Journal

CIPA Student Conference 2024

Here’s a rundown of what happened at the 2024 CIPA Student Conference from the perspectives of joint-host Ashley Tambe, moot court organiser Joel David Briscoe, and conference organiser Riddhi Patel.

Ashley Tambe, Hon. Sec. of the Informals

With 160+ attendees, informative talks, and lovely feedback, it’s safe to say that the student conference was a success! It was a pleasure to be co-hosting this event alongside Lee Davies. Here’s a rundown of my day:

7:00: I wake up (way too early for my liking). Strangely, I’m nervous about the moot court, and not the hosting itself. Sounds weird, right? I can explain. For hosting, I have plenty of friends in the crowd to give me a reassuring thumbs up. There’s no script to follow, and if there’s anything I forget to mention, I can always compromise. Plus, I will be joined by Lee Davies who is a hosting expert, and can always just look to him if I need him to jump in.

Now the moot court on the other hand, I was given a witness statement to memorise, and a character to role-play. Firstly, despite having reviewed all the documents on the train to Birmingham, I’ve already forgotten it all. Secondly, as an expert witness, I will need to respond during cross-examination in a way that won’t unfairly bias the trainee volunteers, and that’s harder than it sounds. The trainees spent weeks preparing arguments, and the strength of said arguments will largely depend on the responses that expert witnesses provide on the day. I’ll need to have another read-through of the documents during breakfast!

9:30: You know how I said I wasn’t nervous about the hosting? I take that back. I arrive to the venue and feel immediately overwhelmed by the buzzing atmosphere. I see familiar faces from last year, members of the Informals committee, and colleagues at my firm. Before I get to say hello to anyone, I’m quickly whisked away for interviews, photos, and a brief chat about the days’ logistics. By the time that was over, there were only ten minutes until I had to hit the stage! I run over to my friends for a quick catch-up, then check in with the committee members at the Informals stands. Riddhi and Epseeta[1] suggest that me and Lee should walk on stage while Eye of the Tiger is playing in the background. I playfully pass this on to Lee. He makes it happen.

12:00: Honestly, that went much better than expected. The crowd were very enthusiastic, and I made people laugh a few times. The sessions were fantastic too. Guy Warner, who was part of the session on the new exams, is a phenomenal presenter. I need to get tips from him in case I’m ever doing a presentation like that myself! It was also interesting to hear about different career perspectives from Phillip Lendon, Daryl Bradley, and Debbie Slater. Before I announced a 30-minute break, I told everyone to set themselves a challenge of befriending at least three people who are not already a part of their companies. Now my job is to dart around the drinks lounge and make sure people are doing so!

14.45:  In the past two hours, we’ve had a session titled ‘Starting out in patents: don’t journey alone’ ran by Penelope Aspinall from Jonathan’s Voice, Andrea Brewster OBE from IP Inclusive, and Elisabeth Pauli; in addition to a delicious lunch break. Again, the session was lovely and informative. I particularly liked the usage of an online poll that would be displayed on the whiteboard behind the speakers. It’s a smart way to keep the crowd engaged. Also, I’m getting into the groove of hosting now. Next up, the moot court…

17.10:  The day draws to a close. The moot court was extremely well done. I was mind-blown by the quality of the arguments presented by the trainees who volunteered. One of them had only been in the profession for six months, yet argued as if she was a partner with hundreds of cases under her belt! I didn’t mess up any lines as an expert witness, though I did fall off the stage at one point. To be fair, I was told that I played off the fall well. I closed off the session by announcing hot topics (including upcoming yoga sessions, a football tournament, and a student induction day). Time for drinks!

[1] Editor’s note: I was NOT responsible for this, Riddhi Patel must come out and take full claim on that…

Joel David Briscoe, organiser of the Moot Court session

Non-traditional career paths

• Philip Lenden, Simplify IP
• Daryl Bradley, Arm Ltd
• Debbie Slater, Prevayl Ltd
• Florian Byzantium-Hegemark, Concept IP

Philip Lenden chaired the session and told the audience about his expectations about how the career of a patent attorney goes. However, even given his self-confessed naivety, that’s not how it is for everyone – himself included, after setting up his own firm 18 months previously.

A poll of the room was conducted and 34% of the room had joined the profession in the last year. So, the discussion started where Philip’s introduction left off, what were everyone’s misconceptions about what their career path’s would be versus how they actually turned out?

Debbie Slater recounted she had started her career as an EPO examiner, and later moved to private practice, in-house, start-ups, worked in different countries and so on – which was not something she thought would have happened at this start of her career.

The panel moved on to surprising moments in their career. Some discussed the realisation that, irrespective of a small start-up or multinational corporation, there often can be one or two key people holding it all together.

The panel also discuss how the size of the company, in-house or in private practice, often has different challenges. Larger companies can have entrenched procedures, more structure, and order – whereas smaller firms can have more autonomy and flexibility, but you carry more on your plate. Larger clients may also have key procedures for managing risk, and the smaller companies may not have this structure or a relative new procedure that isn’t fully being followed.

The panel also discussed imposter syndrome. Out of the 83 delegates who voted, an astonishing 94% said they had felt or experienced imposter syndrome during their career, this author included. Considering that 87% of the room is less than three years into the profession, and the panel had over 60 years’ experience between the four of them, it’s clear that this can present itself all throughout your profession. The panel discussed that opportunities should always be taken, and not to shy away from them due to your own fear of failure or not knowing what you will be doing. In fact, experiencing more things helps you discover what you want to do with your career, which really brings the topic of this panel full circle.

When the panel opened questions to the floor, a great question about value came from a delegate who’d travelled over from Norway for the conference. The question arose from an uneasiness with the value charged by firms for time, especially when you’re new to the profession and feel you’re not worth the money charged out. The room really leaned in to listen to the insights from the panel on this point, who discussed; context, adding value to business, the expertise we bring, and the knowledge you bring as an expert.

The ‘New EQE’ – here at last!

• Julia Gwilt, Appleyard Lees
• Guy Warner, British American Tobacco PLC & EQE Training Ltd.

The European qualification exam (EQE) for trainee patent attorneys is undergoing significant changes after 44 years. Prompted partly by the shift to online examinations and a desire to adapt to the digital environment, a joint working group from the European Patent Office (EPO) and the epi has restructured the exam. This restructuring aims to maintain the assessment’s relevance to real-world practice while embracing the digital format. Julia Gwilt, who is also chair of the epi Professional Education Committee, has been involved in this project.

The new EQE will introduce a staggered approach to exams, allowing candidates to take the foundation (F) module after one year of training, the main (M) modules M1 and M2 after two years, and M3 and M4 after three years. Although the new exams do not directly correspond to the old ones, they progressively evaluate the competencies needed to become a European Patent Attorney. The rollout of the new EQEs will occur gradually, starting with module F in 2025, followed by M1 and M2 in 2026, and concluding with M3 and M4 in 2027.

Simultaneously, the old EQEs will be phased out, with the last pre-exam offered in 2024 and the last set of papers A to D in 2026. Candidates who began training before March 2023 will be exempt from the pre-exam and will have an opportunity to take the old EQE in 2026. Additionally, there are provisions for exemptions for those who pass some exams under the old system but transition to the new one.

More information about the new EQE is available online, include model papers, at: https://www.epo.org/en/learning/professional-hub/european-qualifying-examination-eqe/new-eqe

Guy Warner then flew through somethings to consider for current papers A-D, given his history as a highly recommended half of a duo, with Iain Russel. I personally attended their course for papers A&B at one of the JDD courses in the past, and echo the recommendation – since their JDD days, they’ve founded a training company, EQE Training Ltd, it was this material that was presented to the delegates.

Moot Court Competition 2024

• Richard Darby, Three New Square IP
• Chris Mercer, Chris Mercer Consulting Ltd
• Joel David Briscoe, British American Tobacco PLC
• Rhodri Jones, Dehns
• Robert Sansby, Lucidity IP

After a successful return at last year’s student conference, after a decade long hiatus, the moot court returned this year – bigger and better. This year, the two teams of mooters went head-to-head over a patent claiming a nicotine patch, and argued for and against infringement, inventive step, and sufficiency for moot judge, Richard Darby, a pupil at Three New Square Chambers. Yet another challenging problem from the mind of Chris Mercer, who many will recall from uncountable P6/FD4 seminars and lectures over the years. The teams were set the task of digesting a substantial amount of information in just a few weeks after the EQE exams, called 4 witnesses and cross-examined them, and had to think of their feet quite when probed by the interventionist judge.

While the moot court is largely for fun and a learning experience, it is still a substantial amount of work. The witnesses often have ‘characters’ which isn’t revealed until they’re asked their first question. One was very analytical and pedantic, answering ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to basically every question unless it was asked in a leading sort of way. Another liked to waffle and didn’t really give an indication of their opinion either way. Another was a bit clumsy, almost falling off the stage[1] (which wasn’t planned!) but completed the set really well. In fact, the only ones not playing a role, where the mooters themselves. Who handled the pressure very well, especially considering they also had a last minute change to the format on the day – which was unfortunately due to time constraints.

In preparation, the Mooters sat with the moot court organisers, Joel David Briscoe, Rhodri Jones, and Chris Mercer on a few different occasions, with help from last year’s winner of the moot court, Robert Sansby. They had to submit skeleton arguments to Moot-Judge Darby on Monday morning, which was also the chance to see their opponents position for the first time.

For the Proprietor – Katie Dale and Fynn McLennan and (Mewburn Ellis).

For the Opponent – Emily Fox (Albright IP) and Ricky Bhagat (MJP Deans).

Witnesses – Thomas McCann (Dr. Elbert Ainstein), Ashley Tambe (Mr. Tikola Nesla), Kathryn Taylor (Professor Rulia Joberts), and Nickeal Sidhu (Professor Ceorge Glooney).

The subject matter

As mentioned above, the whole session revolved around a patent for a nicotine patch that was allegedly infringed by the opponent. In a cunning move, the opponent didn’t argue against infringement, but instead argued back on invalidity by insufficiency, lack of novelty and inventive step. This really flipped the session from a trial on infringement to a defence of the patent. A really clever tactic that the opponents should be proud of.

The patent described a method of testing for nicotine permeability, comprising the use of Saran wrap, which it transpires is no longer available in the formulation used by the patent at the filing date in 2013. Remember, this is all made up! In fact, the court heard through a witness examination that the manufacturer changed the formulation in 2018, so the argument for insufficiency was significant. This was rebutted by counsel for the Proprietor that case law says it is enough that it worked on the day, and that another witness also confirmed that had carried out the invention, albeit with slightly different results, by replacing the Saran wrap with a gasket. In fact, two witnesses supported this position.

The opponent also argued for lack of novelty and inventive step. The argument submitted was that, in light of the prior art, there was a lack of novelty for claim 1. The opponent also said that the claim was not possible to be carried out across its full scope.

Ultimately, the opponents’ arguments were persuasive, and moot-Judge Darby, after some consideration, concluded that the patent was invalid due to a lack of sufficiency and inventive step. The winners were presented with their trophies and so were the runners-up, because truly there were no losers at the moot court. Both teams did a fantastic job!

For those interested in the specifics and the details (maybe even as practice for FD4?) the materials are available on the CIPA website, in the student conference event page – you may need to be logged in to your CIPA account to access. If you’re interested in being involved in next year’s moot court, please get in touch with Joel David Briscoe ([email protected]).

Business development in IP

• Paul McCartney, E Business Coaching

This is a new type of talk for the CIPA Student Conference, it focused on business and leadership in business. It is appropriate as the people in the room are the leaders of the UK patent industry of tomorrow.

Paul started with an analogy of an aeroplane. He said that the analogy can be broken down like this:

• the cockpit of the plane is your business leadership, they have the vision and are steering the plane to its overall destination.
• The wings are the product and service the business provides. They give the business (the plane) lift, without a good enough product and service, the business will never take-off.
• The left and right engines are the sales and marketing teams. The more investment into these the bigger the thrust to launch the business.
• The fuel tank is the cash flow, fundamental to maintain the business during its flight. No cash flow, the whole thing comes crashing down.
• The body or fuselage of the plane is the operations and overheads, it needs to be lean but well operating. Paul remarked that many times over he has seen small business spending far too much, and therefore it weighs the business down.

These insights from Paul can be readily applied to one’s own common sense of how a plane operates. Too much weight, it won’t fly. Not enough thrust, it won’t fly. No clear heading, you’ll just burn through your fuel. The wings need to be appropriate for the plane, they need to be viable, the type of wings also determine where the engines are placed. Now replace all of that with the above analogous parts of a business and the same holds true. Paul said, when you know how to optimise the six parts of your business, you build a business that works.

Ashley Tambe asked an insightful question for the room, ‘how should we network and take advantage of that to help aid in business development?’ – Paul said that he is an avid networker, and the point is to take an interest in people. Ask people how they got started in their business, for example. Also, be your authentic self and ask people about themselves.

The IP Survival Guide Podcast

As some of you may have heard by now, the Informals is launching their own podcast to compliment CIPA’s award winning pod, ‘The Two IPs in a Pod’ hosted by Lee Davies and Gwilym Roberts. Sophie Knott and Joel David Briscoe were floating around the conference interviewing people, which will be available to listen to in the coming months. They managed to interview a trainee only a month into the profession, host Lee Davies, CIPA staff members who organised the day,  moot court participant Katie Dale, and many others.

You will be able to listen to ‘The IP Survival Guide’ on all platforms in May 2024.

Conclusion

The day ended with networking drinks and on a high following another successful CIPA Student Conference. The day really is one of the must-attend events for Trainee Patent Attorneys, so if you missed out, pencil it in for April 2025 as it will return! If these past three are anything to go by, it’ll be bigger and better again.

And now, from Riddhi Patel who, as organiser of the student conference, liaised with CIPA to make the day happen.

[1] Editor’s note: see Ashley’s account above…

Riddhi Patel, Conference Organiser

Let’s give a virtual round of applause to the unsung heroes who made this day possible. From the tireless Informals Committee to the ever-efficient CIPA staff, from our esteemed speakers to the exhibitors who kept us well-fed, and let’s not forget the delegates who brought the energy, and the hotel staff who kept the coffee flowing – thank you all! [Editor’s note: and not a word about her own essential contributions!]

The day dawned with shiny Informals notebooks signposted by a fabulous banner and a table literally covered with a yellow sheet (apt, I know). As delegates flooded in from 15 different counties, the atmosphere was literally buzzing. Some were familiar faces, others brand new, but all keen to practice networking and seek out what life is like outside of their own work places.

Now, onto the some of the sessions themselves:

Amidst the chaos of balancing work, revision, and a semblance of a personal life, remember this pearl of wisdom from the panel: ‘There is bad stuff everywhere, but strive to be where the bad stuff isn’t as bad, and where you can handle it’.

The speakers dropped many tips throughout the day – let’s recap some of them here. First off, let’s talk about the superpowers hidden within our non-core skills. Yep, those talents outside the realm of drafting and exam responses are like secret weapons in our arsenal. Whether it’s tailoring your communication style to charm potential clients or wowing your colleagues with your versatility, these skills are the spice in our legal recipes (officially not patentable, by the way).

The second tip was that we are all managers. No matter how early on in the training we are, it’s never too early to realise that time management isn’t just crucial, but the holy grail of productivity. We are all selling our time essentially, so we must decide early on how to allocate it.

The third tip was to improve listening skills. Being an active listener isn’t just polite, it’s a power move. It’s rewarding to everyone and gives you a chance to reflect on other views. The fourth tip was to ask the right questions. This can help you get an idea of what the other person is looking for. Asking the right questions helps eliminate the disconnect between expectations and delivery, whether you are dealing with clients or your supervisor. Know that people will tolerate basic questions as they were in your position once upon a time too. And finally, everyone needs a good rant. Always allowed in a safe space and to people you trust. If you are struggling with this, there are plenty of people in the profession who would love to chat to you (Jonathan’s Voice, IP Inclusive, Informals Committee). After all, we have to choose between being right or being happy… right?

Jonathan’s Voice and IP Inclusive also spoke in a joint session. Anyone part of the IP profession has access to these facilities and can volunteer to help out the charity and not-for profit organisation. In fact, a lot of the communities are in need of helpers – so definitely reach out and give it a go. IP Inclusive is the umbrella organisation made up of 6 sub-groups for: ethnic minorities, women in IP, women in menopause, LGBTQ+, disabilities and the future generations. They encourage allyship and working together. Their top tip is to be authentic, open and honest when engaging with day-to-day tasks.

Regarding ED&I, a question was raised on what to do when those attending the wellbeing and EDI related events and discussions are not part of the problem? How would we as trainees target those people who are causing the issues and target leaders, top down? The advice was to not underestimate how powerful we actually are. We are powerful enough to make senior people realise they have got the wrong end of the stick. Each of us can demand from employers as, at the end of the day, they do not want their employees leaving! It’s also important to note that you shouldn’t have to compromise. Your career is in your control. So, try changing jobs, try in house, reach out to people, and you never know where the next step will take you, but looking back one day, you’ll see exactly how you got there.

At the end of the day, just remember no one judges you more than you judge yourself. So embrace your strengths, acknowledge your weaknesses and keep practicing!