Handbags at Dawn 2012

On the catwalk: you'd never imagine how well cats can walk on just two legs ...

"Intellectual Property in the Fashion Industry" is the polite name for what IP fashion enthusiasts call "Handbags at Dawn", the one-day conference on the subject which CLT has been running for the past few years. Handbags at Dawn is an instructive, enjoyable and slightly anarchic one, not least because it is customarily populated by speakers from the blogosphere, as well as those who have more to offer than mere legal analysis. This Kat can still remember the gasp of astonishment last year when Mary-Ellen Field, reviewing the celebrated Louboutin red sole litigation in the US, illustrated her talk by pulling out a real, live pair of lobster-red-soled Louboutins which paying registrants were allowed to touch ...

Featuring in this year's programme are two members of the IPKat squad, blogmeister Jeremy (in the chair, as usual, and intent on his customary mischief) and the team's newest member Nicola the Katonomist who is coming all the way down from Bonny Scotland to show off her incredibly smart glasses speak about IP-driven fashion as a business proposition. Also giving us the benefit of her thought is the 1709 Blog's Iona Harding (Baker & McKenzie). Other Katfriends on the programme are Rebecca Chong (Institute of Practitioners in Advertising), Aaron Wood (Briffa) who is the only other male apart from Jeremy on the entire programme, Alice Gould (Harrison Goddard Foote), Jennifer Castoldi (ACID), Melanie McGuirk (Pannone LLP) and Heather Lawrence (11 South Square). 


This year's conference takes place in an as-yet-undisclosed venue in Central London on Monday 24 September. If the event takes place anywhere near a pub, Jeremy will be repairing to it after the conference close in order to partake of a refreshing pint before returning to his beloved suburb.  Conference speakers and registrants alike are welcome to join him.


You can download a PDF of the programme (which doesn't yet seem to be on the CLT website) here.  If you plan to attend and register as an IPKat reader, you are entitled to a generous 20% discount on the full registration fee.  Just quote reference CF 97842CH and the CLT computer will know you're one of us ..