KickStart or KickOut

Apologies to the good people of Bradford but I am moving my pro bono IP and technology clinics to Leeds with immediate effect.

I have just received an impertinent letter from KickStart threatening not to renew my contract for the dubious privilege of providing professional services to Bradford KickStart clients at a fraction of the market rate when it expires at the end of March unless I lodge two years detailed accounts and produce evidence that I practise in Bradford.

A barrister's accounts are a secret between the barrister, the Revenue and her accountant. What possible interest Bradford KickStart, the Chamber of Commerce or the borough council that funds the scheme can have in my affairs I do not know. It's pure nosiness and nothing more. Never in the 800 year history of the English bar has a client demanded such a thing. Can you imagine a prisoner in the shadow of the noose or electric chair asking Marshall Hall or Clarence Darrow for his accounts? 

As for evidence of practice in Bradford, if the monthly pro bono clinics that I have conducted from Velocity and Gumption aren't evidence enough -  not to mention all the business club workshops, exhibitions, seminars and conferences many of which were arranged by the Chamber itself - I don't know what is.

Leeds NTI has very kindly offered to host the clinic every third Wednesday between 15:00 and 17:00 where I shall share the list with Sara Ludlam. Appointments can be made through my clerk on 0970 990 5081. Folk from Bradford will be very welcome.   Leeds has an abundance of specialist solicitors, patent and trade mark agents whereas poor old Bradford has none.   For a metropolitan area of just under 500,000 that's quite a lacuna.

Leeds Grub

Lawyers and patent and trade mark agents are human and have to eat sometime just like everybody else. Restaurant guides are not always reliable or indeed useful.  In my humble opinion Leeds has  a greater need than most cities for a reliable restaurant vade mecum because it has more than its fair share of over-priced and mediocre eateries.

Imagine, then, my delight at discovering Katie Bolton's Leeds Grub blog.   She seems to have Leeds and surrounding districts covered - even extending to Northern Ireland in one excursion.   It is written simply and directly from the perspective of a mortgage-paying-employment-insecure Yorkshire customer rather than a critic on expenses. And the pictures. Katie photographs the dishes as well as the interiors (and exteriors) of the eateries.   Some of her pics are mouth watering.   Others less so.

The blog's URL is http://www.leedsgrub.blogspot.com/ and you can follow her on twitter (which is where I discovered her) at http://twitter.com/Leedsgrub.

Web 2.0: Bradford BarCamp

BarCamp has nothing to do with Cumberland Lodge. In fact it has nothing much to do with barristers save that I will be there.   I have always intended to put my name down for one of these events and never quite got round to doing so. I missed the Manchester and Leeds BarCamps. I am certainly not going to miss the one in Bradford. 

What is this BarCamp, I hear you say? The website describes it as "an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos, and interaction from attendee" but, of course, you can read it for yourself can't you. You can also watch the YouTube clip of what happened in the Orlando BarCamp.

The Bradford BarCamp will take place at ShipleyCollege on 18 April 2009 from 10:00 to 17:00. I've offered to talk about the legal issues.   I think these issues are important but I am not sure that I will get an audience.   Ian Green has some very good topics.   Ian spoke at Bmedi@ last year and gave a very entertaining talk.   He claimed to be the man who got everybody to thing that a particular day in January was the most miserable day of the year.   It is worth attending the event just to hear his contributions.

You can register for the event through the website and I would recommend your getting a move on.   Places for BarCamps usually fill up very quickly. 

Accolade for IP Yorkshire in the Flood Report

IP Yorkshire was mentioned in the report "Straight There No Detours: Direct Access to Barristers" by Professor John Flood and Avis Whyte of Westminster University which was commissioned by the Bar Council. The Bar Council has not yet got round to posting the report to its website but anybody interested can download the report from the Social Science Research Network's site at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1321492.

At page 21, Flood and Whyte write:

"Most types of work appeared suitable for Public Access. One particular area mentioned to us was the ability of counsel to give “red light/green light” opinions on cases. This could be done far quicker and for less cost than by a solicitor. An example of the speed of reaction by barristers is given by Jane Lambert in her blog “IPYorkshire”. In a trademark matter the barrister was able to examine the papers and form an opinion within a few hours and refer the client to appropriate patent and trademark agents (she believed it necessary that the response the client needed to make should come under the letterhead of a professional rather than under his own hand)."

I think that must have been a reference to my post of 12 Sep "No Names, No Pack Drill but here is a Success Story that shows how the Panel works"   The client wrote quite a nice little commendation for us a few days later in "Trade Marks: A Very Satisfied Client"

This blog was also commended on the next page (as were our chambers) for making public access services known to the public:

"And some barristers have developed their own websites and blogs as a way of informing potential clients of their services. For example, IPYorkshire directs itself at the IP industry in the north-east, as does NIPC Law."

In the year that two of the biggest sets in Manchester, namely Peel Court and 8 King Street, folded it is nice to be able to report something positive from my profession.

Social Networking: Process can be served by Facebook

As most of my clients and connections in Yorkshire and Humberside know, IP Yorkshire is on Facebook. We're also on LinkedIn and twitter if anybody is interested.   These are social networking sites where people go for as bit of fun. However, that may change with the decision of Master Harper of the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory (Canberra) to permit a mortgagee's solicitors to serve process by "poking" in a possession action against two mortgagors whom it was unable to serve by any other way.

As it happened, the master's permission was given too late because the mortgagors withdrew their profile from Facebook before they could be served.   But the decision has resounded around the world with Facebook apparently rejoicing: 

"We're pleased to see the Australian court validate Facebook as a reliable, secure and private medium for communication. The ruling is also an interesting indication of the increasing role that Facebook is playing in people's lives,"

(see "Australia OKs Facebook for serving lien notice" on Yahoo). Some some informed comments by Antipodean counsel, you can do worse than read the post on IP Wars by my WIPO colleague Warwick Rothnie.

Could it happen here? CPR 6.3 (1) permits a claim form to be served by any of the following methods:

"(a) personal service in accordance with rule 6.5;

(b) first class post, document exchange or other service which provides for delivery on the next business day, in accordance with Practice Direction A supplementing this Part;

(c) leaving it at a place specified in rule 6.7, 6.8, 6.9 or 6.10;

(d) fax or other means of electronic communication in accordance with Practice Direction A supplementing this Part; or

(e) any method authorised by the court under rule 6.15."

As for other methods of service, CPR 6.15 provides

"(1) Where it appears to the court that there is a good reason to authorise service by a method or at a place not otherwise permitted by this Part, the court may make an order permitting service by an alternative method or at an alternative place.

(2) On an application under this rule, the court may order that steps already taken to bring the claim form to the attention of the defendant by an alternative method or at an alternative place is good service.

(3) An application for an order under this rule –

(a) must be supported by evidence; and

(b) may be made without notice.

(4) An order under this rule must specify –

(a) the method or place of service;

(b) the date on which the claim form is deemed served; and

(c) the period for –

(i) filing an acknowledgment of service;

(ii) filing an admission; or

(iii) filing a defence."

That appears to be, if anything, sligjtly broader than Reg 6460 of the Court Procedure Rules of the Australiabn Capital Territory under which service through Facebook was authorized.    I have to say that I think service could be effected through Facebook or some other social networking site here.

IP Yorkshire - Specialists and Expertise

Here are the members of IP Yorkshire and their expertise: 

Profession	Expertise	Name
Barrister	Advice on difficult points of intellectual property, technology, media and competition law, drafting complex commercial documents and advocacy before the IP Office courts, arbitrators and mediators on the legal protection of brands, design, technology and creative works	Jane Lambert
Patent Attorneys	Applications for patents for inventions, registered design and registered trade marks, challenges to other peoples’ registrations and representation before IP Office hearing officers and EPO and OHIM boards of appeal and general advice on intellectual property	Janet Bray Barbara Cookson Michael Harrison Steve Gilholm
Trade Mark Attorneys	Applications for registered trade marks and designs, challenges to other peoples’ registrations ,representation before IP hearing officers and OHIM boards of appeal and general advice on trade marks, registered designs and other areas of intellectual property	Carin Burchell
Solicitors specializing in Intellectual Property and Technology Law	Advice and representation on infringement, invalidity and revocation proceedings before the courts, arbitrators and mediators, advice and negotiation of joint venture, licensing, outsourcing and other transactions and general legal advice.	James Love Sara Ludlam Kate Reid
-      Solicitors specializing  in Company and Commercial Law	Formation of companies, partnerships, shareholders agreement, investment arrangements including EIS	Umberto Vietri Jane Sachedina
-     Solicitors specializing in Commercial Litigation	Commercial litigation, insolvency, shareholder and partnership disputes	Neil Lieberman
-     Solicitors specializing   in Employment Law	All aspects of employment law including contracts of employment, employment policies, disciplinary and redundancy procedures and employment tribunal.	Linda Davies
Product Design and Development	Concept generation, and development for product, graphic and packaging design, computer aided design, reverse engineering and value engineering.  Rapid prototyping and tooling.	Richard Hall Tom Fripp
Chemicals	Innovation in engineering materials. Licensing, technology transfer and technical support.	Professor Ron Jones
China	Advice on joint ventures, manufacturing , licensing in and out of China	Rosemary Huang
Marketing	Marketing strategy, sales campaigns, website development, market research and customer services	Gareth Morgan
Business Start-ups	Networking & introductions, business planning, financial planning, marketing & PR, administration & sales set up.	Jane Townsend
Accommodation and Virtual Office	Business and conference centre with 20 serviced offices, a busy business hub, national virtual office services and 3 conference spaces. Simple, low cost business infrastructure services allowing our customers to get on with their core business activities.	David Robertson Brown

 

Update: Sheffield Inventors' Club, IP Clinics and Training

I shall be speaking on how the economic downturn will affect inventors at the Sheffield Inventors Club at Sheffield Central Library, Surrey Street, S1 1XZ on Monday 1 Dec at 18:00.   I have already given this talk in Leeds and Liverpool where it seemed to go down very well.

We are also pleased to announce a new IP clinic at Catcliffe near Rotherham on Tuesday 13 January 2009.   Many thanks to Professor Ron Jones and Wei Huang of Horizon Composites for hosting that event.    We shall also be marketing the Barnsley clinic very much harder.   More details of the clinics are on our website at www.nipc-clinics.co.uk.

Finally, we also have a website for NIPC Training at www.nipc-training.co.uk.   You will see that we offer advanced courses for specialist lawyers and patent and trade mark attorneys known as "the IP staff college" and introductory and intermediate courses for the general public and non-specialist lawyers known as "the IP academy".   Both sets of courses are accredited for CPD points by the SRA. We have never had a barrister on our courses but if any member of the Bar wants to turn up we shall seek ad hoc accreditaiton from the BSB so long as he or she gives us at least 2 weeks notice.