As our readers know, yesterday current and past Kats, Katfriends, and several Katreaders alike gathered at the London offices of Allen&Overy and online to celebrate the (first) 20 years of our beloved IP blog, which has always had – as its core mission – to bring IP news and fun to everyone.
Well, yesterday was no exception, as the official photographs of the day also attest (the photographer is Neil Graveney).
This is the first of a series of posts reporting on the conference proceedings.
Welcome
The event started with words of welcome delivered by our host David Stone, Hayleigh Bosher and myself (also to celebrate the very recent release of our edited collection Developments and Directions in Intellectual Property Law. 20 Years of The IPKat (Oxford University Press, 2023)), as well as the incontournable Sir Robin Jacob.
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| Eleonora and Hayleigh during the welcome remarks (photo: Neil Graveney) |
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| David Stone during the welcome remarks (photo: Neil Graveney) |
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| Sir Robin Jacob during the welcome remarks (photo: Neil Graveney) |
Jeremy’s return
After that, it was the turn of our co-founder Jeremy Phillips (who officially retired from the world of IP back in 2015: Merpel’s farewell and thank you here) to deliver a truly Jeremy-esque address on the origins of The IPKat, legal threats (!) received (and made!), and idea and vision for the blog. It felt like (nearly) 8 years had not passed at all!
We love you Jeremy ❤️
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| Jeremy during his talk (photo: Neil Graveney) |
Lord Justice Arnold’s keynote address
Following Jeremy’s address, it was the turn of Sir Richard Arnold to deliver his keynote on “20 years of changes in IP law and practice”.
Lord Justice Arnold opened his address by recalling the cases that The IPKat covered in its early days. After that, he discussed changes in the: court system; judiciary, both full-time and part-time; procedure and practice; alternative dispute resolution; court technology; and IP litigation itself.
Lord Justice Arnold also focused on the topic of diversity in the IP profession, specifically the judiciary, He noted how the full-time IP judiciary in England and Wales still lacks in diversity. As in other areas of the law, Lord Justice Arnold reflected, the problem lies in the pool from which judges are recruited: most IP barristers and solicitors are white, and the large majority are male, although the number of women is increasing slowly. One of the factors hindering progress in this area is that most IP barristers and solicitors have STEM degrees, and it is still the case that STEM graduates are disproportionately white and male.
All the above said, Lord Justice Arnold concluded his keynote noting that, despite all these changes, there has been considerable continuity in the way IP cases are handled by the English courts. The story has been one of steady evolution, not revolution. Despite the efforts made to improve the court system, procedure and practice, and court technology, the direction of travel has been towards increasing complexity of IP litigation.
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| Lord Justice Arnold delivers his keynote address (photo: Neil Graveney) |
Now over to Anastasiia to report on the first panel of the day, devoted to the best - and worst! - copyright cases of the past 20 years.
The IPKat’s 20th Birthday Conference Reports – Part 1
Reviewed by Eleonora Rosati
on
Friday, June 09, 2023
Rating:
Reviewed by Eleonora Rosati
on
Friday, June 09, 2023
Rating:
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Posts
Felicitations on your two purrfect decades of often petulant and sometimes furiously funny IP Mewsings. Mazel Tov. Best regards, Uncle Wiggily
ReplyDeleteYes,Congraulation!
DeleteSpeaking as a white male IP attorney with a STEM background, I am clearly privileged and must accept there should be less of my ilk and more of those from other backgrounds, because it is important that the profession is diverse. Indeed, I have been told by a female person of colour that I benefit from white privilege. Importantly, I would say increased diversity is required for the profession to be representative of the diverse society we live in.
ReplyDeleteIt is certainly true that the legal profession/judiciary is constrained by the pool from which they fish. However, the true lack of diversity in the professions (all, not just law) stems largely from socioeconomic background. The pool is stocked largely with the offspring of the well-off, itself heavily weighted towards those from private schools. The legal profession prefers to fish at Oxbridge and Oxbridge prefers to fish in the private sector. Reports that claim this is changing (e.g. 70% from maintained schools) fail to appreciate the 30% from private schools is not merely a 4ish-fold advantage based on the 7% that attend such schools. The mathematical advantage is an order of magnitude greater.
The government commission (2021) demonstrated this white v non-white, male v female view of disparity, to be over-simplistic, i.e. flawed. And that is because of the socioeconomic factors. For example, there is a huge difference in opportunity and attainment between asian children, black children of African background and those of Carribean background. Boys from a Carribean background have least opportunities and this is mirrored by white boys from poor backgrounds. The correlation is due to socioeconomic background. These two groups are by far lower down the food chain - boys (black or white) from poor backgrounds. Others, i.e. girls generally, and non-white from well off backgrounds, do significantly better.
As for my white privilege, as labelled by the lady from a wealthy, privately educated, family, I haven't experienced it. Yes, I am not subject to racial discrimination due to my colour, which is an additional issue for other, but my background is not one of privilege. I am one of those poor white boys that the government commission says has significantly reduced opportunities in life. And that report is recent, presumably there has been significant improvements since I was a street urchin.
So, in my view, when the professions talk about diversity, they should address true diversity and inclusion. And discriminating against the white Eton schoolboy because he is white is also wrong. Improve education and opportunities for those from poor backgrounds and select on merit. RAF recruitment policies, and such like, are blatant discrimination and abhorent.
You are correct that socioeconomic background is important, and that we should try to increase diversity here too.
DeleteBut you have misunderstood what white privilege means. You say:
"As for my white privilege...I haven't experienced it. Yes, I am not subject to racial discrimination due to my colour".
But white privilege means precisely that you have not experienced racial discrimination due to your colour. That's it. You still have white privilege even if you do not have a privileged socioeconomic background. See https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zrvkbqt
I have experienced plenty of direct discrimination and abuse based on factors which are not illegal as well as one or two that are. That is on top of the opportunities simply not afforded to me because of my working class background. I do not see that I am privileged because, amongst that, my colour was not a factor. The accusation of white privilege goes way beyond such direct racial discrimination and and I do not buy into these "born privileged" or "born a sinner" badges whether through colour or religion. I find it insulting to be accused of being privileged by anyone born with a silver spoon in their mouth.
DeleteMost diversity initiatives do not address socioeconomic factors, and in the patent profession it is not even on the agenda. There are a few legal (non-patent) initiatives with people who do a lot of good work, and these are not box-ticking initiatives.
Again, you are absolutely 100% correct that diversity initiatives should address socioeconomic factors, and that the patent profession has a lot of work to do here.
DeleteI realise that it's frustrating and insulting to be called privileged when you have had a difficult life. And anyone calling you "privileged" without qualification would be wrong to do, from what you say. But the point is that the *same* life you have lived, no matter how difficult, would have been even *more* difficult if you weren't white. That's what it means to have white privilege. Maybe have a read of this, and the article it refers to - it helped me to understand the concept better: https://whatever.scalzi.com/2022/05/18/straight-white-male-the-lowest-difficulty-setting-ten-years-on/
Is there any possibility for the travel averse/lazy to see a video of this session?
ReplyDeleteThanks!
I'm afraid not as the event was not recorded
DeleteDommage!
ReplyDeletePlease accept herewith my registration for the 40th anniversary event. :-)