For nearly 200 years the Leeds City Region formed one of the twin pillars of the British textile, clothing and fashion industries. Overseas competition has diminished those industries and forced them to specialize but products from this region are still regarded as the best of their kind. I proudly recall visiting an area of Kyoto which consisted entirely of cloth merchants where I found that Huddersfield worsted was the most prized of all. The region has always been an important retail centre. Household names such as Marks & Spencer and Montague Burton started in Leeds.
With initiatives such as Lambert's Yard and the Textile Centre of Excellence in Huddersfield the region is striving to restore its pre-eminence in textile and fashion design and technology. However, it can only do that if its designers, retailers and manufacturers can properly protect their brands, designs and innovation. That is where intellectual property comes in. Shortly after entering office the Coalition government commissioned Professor Hargreaves to review the legal protection for brands, designs, technology and the creative industries and propose changes in the legislation to promote growth.
Hargreaves came up with nine recommendations in his report DigitalOpportunityA Review of Intellectual Property and Growth all of which were accepted by HM government and have now been largely implemented. On 10 Sept 2015 I discussed how those changes affect the clothing, fashion and textile industries in a full day seminar in London which received very favourable feedback from most of the 20 solicitors, trade mark attorneys and in-house legal advisers who attended the event (see IP and Fashion Law 12 Sept 2015 IP London) and I am repeating the talk in Leeds on 7 Oct 2015.
In that seminar I hope to cover the following topics:
- What sort of IP protection does my employer or client require for his business and where?
- What provisions should I insert in my employer or client's licence or manufacturing agreement?
- What should I do if I find copies or lookalikes of my products in competitors' shops?
- What's Hot? The implementation of s.74 of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 - John Kaldor v Lee Ann, Specsavers v ASDA and Thomas Pink v Victoria's Secrets;
- IP basics; terminology, intellectual assets (brands, designs, technology and works of art and literature), intellectual property (trade marks, registered designs and unregistered design rights, patents, trade marks, law of confidence and action for passing off), institutions (Intellectual Property Office, Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market, European Patent Office, World Intellectual Property Organization), Sources of law (treaties and conventions (TRIPs, Paris and Berne), EU legislation, statutes), enforcement. remedies, licensing
- Advising the designer: types of design, aesthetic design, functional design, design registration and equivalent regimes, TRIPS, Paris and Rome Conventions, Designs Directive, Community Design Regulation, Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, Registered Designs Act 1949, licensing, enforcement
- Advising the manufacturer; patents, trade marks, designs, licensing, cabbage, summary of laws in China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Morocco, Pakistan, Thailand and Turkey
- Advising the retailer: trade marks, passing off, searches, agreements with designers and manufacturers
- Dispute resolution: High Court, Patent Court, IPEC (multi track and small claims), IPO examiners' opinions, appointed person
- IP strategy: identifying appropriate rights for particular jurisdictions, selecting and instructing foreign attorneys, watch services.
"The day after a royal baby makes his or her first public appearance you want to sell a similar set of baby clothes. How would you set about doing that without being sued?"and
"What provisions would you place in a contract with a supplier from Bangladesh?"I got that idea from Ross Burrows of Burrows Law because that is how he taught the public access top-up and litigation courses which I took last year. He built on participants' knowledge and experience which he encouraged us to share. I decided to do the same next time I taught a CPD training course.Preparing such courses requires a lot more work on the part of the trainer but it aids comprehension and retention. The overwhelming response of the London group was very positive according to the feedback forms.
If you want to attend this course there are still places available but you will have to move fast. You can register on-line or call MBL Seminars on 0161 793 0984. The course will start at 09:30 and end at 17:15 and thus earn 6 hours CPD. The standard cost is £480 but there will discounts for season ticket and smart plan subscribers. If you want to discuss this course or any other point of IP law call me on 01484 599090 or 020 7404 5252 or message me through my contact form. I look forward to meeting you.
