Bwyd y Ddraig

Standard YouTube Licence

Jane Lambert

Over the last few days, the Menai Science Park ("M-SParc") has been featuring on LinkedIn members of the panel who will take part in the Den Y Dreigiau investment pitching event at the science park on 27 Nov 2025 between 18:00 and 21:00.  They are an impressive bunch of people, but also impressive is the chef who will provide her award winning food between 19:45 and 20:30.

That chef is none other than Gita Mistry, winner of Britain's Best Home Cook.  Gita is no stranger to M-SParc, having taken part in many of its events over the years. She has cooked at many great restaurants, including Philippe Gaertner's "Aux Armes de France" in Ammerschwihr (where she was featured on French television and the regional press), Vivek Singh's "Cinamon Club" and Atul Kochhar's "Banares" (the first Indian restaurant to win a Michelin star).  

She has received rave reviews from the food critics. Jay Rayner said she was Britain's best Indian cook while The Times described her food as "better than sex."

She has been commissioned to cook in Miami, Vienna, Gdansk, London and many other locations in this country and around the world. Folks who have worked with her and eaten her food include Stephen Fry, Michael Palin and the film producer, Steve Abbott.  She also writes and lectures on food at such venues as the British Library and is a regular attender at the Oxford Food Conference.  Gita's testimonial book, which will be on display at M-SParc, contains many famous names.  You can add yours if you are inspired to do so which I am sure she will appreciate.

Gita's contribution to the pitching event is particularly appropriate because she is an entrepreneur herself.  When still a schoolgirl, she set up an outside catering business under the brand name "Enjoy a Gita Mistry Curry in the Comfort of Your Home."   That is a brand that she still uses.   She has served as a Yorkshire Patron along with Archbishop Sentamu and the late test cricket umpire Dickie Bird. 

I first met Gita when she attended one of my Initial Advice and Signposting Clinics in Bradford, which is very similar to the one I hold in Gaerwen. She is well aware of the importance of intellectual property for brand protection, revenue generation and attracting investment.   If you are looking for investment, don't be surprised if you hear a very searching question from the kitchen on Thursday night.

Anyone wishing to discuss this article can call me during office hours or send me a message through my contact form at any other time.

Wales Enterprise Day 2025

Market Day 1910

Author Sydney Curnow Vosper  Licence Public Domain Source Wikimedia

 

Jane Lambert

As this year's Wales Enterprise Day coincided with the WIPO's Global Celebration of IP Examiners, M-SParc (the Menai Science Park) decided to celebrate both days with a lunchtime seminar on working with the United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office ("IPO") and the World Intellectual Property Office ("WIPO").  The seminar was chaired by Nia Roberts and organized by Gwenllian Owen.  I was one of the speakers.  The others were Joe Foote, Sean Thomas and Robin Rhys Jones.

Joe is a partner of HarriFoote IP.  He spoke to us about trade marks.   He is also a New Zealander and he explained to a predominantly Welsh audience what is meant by word, figurative and text and figurative marks by reference to the registrations held by his nation's rugby team, the "All Blacks".  He discussed the trade mark application process from taking a client's instructions, searching for prior registrations and prior rights, drafting a specification and lodging it with the Registry.  He outlined some of the possible obstacles, such as objections from examiners under s.3 of the Trade Marks Act 1994 or oppositions by third parties under s.5.  Lastly, he explained how he uses the Madrid Protocol to apply for registrations outside the UK.  The Madrid Protocol is one of the treaties administered by WIPO.

Sean spoke next about patents.  He explained their advantages over other intellectual property rights.   He discussed the conditions for the grant of a patent and outlined the application procedure from taking a client's instructions to receiving the certificate of grant.  He warned of possible objections to the application from examiners and third parties before grant and revocation proceedings afterwards.   Finally, he discussed applications for patents in other countries through the Patent Cooperation Treaty, which is another international agreement administered by the WIPO.

Until recently, Robin Rhys Jones had worked for the IPO as a patent examiner.  He mentioned the educational qualifications to become a patent attorney and various highlights from his career as an examiner.   He explained how an examiner would analyse an application to understand the invention and described the reporting and searching processes if he believed the invention to be patentable.  He delivered a large portion of his contribution in Welsh.  After his talk, I asked him whether he had any tips for patent applicants or their agents.  He replied that they should avoid filing specifications with a multiplicity of overlapping and unnecessary claims.

I told the audience that as a barrister, I do not prosecute patent, trade mark or registered design applications.  I advise patent and trade mark attorneys on difficult points of law, draft complex legal instruments and appear as an advocate in proceedings before hearing officers appointed by the Comptroller-General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks who is known as "the Comptroller" in patent and unregistered design cases and "the Registrar" in trade mark and registered design cases.  

I said that hearing officers hear disputes between examiners and applicants for patents or trade marks known as "ex parte" proceedings and also disputes between businesses and individuals, known as "inter partes" disputes.  Some inter partes disputes arise before grant, such as "entitlement disputes" in patents or oppositions in trade marks.  Others take place after grant, such as applications for the revocation and declarations of non-infringement for patents, applications for declarations of invalidity and revocation of trade marks, cancellation of design registrations and settlement of the terms of unregistered designs.  I pointed out that costs in proceedings before hearing officers are on a fixed scale and much cheaper than litigation in the civil courts. 

I also mentioned two other important dispute resolution services that are provided by the IPO.  Examiners offer non-binding opinions on whether a patent is valid ot whether it has been infringed for just £200, which is a fraction of the costs of opinions from patent counsel or senior solicitors or patent attorneys on such matters. Examiners usually have the advantage of representations and evidence from both sides, which a lawyer may not.  The other useful dispute resolution service offered by the IPO is online or in-person mediation at its offices in Newport or elsewhere by agreement.  The service is provided by CEDR trained patent attorneys at a fraction of the cost of many competing services.

I pointed out that the WIPO provides an even wider range of IP dispute resolution services.  In addition to mediation, it offers arbitration, expedited arbitration and expert determination on modest fixed fees.   It is also the leading domain name dispute resolution service provider for most generic and many country code domain name disputes, including those in the ".cymru" and ".wales" domains (see Jane Lambert Welsh Top Level Domain Names, 12 April 2019).  I should add that I am on WIPO's panel of neutrals, which includes arbitrators and mediators as well as domain name dispute resolution panellists.

The discussion on dispute resolution prompted Nia to remark that entrepreneurs often shy away from seeking or enforcing legal protection for their brands, designs, technology or creativity because they believe that the cost of IP advice is prohibitive.  She pointed to the information on the IPO website.  Emma Richards, who had been in the online audience, suggested the IPO's training courses.  Other useful websites include the WIPO, the European Patent Office, Google Patent, the British Library's and many other sites, including this one.   I suggested that the links should be consolidated on an M-SParc or other portal. 

M-SParc is an important resource in its own right, and its next event that I will attend is Den Y Dreigiau pitching event in conjunction with Global Welsh on 27 Nov 2025 at 18:00.  The catering will be provided by the leading chef, Gita Mitry, winner of BBC TV's Eating with the Enemy. guest chex Aux Armes de France and many other great eateries, food blogger and commentator.  Yesterday I learned about the meat from a new breed of sheep that has been introduced to the United Kingdom on Anglesey. I also met the manager of the restaurant who will host the event.  This promises to be a very popular event.

Anyone wishing to discuss this article may call me on +44 (0)20 7404 5252 during office hours or send me a message through my contact page.

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 a speaker who will introduce the concepts of intellectual property and intellectual assets and explain the difference.  He or she will talk about registrable and non-registrable rights and how each set of rights may be acquired.   The speaker 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 specialist in examination procedure 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.