Last few places – Retromark: the conference is back on 7 May – sign up now!

Retro-Kats

There are still places available for the fifth annual Retromark conference, which returns for another afternoon of in-person trade mark law and practice hosted by Darren Meale of Simmons & Simmons and the IPKat on Tuesday 7 May. This year, the keynote speech will be delivered by Allan James, Senior Hearing Officer at the UKIPO.

The event will now dedicate one of its two panels to a discussion of the Court of Appeal’s recent decision in Lidl v Tesco.

Starting at 2pm and finishing with drinks and canapes from 6:15pm at Simmons’ offices in Citypoint, Moorgate, the full line up is below:

14:00-14:30 – Registration

14:30-14:40 – Introduction and welcome (Darren Meale)

14:40-15:40 – Panel 1 – “When you do nothing or you can’t do anything – acquiescence and other modern challenges in trade mark enforcement” (We will explore the state of play on acquiescence following Combe v Wolff and Industrial Cleaning Equipment, while also looking at other issues in our enforcement system)

Moderator: Professor Eleonora Rosati, IPKat, Professor of Intellectual Property Law at Stockholm University

Panellists:

• Guy Tritton, Barrister, Hogarth Chambers
• Alessandro Cerri, Senior IP Lawyer, Warner Bros. Discovery
• Dev Gangjee, Professor of Intellectual Property Law, University of Oxford
• Stephen Reid, Head of Intellectual Property at Imperial Brands PLC 15:40-16:00 – The future of trade marks – revisited (Darren Meale)

16:00-16:30 – Coffee/tea break

16:30-17:15 – Keynote address: Allan James, Senior Hearing Officer, UKIPO

17:15-18:15 – Panel 2 – A worthy wordless win or a Clubcard calamity? What can we learn from Lidl’s victory at the Court of Appeal? (With the Court of Appeal largely upholding a first instance decision many found surprising, we will discuss whether this was a matter which turned on the assessment of its complex evidence or if we need to rethink our instincts on confusion and unfair advantage)

Moderator: Darren Meale

Panellists:

• Natasza Shilling, Lead Counsel, Vodafone
• George Sevier, Head of IP Enforcement, Brands and Licensing, Dyson
• HHJ Melissa Clarke, Senior Circuit Judge, Designated Civil Judge for Oxford and Thames Valley at the Courts of England Wales
• Daniel Alexander KC, Barrister, 8 New Square 18:15-19:30 – Drinks and canapes

Tickets are strictly limited and available on a first come, first served basis. The event usually sells out, so don’t delay. Tickets are free, but there is again an option to make a donation to charity by purchasing a special ticket – the event will be supporting Bowel Cancer UK once more (please give generously!).

You can sign up via Eventbrite here.