NIPC Law

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...

Jane Lambert In anticipation of our departure from the European Union. Her Majesty's government and businesses in the United Kingdom have been exploring the possibility of developing new markets for British goods and services overseas. Only this week, the Prime Minister visited Saudi Arabia and Jordan (see  Prime Minister's visit to Saudi Arabia and Jordan: April 2017   4 April 2017 HMG's website) and the Chancellor of the Exchequer was in India as part of the 9th UK-India Economic and Financial Dialogue (see  UK-India economic and trade relations to take centre stage on two-day visit   4 April 2017 HMG's website). One of the advantages of trading within the EU is that the legal systems of the member states have been harmonized over the years and supplemented with a growing body of Union law. This is as true of intellectual property  as of everything else with the result that the legal protection of intellectual assets  in any of the...

The UK and the remaining Member States of the EU Source Wikipedia Jane Lambert There was a bad reason for voting to leave the European Union and a good one. The bad reason, which was probably the one for which most leavers voted, was that art 45 of the Treaty of the Functioning of the European Union  stimulated competition in the labour market. The good reason, of which I was and remain highly sceptical but which I hope turns out to be right, is that Union law imposed a break on British enterprise and that its disappearance, once art 50 (3) of the Treaty on European Union takes effect, will stimulate business. I premise this article in the hope that our people and politicians genuinely seek economic expansion. Introduction to IP Intellectual property ( "IP" ) is the collective name for the bundle of rights that protect investment in intellectual assets ( "IA" ), that is to say branding, design, technology and works of art and lite...

In view of recent opinion polls, I have taken another look at page 102 of the Scottish Government's white paper Scotland's Future . That contains a section headed "Intellectual Property" which consists of 4 paragraphs though only the first sets out any policy. The second is concerned with the Scottish Arbitration Centre , the third is on immigration and the fourth is on a joint venture between Visit Scotland and the Walt Disney Company and the exposition of Scottish food and drink in Florida. So what is the policy? I reproduce the first paragraph of the section on IP in full: "We will ensure continuity of the legal framework for protecting intellectual property rights. Independence will also allow Scotland to offer a simpler and cheaper, more business-friendly model than the current UK system, which is bureaucratic and expensive, especially for small firms. The UK is one of the few EU countries which does not offer a scheme that covers the bas...