On Monday 10 July 2017, the Leeds Law Society held a reception at BPP Law School to launch the Business and Property Courts in Leeds (see Leeds Law Society Business & Property Court Launch Event). The Business and Property Courts is an amalgam of the chancery and commercial courts sitting in Leeds and the idea is to integrate those courts with others sitting in London. I mentioned this initiative and discussed its potential significance to the economy of the North in Launch of a Judicial Superhighway? 12 June 2017 IP North West).
As I said in that article, litigators and advocates will have to get used to listing cases in one of 11 specialist lists one of which will be "Intellectual Property" regardless of the nature of the IP right and the court in which the action will proceed. Having chosen a list the claimant's legal representative will have to choose a court centre where the claim will be issued and where it is to proceed. Advocates will have to get used to settling statements of case in the "Business and Property Courts in Leeds" rather than the name of the Division and the District Registry,
The reason why I say this development affects more than just lawyers is that it should allow any case to be heard in Leeds no matter how big and regardless of the subject matter. If any kind of work can be done in Leeds there will be less incentive for bright young men and women to leave the city to practise in London. Such lawyers should be able to service entrepreneurs and other creative people which may be far more significant for economic regeneration than the millions to be spent on infrastructure projects for the North.
Should you want to discuss this post or dispute litigation in Leeds generally, call me on 020 7404 5252 or send me a message through my contact form.
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 Growthall 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 Law12 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.
Rather than read from notes and slides I taught the course by setting typical problems such as
"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.
