NIPC Law

Standard YouTube Licence Jane Lambert March's Brexit Briefing  which I published today in NIPC Brexit discussed the draft withdrawal agreement  contemplated by art 50 (2) and the guidelines for negptiations on the future relationship between the UK and EU provided by the European Council  and the European Parliament . While welcoming the progress that has been made to date I warn that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed and that there are plenty of things that can go wrong between now and Brexit day/  It is quite possible that the EU treaties will fall away on 29 March 2019 without anything taking their place.  Even though the government has assured them of a period of stability between that day and 31 Dec 2020, my advice to businesses on both sides of the English Channel and Irish border is to continue to plan for the worst (that is to say, no agreement at all) as well as hoping for the best. Anyone wishing to discuss this article or Brexit ge...

Mark Twain 1835-1910 Source Wikipedia Jane Lambert "James Ross Clemens, a cousin of mine, was seriously ill two or three weeks ago in London, but is well now. The report of my illness grew out of his illness; the report of my death was an exaggeration." (Mark Twain) The last time I wrote about the Unified Patent Court and unitary patent  I was pessimistic on whether the United Kingdom could remain a party to the Unified Patent Court Agreement  after 29 May 2019 and also  on whether that agreement could survive the UK's departure (see What, if anything, can be salvaged from the UPC Agreement?   26 Jan 2018). On balance I am still pessimistic but I have not yet given up hope on either score. There are four reasons for not giving up hope completely all of which have arisen since my last article:- The Privy Council made  The Unified Patent Court (Immunities and Privileges) Order 2018  SI 1988 No 184 on 8 Feb 2018 which clears t...

Just before the Scottish referendum I wrote a couple of articles on the SNP's proposals for intellectual property in a separate Scotland ( What would an independent Scottish government do about Intellectual Property?   10 Sept 2014 and  More on Scotland and Intellectual Property   13 Sept 2014). Today I shall attempt a similar exercise in respect of Brexit. What would not change Were we to withdraw from the European Union we would probably remain a member of the World Trade Organization  and bound by TRIPS ( Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) . Art 2 (1) of TRIPS requires WTO members to comply with Articles 1 through 12, and Article 19, of the Paris Convention . There is no reason why we should not remain party to the Berne , Rome  and other multilateral agreements to which we are party including the European Patent Convention . But what would However, we would miss out on the unitary patent and the Unifie...