This is eighth and final installment of our overview of the CIPA Student Conference 2023, held in Birmingham last month. Check out our previous posts for any you have missed!
This year’s conference saw the long awaited return of the moot court, where CIPA student members fight it out in a mock court case.
This year, under the watchful eye of judge Chris Mercer, Jeeve Sob’s representatives took on the task of bringing infringement proceedings against Gill Bates – who was using an overhead projector they believed to infringe Mr Sob’s patent.
In return, the representatives of Gill Bates were arguing, based on prior use of a similar projector by Melon Tusk, that the patent wasn’t valid.
It all hinged on whether or not use of this projector at a talk attended by members of the public provided enough of a disclosure of its features.
Kathryn Taylor and Joel Briscoe each took to the stand to share their experiences of the talk, and were subject to ruthless cross examination as to what exactly they had seen.
In the end the jury (conference attendees) decided that the disclosure had not quite been enough to enable the skilled person to arrive at Jeeve’s invention. The patent was valid, and the Gill Bates was infringing it.
Better luck next time Gill – maybe you’ll have more success at next year’s moot court.
The Yellow Sheet 