent surroundings though dining on a long table inhibited circulation and networking.

The summer school is not cheap but it is one of the most efficient ways of getting up to speed on IP law,  Clearly, our government sees value in the course because the Department of International regularly sends a large delegation.  Anyone wishing to discuss this article may call me on 020 7404 5252 during office hours or send me a message through my contact form.

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