Recording: Question the Trade Mark Judges

Mr Justice Richard Meade is a judge of the High Court of England and Wales. He studied law at University College, Oxford. After working in computing for two years, he was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1991 and practised intellectual property law from 8 New Square. He also appeared before the European Court of Justice and European Patent Office. He took silk in 2008, and was appointed deputy High Court judge in 2011.  He was an editor of Kerly’s Law of Trade Marks and Trade Names for two editions. In September 2020, he was appointed a full time judge of the High Court, assigned to the Chancery Division.  He is the Judge in Charge of the Patents Court and Intellectual Property and has heard and decided cases in many areas of IP.

Al Skilton
Al trained as a graphic designer/illustrator before retraining in law about 20 years ago. Al worked in patent litigation, and the IPO’s legal department, prior to becoming a hearing officer for trade mark and registered design cases (about thirteen years ago).  
 
Al is also involved with a number of LGBT+ network groups including IPOut (part of IP inclusive), South Wales LGBT+ network chairs group, CS Wales network chairs group and is a co-chair of the IPO network group -  iPride. In 2021 Al was shortlisted for Pink News LGBT+ Role Model of the Year.
 
Al now lives on the beautiful west coast of Wales (two minutes from the beach) and enjoys sea kayaking, photography and all things theatrical, when not writing decisions.

Sven STÜRMANN, LL.M.
Sven is a graduate of Law and Mediation from the Universities of Göttingen, Berlin (Germany) and Alicante (Spain). In 2004, he completed a Master’s Degree in Intellectual Property Law in Alicante and is an internationally accredited Mediator (CEDR). Sven started working at the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) in January 2004, having previously practiced as an Attorney-at-law (Rechtsanwalt) and Mediator in Berlin (Germany). Over the past fourteen years at EUIPO he has worked as a Lawyer Linguist, Opposition and Cancellation Examiner, Legal Assistant of the 1st Board of Appeal, Legal Advisor and as a Mediator. From 2014 to 2017, he was Team Leader of the Knowledge and Legal Support Team at the Boards of Appeal. Sven has also been the Leader of the Knowledge Circle Appeal Processes between 2015 – 2021 and he was a Member of the Board of Appeal of the Community Plant Variety Office (CPVO) in Angers, France. In August 2017, Sven became the Chairperson of the 2nd Board of Appeal at EUIPO. He is also a Member of the Advisory Board of the online Intellectual Property Magazine (IPM), a joint venture with the German newspaper group Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Fachverlag. He is one of the pioneering mediators at EUIPO, having contributed decisively to the establishment of EUIPO's Mediation Service in 2011. Sven is a frequent speaker on Mediation and European Union trade mark issues, both at EUIPO and international conferences, and has published a broad range of articles relating to Mediation and European Union trade marks in German, English and Spanish

Judge Vesna Tomljenović
Born 1956 in Rijeka (Croatia) Vesna Tomljenović obtained a law degree in 1979 from Rijeka University Law Faculty before continuing her studies at Zagreb University where she obtained a Master of Laws in 1984. She became a Doctor of Laws in 1997.  In 1984 she passed the bar exam.
She started her professional career at the Rijeka Faculty of Law as a lecturer before becoming a Professor of Private International Law, and later on a Head of the Chair of International and European Private Law.  During her university career, she has conducted different studies in several institutes as: the Asser Institute (the Hague), the Federal Institute of Comparative Law (Lausanne), Fridjtof Nansen Institut (Oslo), the Max-Planck for International Private law (Hamburg). In 2003 she was a Fulbright visiting professor at the Tulane University Law School (United States). She is the President of the Croatian Comparative Law Association since 2006.

During accession’s negotiation process between Croatia and the EU (2005 to 2013) she headed the working group of the Croatian Negotiation team in charge of Chapter 28 of the acquis communautaire  “Consumer and Health Protection”.

Ms Tomljenović was appointed as a Judge at the General Court of the European Union on 4 July 2013. In 2016 her peers elected her as a President of the 7th Chamber, and again in 2019 as a President of the 2nd Chamber, in which capacity she served until 19 September 2022.

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