LES London Half Day Seminar & Lunch

Europe’s New Unified Patent Court – for better or for worse?
Chaired by Sir Robin Jacob

This event is in memory of Barry Quest

Main meeting will be held in Royal Overseas League, Over-Seas House, Park Place, St James’s Street, London SW1A 1LR. This will be followed by lunch at The Ritz London, 150 Piccadilly, London W1J 9BR.

LES B&I CPD Ref No: CBL/LESO (3 hours accredited to CPD Points)

Agreement has finally been reached on a pan-European (unitary) patent and patents Court (the UPC).  In this LES seminar chaired by Sir Robin Jacob, experts from UK and French private practice and industry will examine the implications of the compromises for European industry.  The seminar will ask the question: will the system live up to its billing as a better system for European business?

Sir Robin needs no introduction.  He was appointed a High Court Judge in 1993 and to the Court of Appeal in 2003.  Upon his retirement as a Lord Justice of Appeal he accepted the position of professor of IP Law at University College London, and is director of the Institute of Brand and Innovation law (IBIL) at UCL.  He has been deeply involved with the unitary patent and UPC throughout its recent history.

Please click here for the full biography.

Richard Vary, Head of Litigation, Nokia

Richard Vary is an English solicitor advocate, and Director of European Litigation for Nokia. He has particular expertise in multi-jurisdictional patent litigation, and today heads the European litigation team at Nokia. He managed the European and Asian aspects of the litigations brought by Qualcomm, Interdigital, IPCom and Apple. For these cases, Nokia was awarded the “inhouse team” award in 2009 by Managing Intellectual Property.

Arnaud Michel, Partner, Gide Loyrette Nouel

Arnaud Michel is a member of the Paris Bar, has been a partner of the International law firm Gide Loyrette Nouel for 25 years, where he has been co-heading the IP Department since 1993. He has an expertise both in IP and EU law. In addition to an extensive commercial and litigation practice notably in the patent field, Arnaud Michel has advised central European governments on the redrafting of their IP laws in the context of future membership of the EU.  Arnaud has been elected President of LES International starting from May 2014.

Alan Johnson, Partner, Bristows

Alan Johnson is a partner in Bristows’ IP department and has been following the proposals for the creation of the Unitary Patent and UPC for over a decade in his capacity of Chair of the IP committee of Brussels-based American Chamber of Commerce to the EU (2001-2005) and a member of the UK IPO’s European Patent Reform Consultation Group.

Mark Richardson, Patent Attorney, Keltie LLP

Mark Richardson is a UK and European patent attorney at Keltie LLP where he is a Director within the IT, Telecoms and Electronics group.  Mark is also responsible for Keltie’s twitter feed (@KeltieLLP) and managing the IP related blog, IPcopy (www.ipcopy.wordpress.com).

Ian Wood, Partner, Charles Russell 

Ian is a partner in the Intellectual Property practice at Charles Russell.  He has experience in all aspects of intellectual property, including dispute resolution and advising on the acquisition, maintenance and exploitation of IP rights, and considerable experience of the differing evidential and procedural requirements from country to country, and the advantages, disadvantages and sometimes conflicting considerations involved when bringing, or deciding where to bring, proceedings.

Please click here to view all speakers’ biographies

If you would like to register to attend the seminar and/ or lunch, please download and complete the Registration Form.