IP and Fashion Law

Jane Lambert at the Blackfriars, Novotel

(c) Gita Mistry 2015 All rights reserved

Last Thursday I conducted a day long seminar on Intellectual Property and the Fashion Industry at the Blackfriars Road Novotel. The above photographs shows me interacting with the audience.  I had 20 attendees drawn from law firms big and small, patent and trade mark agencies and in-house legal departments.

The course covered:

• Basic concepts and terminology
• Advising the designer
• Advising the manufacturer
• Advising the retailer
• Dispute resolution
• Counterfeiting and piracy
• Developing an IP strategy, and
• Applying what had been learned to everyday practice.

Rather than read from notes and slides I taught the course by setting typical problems such as

"The day after a royal baby makes his or her first public appearance you want to sell a similar set of baby clothes. How would you set about doing that without being sued?"

and

"What provisions would you place in a contract with a supplier from Bangladesh?"

I got that idea from Ross Burrows of Burrows Law because that is how he taught the public access top-up and litigation courses which I took last year. He built on participants' knowledge and experience which he encouraged us to share.  I decided to do the same  next time I taught a CPD training course.

Preparing such courses requires a lot more work on the part of the trainer but it aids comprehension and retention.  The overwhelming response of the London group was very positive according to the feedback forms.

If you missed the course in London you can catch me in Leeds on 7 Oct 2015.  Quite apart from what you may learn from me on the course you can check out the exciting young designers at Lambert's Yard or the Textile Centre of Excellence in Huddersfield. Leeds is one of the major fashion centres outside London as you can see from this video of the recent Leodis Forum. You can book on-line or call MBL on 0161 793 0984.