Faizul Azman > Chambers of David Berkley KC > London, England > Barrister Profile

Faizul Azman

Work Department

Commercial; Intellectual property.

Position

Faizul Azman is a commercial litigation and intellectual property barrister.  He operates from 3PB’s London office.

Faizul has an unconventional background for a barrister having served in the British Army and UK Civil Service prior to joining 3PB.

During his career as a civil servant, Faizul worked in several government departments including the Home Office and UK Intellectual Property Office (“UKIPO”).

During his time at the Home Office, Faizul worked on some of the most contentious areas of government immigration and asylum policy, led a team that managed all immigration statutory appeals in the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court, and as an Assistant Director, led on the Northern Ireland EU Exit Strategy relating to security and customs.

As a Senior Policy Advisor in the Copyright and Enforcement Directorate in the UKIPO, Faizul represented the UK at the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights at the World Intellectual Property Organisation in Geneva, and frequently represented the UK in EU working groups in Brussels to negotiate the legal text of a Directive and Regulation which implemented the Marrakesh Treaty into both EU and UK law (the copyright disability exception in the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988). Faizul also managed and developed the UK’s copyright exceptions policy, responded to copyright enquiries, engaged with a range of stakeholders, and drafted briefing packs to senior government ministers and officials.

Faizul has worked on some high-level matters with multiple demands and pressures in his previous careers, and as a barrister. This puts him in a unique position to not only advise on the law, but to also identify potential reputational risks and non-legal/commercial opportunities to best serve his clients. He can quickly grasp the interplay between national and international legal frameworks which adds a further layer of expertise to both domestic and international clients.

Faizul is also busy member of the Attorney Generals ‘Junior Scheme’ to the Crown and has been instructed on several high-profile matters.

Commercial 

Faizul Azman is regularly instructed in a broad range of commercial law matters.  He provides advice, drafts pleadings, and represents clients in litigation at both interlocutory and final hearings.  Faizul’s commercial practice focusses on the following areas:

• Breach of contract
• Misrepresentation, undue influence & duress
• Supply of goods and services
• Director/Shareholder disputes
• Professional liability
• Intellectual Property
• Non-Contentious – corporate governance structures

Faizul’s recent commercial work includes:

• Successfully striking out a defence to a £90,000 claim
• Drafting pleadings for force majeure/frustration of contract, and successfully obtaining a settlement worth 90% of the claim after a wedding was cancelled due to the pandemic
• Advising on the merits of bringing a claim for breach of contract against an independent school when the Government closed schools because of the pandemic
• Advising on the merits of bringing a claim for misrepresentation against a property developer
• Advising on the merits of resisting an appeal where the court had made overlapping and contradictory Orders following an Order of Sale
• Advising and drafting a defence following a claim for a right to reject a motorhome worth £50,000 under the Consumer Rights Act 2015
• Advising on the merits of bringing a professional liability claim against a trade union on behalf of a university lecturer
• Advising on the corporate governance structure of a public body

Intellectual Property  

• Faizul specialises in a broad range of intellectual property law including copyright and databases, trade marks, passing off, design rights, confidential information, domain names, and related areas of contract law, employment law and other commercial matters.Examples of Faizul’s recent work include:

  • Advising a software company which held government contracts on bringing an IP claim against a former employee when they provided a ‘replica’ computer program and database to a direct competitor.  Faizul also advised the company’s legal team and senior counsel (KC) on IP matters and was instructed to make amendments to the pleadings on a claim already issued in the High Court relating to breaches of restrictive covenants against the former employee.
  • Advising a media company on whether there was any infringement of copyright in their films when a director of the company incorporated a competitor company and embedded hyperlinks of the films on his website, and whether there were any limitation issues.
  • Advising a national printing business on the merits of bringing a claim for passing off/domain squatting relating to the registration and maintenance of a domain name specifically used by a competitor to divert custom to their main trading website.  Faizul drafted a Letter Before Claim which successfully resolved the domain name issue.
  • Advising and representing a music company in a claim for copyright infringement against a company who said they held a valid licence provided to them by another music company.  The claim was successfully transferred from the Intellectual Property List to the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court (IPEC).
  • Advising a company on whether the Crown will have beneficial interest in their domain name and software development code if the company dissolved, and if the company dissolved, whether any rights could be re-acquired by a former company director without having to restore the company.
  • Advising and representing a defendant at a Case Management Conference in the IPEC relating to copyright infringement of films created in the course of employment and whether there was a valid assignment of copyright from the director to the defendant.
  • Drafting pleadings for Sky relating to copyright and trade mark infringement when a defendant reproduced and made available to the public Sky’s content/broadcast via an Illicit Internet Protocol Television streaming service, and breach of contract of a settlement agreement.
  • Advising a local business on the merits of resisting a trade mark Opposition in the UKIPO, whilst concurrently defending a potential claim for passing off in the High Court by a major media streaming service for character merchandising.
  • Advising and representing a large US cosmetic company in the UKIPO relating to a Revocation hearing regarding two trade marks.
  • Advising a film director on the merits of a claim when a film he directed was assigned to a third-party by a production company which formed part of a settlement agreement.
  • Drafting a Letter before Claim relating to infringement of marketing materials, a computer program and database.
  • Advising an author on the merits of a copyright infringement claim following a breach of contract, termination of the publishing agreement, drafting a Letter before Claim, and undertakings.
  • Advising on the risk of infringement using certain materials on social media.

  Prior to joining Chambers, Faizul was a Senior Policy Advisor in the Copyright and Enforcement Directorate at the UKIPO where he managed and developed the UK’s copyright exceptions policy, responded to copyright enquiries, engaged with a range of stakeholders, and drafted briefing packs to senior government ministers and officials.

  Whilst at the UKIPO, Faizul also represented the UK at the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights at the World Intellectual Property Organisation in Geneva, and frequently represented the UK in EU working groups in Brussels to negotiate the legal text of a Directive and Regulation which implemented the Marrakesh Treaty into both EU and UK law (the copyright disability exception in the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988).

  Faizul has previously held high level security clearance and has also advised the Ministry of Defence and other government departments on intellectual property matters.

  Faizul has worked on some high-level matters with multiple demands and pressures in his previous careers, and as a barrister.  This puts him in a unique position to not only advise on the law, but to also identify potential reputational risks and non-legal/commercial opportunities to best serve his clients.  He can quickly grasp the interplay between national and international legal frameworks which adds a further layer of expertise to both domestic and international clients.

  Direct Access

Faizul Azman is qualified to accept instructions directly from members of the public and professional clients under the Direct Access scheme.

Career

Year of call 2018

Memberships

• IP Bar Association
• IPSoc
• IP Pro Bono
• Advocate
• CITMA

Education

• LLB (Hons) Law Accelerated Route – 2:1
• BPTC (The University of Law, London) – Very Competent
• The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge Scholarship, Major Award, Middle Temple