Intellectual property
Throughout his career as a barrister, Michael has found the complex nature of IP law to be crucial to his enjoyment: “I really enjoy appellate advocacy when I’m pushing the boundaries of the law, as it’s satisfying to address difficult questions from an informed court.” It’s rare for a legal case to be the subject of cartoons in The Sunday Times , Private Eye and The Beano ! Even children in the playground had a view on the merits of this case Michael shares a particular highlight of his career to date: “I appeared as counsel for the lead party before the Grand Chamber – 13 judges – of the Court of Justice with 11 interveners. That case concerned the validity of millions of EU trademarks across the EU28. It was probably one of the most important trademark cases in the past 20 years.” A recent high-profile case involved Colin the Caterpillar, where Michael was part of the #FreeCuthbert team: “It’s rare for a legal case to be the subject of cartoons in The Sunday Times , Private Eye and The Beano ! Even children in the playground had a view on the merits of this case.” Looking into the Bar’s future Michael says: “Recruiting talented practitioners is central to a chambers’ success. Most sets aren’t that big or well-resourced. Therefore, they cannot offer that much by way of pupillage award, nor can they offer a guaranteed income – partly due to the self-employed nature of the Bar. Serle Court is an exception to both of these general points as our pupillage award is generous and we guarantee a new tenant’s income for the first two years of practice. However, a lot of indisputably good people, who would otherwise be good barristerial candidates, are perfectly sensibly saying
Intellectual Property work can be divided into two main areas: hard and soft IP. ‘Hard’ IP relates mainly to patents, while ‘soft’ IP principally covers trademarks and passing-off, and copyright and design rights. IP barristers advise on issues such as infringement, validity of registered IP rights, and commercial agreements that deal either exclusively with IP rights or with IP rights in the wider context of larger commercial transactions. With a background in science and an interest in complex areas of law that raise “difficult problems”, Michael Edenborough QC recalls having to decide between IP and tax after receiving pupillage offers in both areas of law: “I chose IP as the subject matter because it’s inherently more interesting. You encounter IP issues all the time in everyday life – for example the clothes we wear, the beverages we drink and the computers we use are all littered with IP rights (IPRs) (eg, copyright/ designs, trademarks and patents) – IPRs are literally everywhere.” Difficult points of law Now, with more than 25 years’ experience (and 10 years as a silk), Michael continues to enjoy his work as an IP barrister. He deals with all aspects of IP law and practice: “trademarks and passing-off, copyright and designs, patents and confidential information. I also deal with plant varieties, geographical indications, moral rights, database rights and data protection issues.” IP is very international in nature, with many cases having a multijurisdictional aspect (eg, infringing activities in several countries). He advises on “particularly difficult cases, either factually or legally” and he often pushes the boundaries of the law: “I do mainly technical advocacy before specialist tribunals, quite often on appeal, with relatively little trial work handling live witnesses.”
For more chambers that work in this practice area, please use the ‘Pupillage index’.
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