Introducing Joe Foote

Joe Foote, Partner of HarriFoote IP

 

Jane Lambert

On 31 July 2025, I announced that the Menai Science Park ("M-SParc") would celebrate the World Intellectual Property Organization's global celebration of intellectual property examiners and Wales Enterprise Day with an in-person and online lunchtime seminar entitled How to Apply for a UK Patent, Trade Mark or Registered Design.  I set out some details in Wales Enterprise Day 2025 - Working with the IPO on 16 Aug 2025.

In that article, I wrote:

"We have invited and are waiting to hear from two distinguished intellectual property practitioners to fill the next two slots. One will be a patent attorney who is already well known to M-SParc, while the other will be a trade mark attorney. They will explain their roles and how they can assist businesses in Wales and beyond. They are expected to speak from 12:30 and 12:50 respectively. The patent attorney will mention applications under the Patent Cooperation Treaty and the trade mark attorney trade mark applications under the Madrid Protocol, and design registration applications under the Hague Agreement."

I can now announce that the speaker on trade marks will be Mr Joe Foote, a partner of HarriFoote IP.

HarriFoote IP is a partnership between Joe and Michael Harrison which specializes in trade mark prosecution and ancillary services.   Michael is a distinguished patent and trade mark attorney.  He was one of the founders of Harrison Goddard Foote and President of the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys between 2005 and 2006.  It was during his presidency that the Institute changed its name from the Chartered Institute of Patent Agents to the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys.

Michael is the Harrison in Thomas Harrison IP Ltd.   The director of that practice is Sean Thomas, who is already well known to M-SParc's management and tenants as well as entrepreneurs, inventors, business advisors and investors throughout North West Wales.  He lives near Holyhead and has spent much of his life on Anglesey.

When I first came across M-SParc, there were very few IP advisors in the vicinity.  Now there are many.  Sean is on the spot and his colleagues Michael and Joe are at the end of a phone line.   I am also available if anyone wants specialist advice on strategy, enforcement. licensing or other issue or representation in the Intellectual Property Office. Patents Court or other tribunal.  Company and commercial solicitor Andrea Knox can draw up shareholder agreements and other legal instruments.   Specialist tax advisor, Steve Livingston of IP Tax Solutions, can assist with R&D credits, patent box and all sorts of other tax issues.  Gwenllian Owen, M-SParc's Commercialization and Innovation Officer, can introduce you to locally available resources such as the FabLab at the Pontio Centre and Richard Fraser-Williams of Busines Cymru to services and resources in the rest of Wales.

One of the ways you can access support is by filling in the form at the end of this article.   You can have up to 30 minutes of my time free of charge.   If I can't give you the answer in that time, I can direct you to someone who can. 

Fill out my online form.

Wales Enterprise Day 2025 - Working with the IPO

Contains public sector information licensed under the OG Licence v3.0.
United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office, Newport

 

Jane Lambert

The United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office provides two important business functions:   

• Administrative:  it registers titles to new inventions, brand indicators and the appearance of products; and 
• Judicial:  it resolves disputes between those claiming such assets.

Using the IPO's services advantageously can make all the difference between steady business growth and corporate failure.

It is because those services are important that the Menai Science Park ("M-SParc")'s contribution to WIPO's global celebration of intellectual property examiners and Wales Enterprise Day will be a seminar on working with the Intellectual Property Office.  It will take place at the science park's premises in Gaerwen and online on 11 Nov 2025.   I announced the event in How to Apply for a UK Patent, Trade Mark or Registered Design on 31 July 2025.   We now have an agenda and confirmed speakers.  

The event will begin at 12:00  with an introduction by Nia Roberts, who will chair the event.  Nia has a lifetime of experience in science, technology and intellectual property, both as a patent attorney and examiner, which she is now sharing as a consultant and non-executive director.  She spent part of her career at the European Patent Office in Munich.

Nia will be followed at 12:10 by Emma Richards, who represents the Intellectual Property Office in the devolved nations.  Emma will introduce the concepts of intellectual property and intellectual assets and explain the difference.  She will talk about registrable and non-registrable rights and how each set of rights may be acquired.   She will outline the Intellectual Property Office's services and discuss the Office's relationship with the World Intellectual Property Organization, the European Patent Office and other national and regional intellectual property offices.

We have invited and are waiting to hear from two distinguished intellectual property practitioners to fill the next two slots.   One will be a patent attorney who is already well known to M-SParc, while the other will be a trade mark attorney.   They will explain their roles and how they can assist businesses in Wales and beyond.   They are expected to speak from 12:30 and 12:50 respectively.  The patent attorney will mention applications under the Patent Cooperation Treaty and the trade mark attorney trade mark applications under the Madrid Protocol, and design registration applications under the Hague Agreement.

The main speakers of the day will be Robin Jones, a recently retired patent examiner, who will speak from 13:10 to 13:30 and a trade mark examiner colleague of Emma Richards, who will speak from 13:30 to 13:50.   They will indicate what they look for in a successful patent or trade mark application and identify any common errors and advise they can be avoided.   Examiners do not often have the chance to speak to the public in this way, so what they have to say will be extremely useful.

If an application goes wrong, an examiner's decision can be challenged in a hearing before an official appointed by the Comptroller-General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks known as a "hearing officer."  Hearing officers also adjudicate in disputes with third parties, such as whether a patent or trade mark should be revoked, oppositions to the registration of trade marks, applications for the invalidity of trade marks and the settlement of terms of licences of right of unregistered design rights.  I will discuss such hearings and further appeals either to the Appointed Person in trade mark or registered design cases or to the High Court between 13:50 and 14:00.

The seminar will close with a reminder of the funding and support that is available for startups and other small and medium enterprises in the UK generally and in Northwest Wales in particular, from Gwenllian Owen, Commercialization and Innovation Officer at M-SPark and partner of Team Mesen,

Anyone who wishes to discuss this article may call me on +44 (0)20 7404 5252 during UK office hours or send me a message through my contact form at any time.

How to Apply for a UK Patent, Trade Mark or Registered Design

 

Jane Lambert

On 24 July 2025, the World Intellectual Property Organization ("WIPO") announced a global celebration of intellectual property examiners on 11 November 2025 and invited everybody to join in.   As that global celebration coincides with Wales Enterprise Day, the Menai Science Park ("M-SParc") will combine the two celebrations with an in-person and online lunchtime seminar on how to apply for a UK patent, trade mark, registered design or plant breeder's right.

The seminar will begin with an introduction to intellectual property and an outline of rights that come into being automatically, such as copyrights and unregistered design rights and rights that have to be registered, such as patents, trade marks and registered designs.   

Applications for patents have to be examined for compliance with the Patents Act 1977 and secondary legislation under that Act.  The officials who carry out such examinations are called "patent examiners".   We plan to introduce the audience to a serving or recently retired patent examiner who will explain his or her role and what he or she looks for in a patent application.

Applications to register trade marks also have to be examined for compliance with the Trade Marks Act 1994 and secondary legislation.   The officials who carry out such examinations are known as "trade mark examiners", not surprisingly.  We shall also introduce a serving or recently retired trade mark examiner who will explain his or her role and what he or she looks for in a trade mark application.  

The procedure for registering designs is different because there is no substantive examination of design applications.  There is therefore no such official as a "design examiner."  However, we will explain the registration process and the steps that need to be taken to avoid expensive proceedings in the Intellectual Property Office's tribunals or the courts should someone challenge the registration.

Applications for plant breeders' rights are very different because they are handled not by the UK Intellectual Property Office but by the Plant Variety Rights Office in Cambridge.  Plant breeders' rights used to be a minority interest among intellectual property practitioners, but climate change and the need to develop new drought or flood-resistant species, as well as the development of viticulture, have increased its importance.   Aberystwyth University Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences is a leading research centre in this area.  We shall invite a representative of the Plant Variety Rights Office to outline the procedure for obtaining plant breeders' rights in this country.

Although it is possible for a business owner or manager to apply successfully for a registered design, trade mark or even a patent, there is a lot that can go wrong with such applications.  It is therefore advisable to instruct a patent attorney to prepare and prosecute a patent application, or a trade mark attorney to prepare and prosecute a trade mark application.   Both patent and trade mark attorneys apply to register designs.  We shall present both a patent attorney and a trade mark attorney to talk about their work and how they resolve examiners' queries and objections.

Sometimes an examiner's objections cannot be overcome, and the matter has to be resolved by an official appointed by the Chief Executive of the Intellectual Property Office known as a "hearing officer."  This is where I come in because barristers often represent parties to disputes with examiners.   Proceedings before hearing officers are less formal than court procedures, but the same rules of evidence and similar rules of procedure apply.   I have written about such hearings in If the examiner says 'no' - ex parte hearings in the Trade Marks Registry on 10 August 2015 in NIPC London.   I shall talk about proceedings before hearing officers and appeals to the courts or the Appointed Person at the seminar.

Although the emphasis will be on applications for patents, trade marks and designs in the United Kingdom, we will also discuss applications for European patents (including unitary patents), European Union trade marks and Community designs and plant breeders' rights and applications for patents, trade marks and designs outside Europe under the Patent Cooperation Treaty, the Madrid Protocol and the Hague Agreement.

Anyone wishing to discuss this article further may call me on 020 7404 5252 during UK office hours or send me a message through my contact form at any time.

M-SParc's Finance and Innovation Conference where all the Speakers happened to be Women

View of Eryri National Park from Ynys Môn

© 2018 Jane Elizabeth Lambert: all rights reserved 

 

Jane Lambert

Towards the end of the Menai Science Park's Finance and Innovation Conference on 18 June 2025, a member of the audience remarked that all the speakers were women.  Emily Roberts, who was holding the floor at the time, thanked the intervener for noticing.  He replied that he was a mathematician and that the chance of all 22 speakers being women was an astronomical number.  I was surprised and had hoped to buttonhole him to ascertain his calculation, but a barbecue and mocktails were about to begin, and we were separated by the throng.  I had also noticed that all the speakers were women at the time of booking, but never gave it a second thought. That was because they were all professionals (many of whom I had known for several years and in some cases worked with) for whom I have the greatest respect.

The science park's mission is to ignite ambition and innovation for a sustainable Wales, and the  Finance and Innovation Conference offered practical guidance on how to achieve such ambition and innovation.  The day started with a keynote speech from communications expert and business angel Barbara Want.  She delivered valuable advice on presentation. She showed us how to take possession of a meeting and warned us against loading slides with text and statistics that are quickly forgotten.  Having listened to an interview while driving to the conference of a former advisor to President Trump who had opined that the President's mixed messages were a sign of his genius, I asked Barbara how that could be.  Mr Trump's utterances indicated confusion and indecisiveness to me.  To my surprise, she said that it was a tactic that had been developed by the framers of Project 2025 to disconcert the opposition. It was clearly effective because Mr Trump had won two presidential elections against the odds.

Barbara's second contribution was the most interesting of the day.  She chaired a panel discussion between solicitor Andrea Knox, graphic designer Catrin Owen, human resources consultant Leah Watkins and Explorage founder Anna Roberts, all of whom had founded businesses or professional practices in Northwest Wales with strong connections to M-SParc.  One of Barbara's first questions to the founders was whether it was right to call them female founders.  That question reminded me of a seminar that I had attended at my alma mater's innovation campus on 15 April 2025, entitled Engaging and Supporting Female Founders, which I mentioned in St Andrews Innovation in NIPC News on 16 Apr 2016.  One of the principal speakers was Simone Korsgaard Jensen, a remarkable recent graduate from St Andrews and UCLA (which happens also to be my graduate school) who joined us by video link from Silicon Valley. Simone had established a company called Stealth, which LinkedIn describes as "building an AI cancer doctor that personalises treatment." She had already raised considerable investment for that company through making a prodigious number of pitches.

It does not surprise me that many successful entrepreneurs are women.  Just before the Business and IP Centre network was formed, I helped to found and chaired inventors clubs at Leeds, Liverpool and Sheffield central libraries.  Most of the members of all those clubs were gentlemen of a certain age, but at each club, there was a young woman with a bright idea for a product that made it to market.  One young mother who was frustrated by her daughter's biting every part of a toothbrush except the bristle invented a toothbrush that was all bristle.  Another who was fed up with walking from a car park to a venue in heels devised disposable footwear that could fit in an evening bag. I do not think it is a coincidence that the most successful member of each of those clubs was female.  It may be that women's social roles encourage the development of transferable time and cost management and other organizational skills.  It would be a good research project for a sociologist.

A major asset of the United Kingdom is the NHS's collection of anonymized patient data. The possession of such data accelerates research in the biotech, pharmaceutical and medical devices industries.  The launch of the North Wales Medical School at Bangor is likely to spawn all kinds of new businesses in life sciences and attract considerable investment into that sector.  For that reason, the panel discussion entitled "Health+" was particularly interesting.  Gwenllian Owen interviewed  Colette Buckley of the Life Sciences Hub Wales, Marie Latham-Jones of the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board and Nia Jewell of Y Pethau Bychain about innovation in health and social care.  In England, there are regional healthcare innovation hubs like Medipex Ltd. in Yorkshire.  As the NHS is a devolved government responsibility, I enquired about the institutional equivalent in Wales.  I learned that there was no direct equivalent, but an IP policy for the Welsh NHS was developing.

The theme of women's enterprise continued with talks by Lucy Bulley and Olaitan Olawande. There was guidance on the available business support from Business Wales, Innovate UK and Big Ideas Wales.  Nia Roberts, an innovation consultant, patent attorney and former examiner with the European Patent Office, who chaired the day's meetings, and Emma Richards of the UK Intellectual Property Office gave comprehensive but succinct advice on intellectual property.  Nicola Sturrs spoke about business and university collaboration through the innovation voucher scheme.   I delivered a seminar on intellectual property law to the teams working on research, innovation, commercialization and partnership support for Bangor University on 23 Feb 2023.  I was very impressed and commend that university (see The Day I Went to Bangor, 24 Feb 2023, NIPC News).  The last panel discussion was between Emily Roberts, Debbie Jones and Sian Lloyd Robertson on M-SParc's contribution to developing skills.

I had attended the conference to learn, renew existing friendships and acquaintances and to make new connections.  However, even though I had no role at the event, I do offer a pro bono initial advice and signposting service to businesses in Northwest Wales throughout the year (see An IP Clinic for M-SParc, 25 Jan 2024).  Several individuals asked my advice on IP matters and I was glad to help.  

Anyone wishing to discuss this article may call me on 020 7404 5252 during office hours or send me a message through my contact form at any time. 

Best World IP Day Ever

Standard YouTube Licence

Jane Lambert

I have had the honour of chairing the Menai Science Park's World Intellectual Property Day celebrations ever since 2019.  These take the form of an in-person and online seminar.  The science park held the first of these seminars just a few weeks after its first anniversary. It continued to celebrate them even during the pandemic.  Every year's celebrations have been bigger and better than the year before. This year's was the biggest and best ever.

Because 26 April fell on a Saturday this year, we held our seminar on Tuesday, 29 April.  The theme of this year's celebrations was IP and music: Feel the beat of IP. There could not have been a better one because music is an art form for which Wales is renowned in every genre and at every level.  

Our first contributor was the Welsh composer, Jack White. Jack had first come to my notice as the composer of the scores for Ballet Cymru's Cinderella and Stuck in the Mud, but his repertoire is much broader than that.  In an abridged recording of my interview with Jack, we discussed his latest work, which is arranging Luck Be A Lady, Waterloo and other songs for choirs.   That led us to When Voices Rise, Jack's prize-winning work for the 40th anniversary celebrations of Manchester Chorale, filmed in St Ann's Church, Manchester, which is my favourite of Jack's works.

Emma Richards, Regional Policy Advisor at the Intellectual Property Office, presented an overview of the legal protection of creativity, enterprise and innovation in the United Kingdom.  She discussed the rights that have to be registered with the Intellectual Property Office, such as patents, trade marks and registered designs and those that come into being automatically when certain conditions are met, such as copyrights and rights in performances.  Copyrights protect the works of composers, songwriters, broadcasters, film makers, recording studios and publishers, while rights in performances protect singers, musicians and other performers from unauthorized filming, taping and broadcasting.

Next came Steffan Thomas of Bangor University Business School.  He had carried out research on the digital distribution of music for small and medium enterprises in niche markets for his doctorate.   He continues to teach and carry out research into digital marketing as Director of Teaching and Learning and Senior Lecturer.  His presentation focused on music copyright in niche, minority language markets.  He discussed the economics of digital distribution of music, which generates surprisingly little for the artists.  

When he was still an undergraduate at Bangor University in the 1970s, Dafydd Roberts was the harpist and flautist in the band Ar Log.  He is still performing in that band now.  However, he has also worked as a director and producer with the BBC before going freelance and establishing his own TV production company.  He was later Chief Executive of Sain Records, chaired the Welsh Music Foundation Board and the Canolfan Gerdd William Matthias and served on the board of Cerdd Cymru. He remains on the board of Eos, the Broadcasting Rights Agency and other bodies and now works as a freelance creative agent, producer and copyright consultant.   By sharing his insight into the music industry as a broadcaster, composer, performer, publisher and recording studio executive, Dafydd supplemented Steffan's presentation on the economics of music distribution and laid a foundation for John Hywel Morris's on collecting societies.

Hywel had also been a composer and musician in Wales and London before joining the PRS for Music. He is now Senior Writer & Publisher Relations Manager, Wales at PRS for Music.  In that role, he acquired considerable knowledge and experience of copyright licensing.  He initiated the first joint licensing of the PRS for Music and PPL (Phonographic Performance Ltd) repertoire.   Hywel discussed the role of collecting societies in Wales and dealings with the English and Welsh medium radio and TV broadcasters.

Liam Kurmos advises clients of Busnes Cymru on artificial intelligence and founder of Astralship.  His talk was entitled Copyright in the Age of Copy-Paste AI but he covered all the legal and business issues that have arisen in this country.  He considered the potential benefits of adopting the technology but acknowledged the practical difficulties of doing so.

Steffan,  Dafydd and Hywel gave their presentations in Welsh while Emma and Liam delivered theirs in English.  This was the first seminar that I had chaired when Welsh was used more than English.   In the Q and A that followed the formal presentations, the panels discussed ways of increasing artists' revenues at a time when most music is distributed digitally.  Live performances before a paying audience and marketing merchandise seemed to be the practical answers.

Credit for the success of this event goes to Gwenllian Owen.  I interviewed Jack White and introduced the speakers, but she did all the rest.   In particular, she identified five excellent speakers from the Welsh music industry and marshalled them in the most effective running order.   I must also thank Iwan Pitts for editing my interview with Jack White and preparing an abridging it for the seminar.

Anyone wishing to discuss this article is welcome to call me on +44 (0)20 7404 5252 or send me a message through my contact form.

M-SParc's World IP Day Celebrations

 

Jane Lambert

World Intellectual Property Day is an international festival of creativity, enterprise and innovation on or around 26 April of every year.  The Menai Science Park ("M-SParc") has celebrated the event every year since 2019.  Information about its previous celebrations can be found on the World Intellectual Property Day portal of this website.

Each year, the festivities revolve around a different theme.  This year's theme is music. I wrote about that topic in World Intellectual Property Day 2025 - IP and Music: Feel the Beat of IP on 28 Dec 2024.  As I noted in that article, "music is an art form in which Wales excels in every genre and at every level."  As in previous years, M-SParc plans to hold a lunchtime seminar to celebrate the event.  As 26 April falls on a weekend this year, the seminar will take place between 12:00 and 14:00 on 29 April 2025.

Gwenllian Owen, M-SParc's Innovation and Commercialization Officer, has put together a great programme of talks which will include contributions from 

• Emma Richards of the Intellectual Property Office on IP strategy, 
• Dr Steffan Thomas of Bangor University Business School on music copyright, 
• Copyright consultant Dafydd Roberts on copyright, publishing and performance. 
• John Hywel Morris of the Performing Right Society on collecting societies, and  
• Liam Kurmos of Busnes Cymru on copyright and artificial intelligence.

I shall chair the event as in previous years.  We have invited a lot of distinguished guests from the performing arts, universities, legal profession in Wales and beyond.  Everybody who attends will have an opportunity to say a few words from the floor.

This promises to be M-SParc's most ambitious celebration of World IP Day yet. If you happen to be in Northwest Wales on the day, you will be welcome to join us in person at M-SParc.  Anyone, anywhere else in the world, can attend by video link.  In either case, click this link and follow the simple registration instructions on the Eventbrite card.

Anyone wishing to discuss this article may call me on +44 (0)20 7404 5252 during the usual UK office hours or send me a message through my contact form at any other time.

Gwynedd Innovation Conference

Lake Bala

Author Necrothesp Licence CC BY-SA 3.0  Source Wikimedia Commons

 

Jane Lambert

Yesterday's Gwynedd Innovation Conference took place at the Gwersyll Yr Urdd Glan-llyn on the banks of Lake Bala (Llyn Tegid), one of the loveliest parts of Wales.  Lakeside communities are rare in the United Kingdom.  I can think of Windermere and Ambleside in England, Pitlochry and Drumnadrochit in Scotland and Enniskillen in Northern Ireland.  They are all special places with an Alpine feel.  Bala is, however, unique because it abuts the largest lake in Wales and some would say the most beautiful.

Gwynedd is a massive county in Northwest Wales which occupies much of the territory of the medieval kingdom of Gwynedd.  The county has excellent secondary schools and a leading research university which have trained a disproportionate number of highly skilled men and women who have pursued glittering careers in business, government, academia, the arts and the learned professions in every part of the world except their own.   With such initiatives as the opening of the Menai Science Park and the Pontio Centre opportunities are opening for the movers and shakers of the region. Moreover, talented folk from outside are making their homes and settling up businesses there.

Yesterday's conference celebrated those developments.  We heard from Jonny Charlton who developed a light carbon tandem that is attracting worldwide attention, filmmaker Asa Bailey whose work has gone viral on YouTube and an executive from Ifor Williams Trailers Ltd., a Corwen company whose products are distributed around the world.  We also heard from representatives of the organizations that have assisted them such as Richard Fraser-Williams of Business Wales, Stella Peace of InnovateUK and others from Gwynedd Council, the Development Bank of Wales, the Welsh Government and Bangor University,

The event was initiated by the Menai Science Park.  It was chaired by the science park's managing director Pryderi ap Rhisiart and we heard from his colleagues Gwenllian Owen, Sion Wynne and Tom Burke,  Tom delivered presentations on tourism technology and agricultural technology both of which are vitally important as tourism and farming are mainstays of the Welsh economy.   They and others who worked on the conference but did not speak deserve many congratulations for their respective contributions to a very successful event.

M-SParc can build on this success.  A lady sitting behind me suggested future activities in places like Dolgellau and other towns in the former county of Meirionnydd, an idea which received an echo of appreciation,   

Anyone wishing to discuss this article may call me on +44 (0)20 7494 5252 during UK business hours or send me a message through my contact form at any time.