Speech by Lord Justice Birss at the UCL and Intellectual Property Awareness Network event

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Lord Justice Colin Birss, Deputy Head of Civil Justice, gave the keynote speech at the University of College London and Intellectual Property Awareness Network (IPAN) event.

In his speech, entitled ‘Can the IP system serve small businesses better?’, he said: “In its broadest sense intellectual property is doing its job most acutely when it is in a David and Goliath situation.

“After all, if an innovator or a creator had the economic strength to prevent others from pinching their ideas, you would not need intellectual property at all.  The key is the word property.

“The point of a property right is that others do not get to trespass on your property whoever you are. It is still a trespass whether the owner of the property is a prince or a pauper.

“So, what we are discussing here is something of real importance – it is access to justice.”

As well as giving the keynote speech, Lord Justice Birss appeared on a panel at the event, which was live-streamed. A video of his speech can be viewed on YouTube below: