CIPIL Seminar: 'Certainty and its Boundaries - Contemporary Issues in the Scope of Patent Protection'

Speaker: Daniel Alexander QC, 8 New Square 

Title: 'Certainty and its Boundaries - Contemporary Issues in the Scope of Patent Protection'

Abstract: This seminar will examine some of the key theoretical issues relating to scope of protection of IP rights, drawing on examples from patents, registered designs, trade marks and copyright and examining the role of statutes, administrative agencies, courts and parties in the modern IP landscape. There will be some comparative analysis with contractual and statutory interpretation with a view to examining the current state of play.

Speaker Biography: 

Daniel Alexander has degrees in physics and philosophy from Oxford University and in law from Harvard Law School as a Kennedy Scholar. He has practiced at 8 New Square chambers in London since 1989 over the whole field of intellectual property, including a period as the UK Government's principal IP counsel undertaking many cases in the CJEU. He is a star-rated QC in the Chambers & Partners rankings in IP and has won the IP/IT QC of the year award.  He was counsel in Actavis v. Lilly and Iceworld, two of the leading recent cases on scope of protection in patents. He has also acted in key design and copyright cases and has experience of collective licensing disputes and the interface between competition and IP law.  
 
Daniel’s IP work has included new chemical entities, pharmaceutical delivery systems, immunology, medical devices, biophysics, electronics, telecommunications and other digital standards, petroleum engineering, consumer products and trade marks for leading retail brands as well as commercial contracts relating to pharmaceuticals and biotech. 

He sits as a part time Deputy Judge in the High Court in London, on appeals from the UKIPO and as an arbitrator. In these roles, he has decided over 80 cases. Daniel was a visiting professor at University College London and lectures regularly in numerous countries. He is an author of several books and articles, including Laddie, Prescott and Vitoria on copyright; Clerk & Lindsell on Torts; Encyclopeadia of UK and European Patent Law and a short student text.  Daniel is the current Chairman of the Intellectual Property Bar Association and has been a Trustee of the Kennedy Memorial Trust and the Natural History Museum. He is a Bencher of the Middle Temple.

Enquiries to: cipil@law.cam.ac.uk