NIPC Law

The Rolls Building Author Judicial Office Licence CC BY-SA 4. 0   Source Wikimedia Commons Jane Lambert Last week I chaired 4 of the 5 daily sessions of Informa's Cambridge IP "Winter School"  and delivered 3 of the talks. The title of the last of those talks (which was also the last talk of the Winter School) was IP Litigation in England and Wale s. I offered that talk because not all the attendees in previous years' summer schools had been legally qualified and many of those who were so qualified were new to IP.  It seemed to me that there was not much point in discussing the complexities of IP litigation without a grounding in the basics. IP litigation differs from other types of civil litigation in many ways.  It has its own rules and practice direction.  Much IP business is conducted in specialist courts and all of the rest are in a specialist list in the Chancery Division.  IP litigation can be particularly expensive which is why threats to br...

Author Addicted04   Licence CC BY-SA 3.0   Source Wikimedia Commons Jane Lambert Patents Court (Nicholas Caddick QC) GK IP Bridge 1 v Huawei Technologies Co Ltd. and others    2021] EWHC 1261 (Pat) (14 May 2021) This was an application by two Chinese companies, Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd and Huawei Device Co. Ltd. to set aside an order by the Chief Master to permit service of process against them on the British company Huawei Technologies (UK) Ltd, and the companies' solicitors.  The application came on before Nicholas Caddick QC sitting as a deputy judge of the High Court on 15 April 2021. By para [36] of his judgment of 14 May 2021. Mr Caddick QC set aside the Chief Master's order (see GK    IP Bridge 1 v Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd and others  [2021] EWHC 1261 (Pat) (14 May 2021). The Dispute This is a dispute between Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd and Huawei Device Co. Ltd and the first defendant's British subsidiary, Huawei Technologies (UK) L...

Jane Lambert There has been a passionate debate about the rôle of intellectual property ("IP") in producing and distributing vaccines against COVID 19 in low and mid-income countries. In a  communication to the Council of TRIPS dated 2 Oct 2020  (IP/C/W/669), the Indian and South African governments proposed relaxing some of the treaty obligations that require countries to protect the intellectual assets of their own and other countries' nationals. As a citizen, I have my views on that issue but in this article, I write only as a lawyer who has spent the better part of a lifetime advising and representing businesses and individuals on IP.   The Patent Waiver Proposal The proposal had gathered support from the governments of other low and mid-income countries, the former President of the Republic of Ireland and  Chair of the Elders ,  Mary Robinson  and  Baroness Chakrabarti.  the former shadow Attorney-General. and from the non-governmental o...

Author dun_deagh   Licence CC BY-SA 2.0   Source Wikipedia Scotland Jane Lambert Shortly before the Scottish independence referendum, I wrote  What would an independent Scottish government do about Intellectual Property?   on 10 Sept 2014 and  More on Scotland and Intellectual Property   on 13 Sept 2014.  As Scotland approaches elections in which the question of secession from the United Kingdom will again be an issue, it is now appropriate to reconsider what should be the intellectual property policy of a separate Scotland. In 2014 the section on intellectual property in the Scottish government's white paper Scotland's Future  consisting of 4 short paragraphs of which only the first was of any relevance.  I was not particularly impressed with it and I said so at the time.  Having said that, credit should be given to the Scottish government for at least publishing a white paper on independence because there was nothing like that on the ...

Sir Richard Lambert Author FT Licence CC BY 2.0   Source Wikipedia Richard Lambert J ane Lambert Much of the research into COVID-19  is being undertaken by universities in collaboration with biotech and pharmaceutical companies. Collaboration between businesses and universities has been particularly successful in the USA where it has resulted in Silicon Valley and the Boston to Cambridge life sciences cluster.  There have been similar developments in other countries, notably China, Israel and South Korea. The former Chancellor of the Exchequer. Gordon Brown understood the importance of collaboration between businesses and universities. In 2002 he arranged for the Treasury, Department for Education and Skills and Department for Trade and Industry to commission Richard Lambert to report on business and university collaboration (see HM Treasury press release " Government welcomes Business - University Collaboration Review" 4 Dec 2003). Lambert...

Jane Lambert On Wednesday I stressed the importance of pre-action correspondence and how the drafting of a letter before claim can make all the difference between getting what you want quickly and cheaply through focused negotiation and precipitating an expensive and possibly protracted law suit in  Pre-Action Correspondence - Not Just a Box to be ticked or a Hoop to be jumped through   2 Aug 2017. Today, I shall tell you what to do if you receive a letter accusing you of infringing a patent or some other intellectual property right. If you have carried out an IP audit you should have a strategy in place for just such a contingency and you will have an insurance funded legal team ready to advise and represent you.  If you have a case they should be able to see off the challenge with a well-reasoned and documented response. If, however, you are in the wrong they will advise you of that reality and suggest ways of extricating yourself from the dispute as ...

Downing College, Cambridge Photo I Hunte r Reproduction licensed by the copyright owner Source Wikipedia Jane Lambert Case No. UNCT/14/2  Eli Lilly & Co. v Government of Canada, (16 March 2017) ICSID At 10:00 on 17 Aug 2017 I shall give a talk to the IP Summer School at Cambridge entitled  Bilateral Investment Treaties & Exporters' Rights Post-Brexit .   If you want to hear it there is still space on the course.  There are lots of distinguished speakers  who will speak on many other interesting topics . There will also be an exhibition, reception and other social events.  You can book your place  here . Why this is topical The reason I have been asked to speak on the topic is that "securing new trading agreements with other countries" is one of the objectives announced in the Brexit white paper . Unfortunately, many of the countries that we might wish to approach are on the US Trade Representative's watc...