Patents in Telecoms and the Internet of Things

UCL Laws’ Institute of Brand and Innovation Law has just concluded its fourth conference in the ‘Patents in Telecoms’ series, this year taking it to Tokyo, Japan. The conference was organised by IBIL’s Director, Professor Sir Robin Jacob (the Sir Hugh Laddie Chair of Intellectual Property Law at UCL Laws) and Professor Katsuya Tamai (Professor of IP, Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology (RCAST), University of Tokyo). The conference builds upon the success of earlier conferences which have previously been held in Washington DC since 2014.

Over the two days of the conference, attendees enjoyed a packed, bilingual programme which afforded a unique insight into the latest legal and economic developments in the Telecoms sector. The organisers brought together over 40 international speakers, moderators and panellists from a diverse range of backgrounds to discuss topics including the Internet of Things, FRAND terms, the Telecoms ecosystem from industrial, legal and regulatory perspectives.

As well as providing the initial welcome, Professor Sir Robin Jacob provided an update on the latest developments on The Unitary Patents Court and also moderated Judges’ Panel, comprising senior IP judges from the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, the US Third Circuit, China and Japan. IBIL co-director, Dr Matt Fisher took on the role of moderator for a panel session entitled ‘Competition and Policy Towards Standard Setting’, while Dr Igor Nikolic, a former PhD candidate at UCL Laws, now a senior fellow at the Centre for Law, Economics and Society, served as a panellist to discuss FRAND Determination. View more details of the Conference, including the full event programme, and many of the presentation slides, here.

Image (L-R): Annabelle Bennett (retired Judge of Federal Court of Australia and additional judge of the Supreme Court of the ACT); the Hon. Kent Jordan (United States Circuit Judge for the Third Circuit); Professor Sir Robin Jacob; the Rt. Hon. Lord Justice Floyd (Court of Appeal, England and Wales); Naoko Munakata (former Japan Patent Office Commissioner); Judge Yoshiyuki Mori (Presiding Judge, Japanese Intellectual Property High Court); Professor Dr. Guangliang Zhang (Remnin Law School, former Beijing First Intermediate People’s Court as a judge, deputy chief judge and acting chief judge of the IP Tribunals); Professor Katsuya Tamai (Professor of IP, Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology (RCAST), University of Tokyo).