The IPM Awards 2011

This member of the IPKat team put in an appearance last night at Intellectual Property Magazine's 2011 Awards ceremony, which was held in the sumptuous premises of the Grand Connaught, Great Queen Street, a stone's-throw from London's ever-fashionable Covent Garden.  It was lovely to meet some of the short-listed nominees for this year's garlands and to catch up on news from colleagues from around the world.

Since most readers are probably more interested in who won than in anything else, the Kat will cut to the chase.  The winners were as follows:

• Copyright law firm of the year: Berwin Leighton Paisner
• Trade mark law firm of the year: Grau & Angulo
• Patent law firm of the year: Allen & Overy
• IP law firm of the year in an emerging market: Remfry & Sagar
• IP Law firm of the year: Allen & Overy
• Domain name/online strategy of the year: Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton for the Namealizer, a domain name evaluation tool
• Outstanding IP portfolio management/development in business: Lupin Pharmaceuticals
• Innovative IP strategy design or execution: Allied Security Trust
• Young IP lawyer or executive of the year: Christopher Stothers (Arnold & Porter)
• IP lawyer/executive of the year: Anna-Lena Wolfe (Tetra Pak)
• CEO of the year: Fran Nevrkla from PPL.and Allied Security Trust’s Daniel M McCurdy.

In congratulating all of the winners, this Kat would also like to say some encouraging things about those who were short-listed but did not succeed: on the whole, the standard of the nominations was remarkably high and really impressive. Without divulging any state secrets, he can say that every one of the award categories was keenly contested, which was why the adjudication meeting was so long and arduous. He was particularly impressed by all the entries for Young IP Lawyer/Executive, each of whom would not have been out of place on the list of entries for [old] IP Lawyer/Executive.

In the course of discussion, some very interesting issues arose. For example, in the 'IP law firm of the year in an emerging market' category, should there be separate classes for firms originating in those markets and those which, as international or at least multinational practices, have been able to focus their resources and their expertise into those same markets? Different skills and mind-sets are demanded in each case and different challenges are faced. Also, how does one compare and contrast the IP portfolio management tasks faced by (i) corporations with massive proprietary IP which they must protect, monitor, enforce and monetarise, and (ii) corporations with slender IP assets of their own, operating in markets where others hold the rights and where survival depends on dodging between the raindrops by not infringing, on taking favourable licences where necessary and on successfully challenging the scope or validity of third party rights if need be.

The trainee's first seat at a
ground-breaking law firm ...

As well as his words of praise and comfort for all those who made it to the short-list, this Kat, wearing his judicial hat, also has a little constructive suggestion which, he hopes, will improve the quality of next year's submissions.  First, he noted that not all entrants -- even those short-listed -- kept as close as they might have done to the informational requirements with which they were asked to comply. This made the task of judging harder for the judges, who try to compare like with like as closely as possible when the requested data is provided. Secondly, he respectfully reminds those who are drafting the submissions that there is a fine line between honestly listing one's fine achievements and, for want of a better term, self-praise. Finally, he earnestly hopes that the firms in practice will soon quit the building construction industry and get back to the law. Almost all of them this year appear to spend their time doing work which is "ground-breaking" or at least "laying the foundations" ...