Have a niche time! New inductees to the IP Hall of Fame 2015

The names of this year's five inductees to the IP Hall of Fame have now been announced.  If they were truly famous, readers would all of heard of them already and they'd need no introduction or explanation.  However, with the exception of a few prominent sportsmen, political leaders, stars of screen and stage and syndicated cartoon characters, hardly anyone is so well known that they can be mentioned without some handy form of reference. Even the best-known people on the planet suffer the occasional indignity of being the subject of an inquiry as to their identity, as occurred when British judge James Pickles famously asked an astonished Court: "who are the Beatles?"

In the world of intellectual property, fame is a niche concept. Indeed, for most of thos who inhabit that sphere, fame is a niche within a niche since IP practice has become increasingly specialised by area of legal application and professional calling. So patent people know each other but may not have a clue as to the identity of leading copyright personalities. Likewise, professors of IP can easily name many of their own species but may struggle to name leading practitioners.  Anyway, to cut to the chase, this year's inductees are

• Paul Goldstein: a leading US copyright scholar, lawyer and author, Paul has a truly creative streak. His non-fiction output three novels, the most recent of which received the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction. Of Counsel at Morrison & Foerster, Paul is a professor at Stanford Law School where he has twice been awarded for excellence in teaching. 

• Frederick Mostert: past INTA President and former chief IP counsel of luxury group Richemont, Frederik is an authority on trade mark law whose published oeuvre includes Famous and Well-known Marks - An International Analysis. A research fellow at St Peter’s College, Oxford and guest professor at Peking University, Frederik has also dedicated effort in supporting a charity that takes children from sweat shops and puts them into the educational system.

• Des Ryan: a leading Australian IP lawyer, Des has spent more than 60 years with law firm Davies Collison Cave The recipient of numerous awards for his contribution to IP, including the prestigious Order of Australia in 2001, he is former president of the Institute of Patent Attorneys and of the Licensing Executives Society International. Des has also lectured in IP law at the University of Melbourne and today continues his legal practice in the capacity of consultant to Davies Collison Cave.

• Nikola Tesla: a Serbian-American inventor best known for his contribution to the modern alternating current electricity supply system, Nikola was also instrumental in early developments of radar, x-rays and radio transmissions (the Tesla coil is still used in radio technology today). Upon his arrival in the United States, Nikola worked briefly with his subsequent rival Thomas Edison and later sold a number of patents which were later developed by the Westinghouse Corporation. He died in New York City in 1943 aged 86 [Curiously, notes Merpel, Nikola Tesla's name lives on today through at least two posthumous things: Tesla Motors and OMD's 1984 classic Tesla Girls]. 
• As to the fifth, this moggy couldn't possibly say ...