Phillip Johnson
1998, Inner Temple
LL.B (Hons)
LL.M (Intellectual Prp.)
PG.Dip, Int Arb
Ph. D (IP & PIL)
Attorney (California)

Phillip Johnson

Phillip specialises in intellectual property law and in public law. His intellectual property practice covers trade marks, copyright, patents, supplementary protection certificates, designs, confidential information and media, entertainment and sports law. He has experience in alterantive dispute resolution and extensive knowledge of arbitration and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. He has a particular interest in cases where there is an international element.

Before returning to the bar in 2007, Phillip was a legal adviser to the Patent Office. During his time advising the Office he worked on the implementation of Treaties and Directives as well as working on most of the changes to intellectual property legislation made between 2003 and 2007. In addition, he worked on numerous references to the European Court of Justice and cases heard before the domestic courts.

He has expertise in media law and reads for libel for two national newspapers. He has also advised broadcast content providers, national newspapers, lifestyle magazines, film producers and those in connected industries.

He is the author of several articles on trade marks, copyright, patent law, designs, jurisdictional matters as well as public and criminal law all of which have been published in leading journals. He is also the reviews editor of the Journal of Intellectual Property Law and Practice. His book Ambush Marketing: A Practical Guide to Protecting the Brand of a Sporting Event was published by Sweet and Maxwell in 2007. He is also a contributor on trade marks and domain names in Gringras on the Laws of the Internet (3rd Ed Tottel 2008), a contributing editor on private international law for the new edition of Jowitt’s Dictionary of English Law and he is a general editor of the forthcoming edition of The Modern Law of Patents (2nd Ed Lexisnexis).

He is a senior visiting fellow at the Queen Mary Intellectual Property Research Institute, where he teaches patent law on the courses for trainee patent attorneys. He is regularly invited to speak on intellectual property matters both in the United Kingdom and around the world, including being invited to speak in Australia on the patenting of biotechnology and in the United States and France on ambush marketing.

He is an Appeal Panel Member for the CIPA Litigator Accrediting Board and the barrister member of the ITMA Litigation Committee.

Before joining government Phillip practised at the criminal bar for three years where he undertook the full range of criminal defence and prosecution work.

He is accredited to accept public access work.  

 Professional Memberships:

  • Intellectual Property Bar Association
  • Chancery Bar Association
  • Californian Bar Association
  • American Bar Association, including Intellectual Property section
  • Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys (ITMA) (Associate)
  • International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (AIPPI)
  • International Trade Mark Association  (INTA)
  • Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (M.CI Arb)
  • Society of Legal Scholars

Reported Cases

Recent reported cases

Farah v GMC [2008] EWHC 731 (Admin), [2008] All ER (D) 21 (Apr)

Re Astellas Pharma Inc's SPC Application [2009] EWHC 1916 (Pat)

 

 

A selection of the things Phillip worked on whilst advising the Intellectual Property Office:

Legislation:

Copyright and Related Rights Regulations 2003 (implementation of Information Society Directive)

Trade Marks (Proof of Use, etc) Regulations 2004 (making changes to require proof of use)

Regulatory Reform (Patents) Order 2004 (implementation of Patent Law Treaty)

Patents Act 2004 (including implementing EPC 2000)

Performances (Moral Rights, etc) Regulations 2006 (implementation of the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty).

Intellectual Property (Enforcement, etc) Regulations 2006 (implementation of Enforcement Directive)

Registered Designs Rules 2006 (modernisation and restatement of designs rules)

Patents Rules 2007 (modernisation and restatement of patents rules) (consultation version).

Cases:

C-275/06 Promusicae [2008] 2 CMLR 17 (remedies for intellectual property infringement)

C-48/05 Adam Opel [2007] ETMR 33 (trade mark use)

C-108/05 Bovemij Verzekeringen [2007] ETMR 29 (distinctiveness through use)

C-228/03 Gillette Co v LA-Laboratories [2005] ETMR 67 (honest use in commercial practices)

Oakley v Animal [2006] RPC 9 (scope of European Communities Act 1972)

Publications

Books

Ambush Marketing: A Practical Guide to the Protection of a Sports Event (Sweet and Maxwell 2007)

Gringras on the Laws of the Internet (3rd Ed, Tottel 2008) (main author E. Todd), Chapter on Trade Marks and Domain Names

International Trade Mark and Signs Protection (in German and English) (Beck and Hart 2009) (Ed P. Lange), Chapter on United Kingdom Law

Articles

The Rise and Fall of Honest Concurrent Use in Trade Mark Law and Sharing Names (Ed. I. Simon) (Elgar 2009)

I Object! The New Company Names Adjudicator in the UK (2008) 3 JIPLP 695

Dedicating Copyright to the Public Domain (2008) 71 MLR 587

Look out! It's an ambush! (2008) ISLR 24

Qualification for design right: "Springing interests" (2006) 1 JIPLP 762

Implementing Community Obligations in the realms of Intellectual Property (2006) 1 JIPLP 449

Which Law Applies? A Reply to Professor Torremans (2005) 1 JIPLP 71

The Public Interest: Is it Still a Defence to Copyright Infringement? (2005) Ent LR 1

One Small Step or One Giant Leap? How has the WTO Panel Decision on Section 110(5) of the United States Copyright Act Changed Our Understanding of the ‘Three-Step Test? (2004) EIPR 265

All wrapped up? A Review of the Enforceabilty of ‘Shrink-wrap' and ‘Click-wrap' Licences in the United Kingdom and the United States (2003) 26 EIPR 98

Case comments

Protecting the Magic of Childhood (2008) JIPLP 552 (CA, Murray v Big Pictures [2008])

The Battle of the Registers (2008) JIPLP 9 (ECJ, C-17/06 Céline)

Considering Combinations (2007) JIPLP 582 (ECJ, C-273/05 CELLTECH)

Remember to Register! (2007) JIPLP 71 (US 7th Cir, Brooks-Ngwenya v Thompson)

Bothered by Bovemij (2006) JIPLP 822 (ECJ, C-108/05 Bovemij)

Court of Justice plucks the spider from the web (2006) JIPLP 689 (ECJ, C-539/03 Roche)

Adjudication of patent validity is sent home (2006) JIPLP 688 (ECJ, C-4/03 GAT v Luk)

Current Awareness

Another Ambush? The Proposed Glasgow Commonwealth Games Association Right

During the bidding process for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games the organising committee had to give an undertaking that legislation would be adopted to prevent ambush marketing. The obligation in the Host City Contract is that "no persons conduct any marketing, advertising or promotional campaigns in the Host Country which imply any approval, affiliation, connection or sponsorship of or with the Games, Games Intellectual Property Rights or any Games Team, or the year of the Games which are not expressly authorised by the CGF Executive Board or any other party authorised to grant such rights."More >>

Cabinet Office v Lamb and Information Commissioner EA-2008-0024 (26th January 2009)

The decision to start military action in Iraq remains controversial and, in particular, whether that action was lawful or not. This legality has been widely debated by international lawyers, but what seems so irresistible to the public is the legal advice provided to the cabinet by the Attorney-General. In fact, he provided two written opinions on the matter, the initial advice was circumspect and included caveats and reservations whereas the second opinion, it is thought, firmly took the view that such action was lawful. Following a partial leak, the government published the initial advice in full, but the subsequent advice remains secret. More >>

More News

© 2009 7 New Square unless otherwise stated. All rights reserved. Design: Underground Creative