The IPKat Team

PermaKats

Eleonora Rosati

Following a successful blogging debut with the copyright-oriented 1709 Blog, Eleonora, who is Editor of the Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, accepted the call to join the team after serving a stint as a GuestKat. She is Full Professor of IP Law at Stockholm University and Of Counsel at Bird&Bird. Additional academic positions include: Visiting Professor at Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Guest Professor at CEIPI-Université de Strasbourg, External Examiner at Trinity College Dublin, Research Associate and Lecturer at EDHEC Business School, Visiting Faculty at Glion Institute of Higher Education, Associate of the Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Law at the University of Cambridge, and Member of the External Advisory Board at Centro de Investigação de Direito Privado-University of Lisbon. Eleonora further holds the distinction of doing a better Italian accent than any other member of the regular blog team. Eleonora is the author of several academic articles and books, including - most recently - Copyright in the Digital Single Market. Article-by-Article Commentary to the Provisions of Directive 2019/790 (OUP:2021) and Copyright and the Court of Justice of the European Union (OUP:2023) second edition; she is also the editor of the Routledge Handbook of EU Copyright Law (Routledge:2021) and co-editor of Developments and Directions in Intellectual Property Law. Twenty Years of The IPKat (OUP:2023). Eleonora has been the recipient of accolades and prizes for her work in the IP field : in 2018, Managing Intellectual Property included her among the '50 Most Influential People in IP'; in 2020, World Intellectual Property Review listed her among its 'Influential Women in IP'; in 2022, she received the Adepi Award 2022 for her contribution to shaping the interpretation of IP law in Europe. More details on Eleonora here; Twitter here; LinkedIn here.

Annsley Merelle Ward

Better known as the AmeriKat, though not exclusively tied to that tag, Annsley has been a permanent member of the blog since 2009. After over 13 years on the blog, she is no longer the kitten of the team, but is now inspiring the next generation of IP lawyers with her efficient research and powerful writing. An intellectual property litigation partner at WilmerHale she holds law degrees from University College London and the University of Bristol and has a background in science having studied chemical engineering at the University of New Mexico. Although she specialises in cross-border patent and trade secret litigation in the TMT and life sciences sectors, Annsley's interests span all aspects of contentious IP. She also enjoys reporting on legislative reforms and policy, as well as ways to make the profession more inclusive and diverse through her role as Chair of the London Chapter and Co-Chair of Europe of the ChIPs Network (more details here).  In 2019 she was listed as one of the 20 Top IP Trailblazers by WIPR and is a Rising Star for Patent Litigation by Managing IP (2017-2022).

Merpel

Merpel McKitten 

Merpel has been adding her own pithy comments to those of the IPKat since 2004. While the IPKat is a fairly simple soul, who (unless he is having one of his occasional rants) is generally quite pleased with the world and everything in it, Merpel has a much more sly and cynical side to her; she's also prone to make the occasionally provocative or mischievous pronouncement. She is empowered to post her own blogs but is generally far too busy enjoying life to bother doing so; one of her favourite occupations is to sit at the IPKat's shoulder while he is blogging, pointing out spelling errors and telling him where he's just plain wrong. Merpel is not the pseudonym of any particular member of the blog team: she is a common resource and can be given voice by any one of us. Oh, and one more thing: Merpel and the IPKat are just good friends ...  You can write to Merpel at merpel.ipkat@gmail.com

GuestKats

Söğüt Atilla

Söğüt is a DPhil in Law candidate at the University of Oxford. Her research focuses on the intersection of art history, exceptions to copyright law, and generative AI technology. She is also passionate about trade mark law and fashion law. Söğüt completed the MJur at the University of Oxford and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Law from Bilkent University. She is a lecturer at the Fashion Law Institute, İstanbul, and has worked as an associate tutor at the University of Warwick. Söğüt is the author of the academic article Dealing with AI-generated works: lessons from the CDPA section 9(3), published by the Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice. More details on Söğüt here.

Oliver Fairhurst

Oliver is a partner at Lewis Silkin's Intellectual Property team, supporting clients on IP disputes and other IP advisory work. He has experience working with clients in advertising, fashion, FMCG, retail and technology. Oliver is also a City of London Law Society IP Committee member. More on Oliver here.

Claire Gregg

Claire is a Trans-Tasman patent attorney and principal at Davies Collison Cave in Australia, where she specialises in chemistry and pharmaceutical patents. Claire is the Vice-President of the Institute of Patent & Trademark Attorneys of Australia (IPTA), a member of FICPI's study and work committee on biotechnology and pharmaceuticals (CET), and a Director of the Global IP Alliance. When she isn't writing about patent law, Claire loves spending time with her three cats, working on DIY projects around the house, reading and writing dystopian fiction, and travelling. More on Claire here.

Georgia Jenkins

Georgia is a Lecturer in Law at the University of Liverpool. Her research explores how copyright and platform regulation shape, and are shaped by, digital culture and participatory creativity. She's interested in how legal frameworks respond to remix practices, online expression, and user-generated content. Offline, she can be found underwater with a scuba tank, folding dumplings, or searching for street art. More on Georgia here.

Marcel Pemsel 

Marcel is a German-qualified lawyer. He works in the field of soft IP with a focus on trade marks, designs, and unfair competition. Marcel enjoys litigation, in particular. After his studies at the University of Hamburg and his traineeship at the Higher Regional Court of Hamburg, he completed his LL.M. at an even colder and windier place, namely Aberdeen in beautiful Scotland. Marcel has been working in the IP department of Gleiss Lutz since 2012. More information about Marcel can be found here.

SpecialKats

Verónica Rodríguez Arguijo

Verónica has the honour of being the first TechieKat. She is a Qualified Lawyer with extensive experience in the prosecution, enforcement, and litigation of IPRs. Passionate about IP Law and tech-related legal issues, she has studied and worked in different countries. Verónica has provided legal advice to multinational corporations, associations and SMEs in relation to cross-border IP, regulatory and contractual issues. She holds an LL.M. from Maastricht University and a Specialization from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, both in IP Law. Verónica also contributes to the IPTango blog and the Intellectual Property Chapter of the Encyclopedia of Information Technology Law (Westlaw). More details on the TechieKat here.

Rose Hughes

PatKat Rose has over a decade of patent experience in the life sciences sector, including six years of in-house experience at AstraZeneca. Rose has extensive experience leading IP strategy at every stage of the pipeline, from early-stage drug discovery to life cycle manage. Rose's interest is in the complexities of biotech and pharmaceutical patent strategy, and how IP strategy must evolve the tackle the challenges of emerging and advanced therapies, including cell therapy and AI-drug discovery. You can learn more about Rose here.

Jocelyn Bosse 

Jocelyn is an intellectual property law researcher at Queen's University Belfast and holds a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship. Her research focuses on the relationship between intellectual property and plants, food, and agriculture. She obtained degrees in Law and Plant Science from the University of Queensland, Australia, where she also completed her PhD. She enjoys sharing her growing collection of plant puns, regardless of whether her students and colleagues want to hear them. More details on Jocelyn here.

InternKats

Wissam Bentazar

Wissam is a PhD candidate in Law at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU), researching unfair competition in the digital economies of the Arab world and the EU. She holds a Master’s in IP and New Technologies from Jagiellonian University and a law degree from Abdelmalek Essaâdi University. A self-taught front-end developer and lifelong animation enthusiast, Wissam initially learned to code to animate more easily and ended up deep-diving into blockchain law instead. She firmly believes copyright law should come with a creative mode. More on Wissam here.

Simone Lorenzi

Simone is an Italian Patent Attorney with a background in biomedical engineering. He graduated from "La Sapienza" University of Rome and gained hands-on experience in research and development within the medical device sector. In 2022, he joined Jacobacci & Partners, where he specializes in intellectual property protection, with a focus on patent drafting and prosecution, as well as design protection. More on Simone here.

Kliment Markov

Kliment is a Bulgarian-qualified lawyer based in Sofia, specializing in protecting and enforcing intellectual property rights, focusing on trademarks. He earned his law degree from Sofia University and began his career at the Sofia-based law firm Kalaidjiev & Georgiev before joining CWB, where he is currently an associate. His background in music continues to inspire his interest in intellectual property law. More on Kliment here.