Two Lords a-leaping!

The IPKat extends his heartiest congratulations to the two Patents Court judges whose elevation to the Court of Appeal for England and Wales has just been announced.  They are:

Sir Kim Martin Jordan Lewison (59, called to the Bar (Lincoln’s Inn) in 1975 and took Silk in 1991. He was appointed as an Assistant Recorder in 1994, as a Recorder in 1997, as a Deputy High Court Judge in 2000, was made a Bencher in 2003 and was appointed as a Member of the Competition Appeal Tribunal in 2004. He was appointed to the High Court (Chancery Division) in 2003 and was a Chancery Supervising Judge between 2007 and 2009. Mr Justice Lewison was Knighted in 2003.

Previous convictions include Confetti Records v Warner (the "shizzle my nizzle" case, in which the learned judge found that rap was a foreign language, and O2 v Hutchinson -- one of the longest trade mark judgments of the pre-Arnold J era ...

Sir David James Tyson Kitchin (56), who was called to the Bar (Gray’s Inn) in 1977 and has been a Bencher since 2003. He took silk in 1994 and was a Deputy High Court Judge from 2001 until his appointment as a Judge of the High Court, Chancery Division, in 2005. He has been Chancery Supervising Judge for the Wales, Western and Midland Circuits since 2009. Mr Justice Kitchin was Knighted in 2005.

Previous convictions include Generics (UK) v Daiichi Pharmaceuticals, for those who love SPC cases, and Twentieth Century Fox v Newzbin, where he made some useful comments about authorising, procuring and other copyright infringement 'assists'.

Merpel wonders who now will fill the empty seats in the Patents Court. Options include (i) the recycling of existing non-IP Chancery judges who are under-utilised or bored with their lot (Lord Justice Lewison is himself a recycled judge, and there have been others), (ii) promoting a senior member of the patent bar who can afford the pay-cut, fancies a change of garb and doesn't mind his every word being scutinised by the blogging community, (iii) opting for an IP litigation solicitor for a change, since there are some impressive examples of this species around at the moment and (iv) not adding to the remaining judges but giving them freer rein in case management conferences and giving them a per-case bonus in addition to their salaries.  A further option is to appoint another couple of judges to the Patents County Court as a statement of intent to shorten the Patents Court list and have far more cases heard at the lower, cheaper level.