The IPKat and Simmons & Simmons invite you to an afternoon looking back on the most important cases in trade marks in the past year.

Based on Darren Meale’s popular Retromark blog posts (Volume I and Volume II), the event will be held at Simmons & Simmons London offices near Moorgate on Wednesday 14 March.

We can now confirm the full agenda and part of the line-up, as follows:

14:00-14:30 – Registration

14:30-14:40 – Introduction and welcome

14:40-15:40 – Panel 1 – “The fragile state of relations between service providers and brand owners: looking ahead to life after the UK Supreme Court decision in Cartier v Sky”

Moderator: Eleonora Rosati (Associate Professor in IP Law at the University of Southampton and JIPLP Co-Editor)
Panellists: Catherine Palmer (Legal Director at Joseph); Mark Cruickshank (IP Legal Counsel at The Royal Bank of Scotland Group); Cam Gatta (Attorney, Trademarks, Microsoft); James Mellor QC (Barrister, 8 New Square)

15:40-16:00 – The future of trade marks, Darren Meale

16:00-16:20 – Coffee/tea break

16:20-17:00 – Keynote address: A year in trade marks, Simon Malynicz QC (Barrister, 3 New Square)

17:00-18:00 – Panel 2 – “The colour and the shape: a terrible year for non-traditional trade marks?”

Moderator: Darren Meale (Partner at Simmons & Simmons and Deputy District Judge of the IPEC)

Panellists: Giovanni Visintini (Trade Mark & Copyright Counsel, BP); Amanda Michaels (Barrister at Hogarth Chambers, Appointed Person and Deputy Enterprise Judge of the IPEC); John Noble, (Director, British Brands Group); Jillianne Osborn (Senior Legal Counsel, Vodafone)

18:00-19:30 – Drinks and canapes

The first panel’s dive into the battle between brand owners and service providers will be set in the context of the UK Supreme Court’s forthcoming decision in the Cartier case.

The second panel will reflect on the recent decision involving colour marks and Red Bull, as well as various other developments in colour and shape trade marks.

If you haven’t already registered for the event, do it now – places are limited!