THE RT. HON. PROFESSOR SIR ROBIN JACOB
BA, MA (Cantab), LLB (LSE). Hon. Fellow LSE; Hon. Fellow St. Peter’s College Oxford; Hon. LLD University of Wolverhampton; QC (NSW); President of the Intellectual Property Institute; Governor of the LSE; Hon. President of the Association of Law Teachers; President of the UK Branch of the Licensing Executives Society; Member of the Advisory Board of the European Law Centre of King’s College London; and a Governor of the Expert Witness Institute.
Sir Hugh Laddie Chair of Intellectual Property Law
Profile
Sir Robin joined the Faculty of Laws in May 2011 leaving the Court of Appeal of England and Wales to do so. Having read Natural Sciences at Cambridge, Sir Robin then read for the Bar (Grays Inn). He started practice at the Intellectual Property Bar in 1967. From 1976 to 1981 he was the Junior Counsel for the Comptroller of Patents and for all Government departments in intellectual property. He was made a Queen's Counsel in 1981. His practice took him abroad often (Hong Kong, Singapore, Europe, USA, and Australia). He was appointed a High Court Judge (Chancery Division) in 1993. From 1997 to 2001 he was Supervising Chancery Judge for Birmingham, Bristol and Cardiff. He was appointed a Lord Justice of Appeal in October 2003. He was Treasurer of Grays Inn in 2007. He continues to sit from time to time in the Court of Appeal and will sometimes act as an arbitrator or mediator.
He has written extensively on all forms of intellectual property. He often lectures, mainly but not only on IP topics, both in the UK and abroad.
Publications Books (in collaboration with others)
A Guidebook to Intellectual Property (5 editions from 1970 to 2004, a further edition is intended)
Kerly’s Law of Trade Marks and Trade Names (1972, 1983 and 1986 editions, editor; 2001, 2005 and forthcoming editions, consulting editor)
Encyclopedia of UK and European Patent Law (from 1977 onwards)
The White Book (once the Supreme Court Practice, now Civil Procedure) Sweet and Maxwell, editor of sections on intellectual property for many years from 1970 to 1993, Supervisory Editor thereafter.
Bullen & Leake & Jacob Precedents of Pleadings for many editions author of the various parts concerned with Intellectual Property, currently Consulting Editor
Atkin’s Court Forms. Editor of the sections concerned with Intellectual Property in the 1970s and 1980s
Articles and Lectures
Information Problems and the Law, The Information Scientist, March 1972 p.3
The Protection of Geographical Indications of Origin in the UK, chapter in Protection of Geographic Denominations of Goods and Services, ed. Prof. Herman Cohen Jehoram, Sijthoff & Noordhoff, 1980.
The Herschel Smith Lecture 1993, [1993] EIPR 312
Novelty of Use Claims, IIC (1996) Vol 27 170 (also published in German GRUR (1996) Vol 45 p.1091), a paper for the 7th Symposium of European Patent Judges
The Stephen Stewart Memorial Lecture: Industrial Property – Industry’s Enemy? [1997] I.P.Q. 3
European Patent Procedure, a paper for the 1997 Fordham University Law School IP conference
When is a trade mark not a trade mark? for the 1997 Fordham University Law School IP Conference
The Harmonisation of Patent Litigation, a lecture given to the Dutch AIPPI Group in Zeist Holland, March 1997, [1997] I.P.Q. 142
Some Recent Cases of Significance in the UK, IIC (1997) Vol 28 880 (also published in German, GRUR Int 1/98) a paper for the 8th Symposium of European Patent Judges
Community Intellectual Property Law in the English Courts, Chap. 15 of European Community Law in the English Courts, ed. Andenas and Jacobs, Clarendon Press, 1998
Towards a European Civil Procedural Code? The 27th Lord Upjohn Lecture, (1998) The Law Teacher, 125
The future shape of the judicial system in Europe a paper for the Ninth Symposium of European Patent Judges, Special Edition of the EPO Journal. 1999 p.114
Objectionable Narrowness of Claim, a “Side Bar” in Principles of Patent Law, Chisum et al., Foundation Press New York, (1999) also published in [1999] EIPR 40 along with subsequent correspondence
Decisions relating to patents granted by the EPO in Great Britain and Germany, (1999) VPP-Rundbrief 13
Scope of patents in the UK - is there a doctrine of equivalents? for the AIPPI, Symposium, Helsinki, March 1999, published in Nordiskt Immateriellt Rättsskydd
Can European Patent Specifications be Safely Shortened?, a paper for the FICPI conference, The Hague July 1999
International Intellectual Property Litigation in the Next Millennium, The 1999 Deioma lecture, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law (2000) vol. 32 p.507
Intellectual Property in the new Millennium The Inaugural Presidential Address of the Shepherd and Wedderburn Centre for Research in Intellectual Property and Technology, Edinburgh, 1999
The Community Patent or a European Patent Court? Is it time to Chose?, for the 2000 Fordham University Law School IP conference
Trade Marks and the Olympic Games throughout the Years, Marques Conference: Athens August 2000, [2001] EIPR 1
In Honour of Rudiger Rogge, Festshrift fur Rudiger Rogge zum 65. GRUR, October 2001
The Onward March of Intellectual Property Rights and Remedies, Chap. 17 of Expanding the Boundaries of Intellectual Property, OUP 2001
The Grays Inn Reading, June 2002, Gresham College
Thoughts on Insolvency Practitioners and Expert Witnesses, a paper for the R3 Conference, Malaga, May 2003, Insolvency Law and Practice (2003) Vol. 19 143
My Dad and Gray’s Inn, (2002) 114 Graya 41
Law and the Human Genome Project, a paper for the Washington University in St Louis, Missouri, Symposium, 2003, Perspectives on properties of the Human Genome Project, ed. F. Scott Kieff, Elsevier/Academic Press, 2003.
Creating the Community Patent and its Court, an essay in Intellectual Property in the New Millennium, Essays in Honour of William Cornish, (2004) Cambridge p.79
The Perfect Patent Court, an essay in …".. und sie bewgt sich doch!" Patent Law on the Move, a Festschrift for Gert Kolle and Dieter Stauder, Carl Heymanns Verlag (2005) p. 313
The Globalisation of Copyright, for the 12th Biennial Copyright Law & Practice Symposium, Sydney, November 2005. Copyright Reporter (2006) Vol 24 p.10
Interpretation of Claims and the Doctrine of Equivalents, for the 13th Symposium of European Patent Judges, 2006, Special Edition of the EPO Journal, 2007 p.138
European Patent Litigation: Out of the Impasse? With Prof. Anthony Arnull, [2007] EIPR 209
National Courts and the EPO Litigation System an essay in Festbeiträge für Rudolf Teschmacher zum 65, (2008) GRUR Int 658
Monopolist v Antimonopolist: A never ending story: The Burrell lecture 2008
Recent Patent Cases in England and Wales, for the 14th Symposium of European Patent Judges, Special Edition of the EPO Journal, 2009, p.139
Woolly Lines in Intellectual Property Law, an essay in Patents and Technological Progress in a Globalized World, Liber Americiom Joseph Straus, Springer (2009) p. 781
Experts and Woolf: Have Things Got Better?, an essay in The Civil Procedure Rules Ten Years On, ed. Dwyer, OUP (2009)
Knowledge of the World and the Act of Judging, the Congrés de La Magistrature, Québec City, November 2008, Proceedings of the 2008 Judges’ Conference, p. 129
The Chapter on Intellectual Property in The Judicial House of Lords 1876-2009 ed. Blom-Cooper et al., OUP 2009
Patents and Pharmaceuticals, a paper given in November 2008 at the Presentation of the Directorate-General of Competition’s Preliminary Report of the Pharm-sector inquiry, CIPA December 2008 p. 711
Forward to The Common Law of Intellectual Property, a festschrift for David Vaver, Hart (2010)
Be ye ever so High, a paper given to the First St.Petersberg Legal Forum, May 2011.
James v Kaney - where next? A paper for the Autumn 2011 Expert Witness Instutute Journal.
Patent thickets: a paper for the European Patent Office Economic and Scientific Advisory Board meeting
Robin Jacob; Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice 2013; doi: 10.1093/jiplp/jps213
Teaching as a Guest Lecturer at the University of Melbourne on their European IP Law course, February 2013.
Current Teaching
Sir Robin Jacob will be co-teaching on UG and PG IBIL courses.
