The team at 11 South Square has a particular specialism in IP related IT disputes. Recent work across the team includes Brian Nicholson KC‘s acting for the appellant in Emotional Perception v Comptroller General of Patents which is set to take place at the Supreme Court in 2025, and regards the patentability of AI inventions, in this case of a neural network-based tool for recommending songs based on their emotional similarity others; the Court of Appeal decided the tool did not make the necessary technical contribution required to obtain patent protection. Mark Vanhegan KC is notably acting for the defendant in IBM v LzLabs GmbH, in which a company has been accused of stealing and copying trade secrets from the American tech giant claimant.
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Position
Senior barrister specialising in all areas of intellectual property and related fields including: patents; design right; copyright; information technology; breach of confidence and privacy; trade marks and passing off. Particular specialisation in complex electronic and computing technology cases.
Previous cases include:Dr Reddy's v Warner Lambert (damages inquiry), Facebook v Voxer (telecommunications messaging patent), Claydon v Mzuri (patents relating to agricultural machinery), IPCom v Vodafone (Appeal), IPCom v Vodafone (Patents Court), TQ Delta v ZYXEL (Digital Subscriber Line patents), Garmin v Philips (GPS fitness tracker patent), Clearswift v Glasswall (patents, software), Apple v Qualcomm (patents, telecoms, FRAND), American Science v Rapiscan (x-ray patents); Warner Lambert v Dr Reddy’s (pharmaceutical patent); Magmatic v PMSL (design right); Unwired Planet v Samsung & Google (telecoms patents); Philips v Nintendo (computer game patents); Nokia v HTC (telecoms patents); IPcom v HTC (telecoms patent infringement and validity); BSkyB v Microsoft (trade mark infringement and passing off); Virgin Atlantic Airways v Zodiac [2013] UKSC 46 (aeroplane seat patents); 3i infotech v Royal Bank of Scotland (computer contract); Covatec v Smith & Nephew (medical device patent); IPCom v Nokia (FRAND inquiry); Apple v Samsung (mobile telephone technology); Sandisk v Kingston (portable memory technology); IPcom v Nokia (mobile telephone patents); Global Coal v London Commodity Brokers (traders licensing agreements); Cranway v Playtech (internet gaming patent); Navitaire v Easyjet (copyright in software, user-interfaces and database), Intel v Via (CPU Patents); Zipher v Markem (printing apparatus patents); Microsoft v Digital Now (software authentication devices); Nokia v Interdigital (mobile telephone patents); Thomson v Pace (MPEG Video patents); Samsung v Ericsson/Sony Ericsson (mobile telephone patents); Siemens v Thorn (PCB coating patent appeal); Trafalgar v Hamdi (Supreme Court of Gibraltar, confidential information).
Career
Qualified 2000, Lincoln’s Inn.
Standing Counsel for the Comptroller-General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks (2014-2019).
Silk, 2019.
Memberships
Intellectual Property Bar Association; Chancery Bar Association; Chartered Engineer; European Engineer; FRSA; FRI; MIET; MBCS; MIEEE; MACM.
Education
The Blue School; University of Bath (1995 B Eng (Hons) 1st; 1998 PhD, ‘Artificial Intelligence for the Robust Optimisation of On-Line Control System Stability’); City University (1999 Diploma in law); ICSL; Lincoln’s Inn Scholarships: Cassel, Sunley, CPE and Hardwicke. .
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