Join LES B&I and Steven Webb for a webinar on “Fun and Games – inside a video games developer” on 28th January! Steven is the General Counsel and Company Secretary of Sumo Group plc, one of the UK’s largest providers of end-to-end creative development and co-development services to the video games industry. Video game sales are reported to be greater than the film and music industries combined, reached $159 billion in 2020 (up over 9% from 2019) and are forecast to be over $200 billion by 2023. Some of the largest companies in the world top the video game sales charts – Tencent, Sony, Apple, Microsoft, Google and Amazon – and Sumo counts them all as clients. Only launched in 2003, Sumo has grown rapidly and was listed on the AIM market in December 2017 (when Steven joined the business). In the following three years, the business has nearly trebled in terms of number of people and expanded geographically within and outside the UK. Starting life as a “work for hire” developer providing extra capacity for other developers and game publishers for certain sections of a game’s development, success led to being given entire responsibility for full projects. More recently, Sumo has created its own games – notably Spyder and Little Orpheus, both published on Apple Arcade. As a young and fast-growing sector, there have been significant industry shifts – from console to mobile; premium to free to play and now subscription models from the likes of Google and Apple. Sumo’s evolving business model, in a dynamic industry and based on creative works gives rise to a number of different intellectual property considerations that Steven will describe in this session. LES Members – Free Non Members – £25 We are thrilled to announce that the 2020 Annual Conference will take place virtually on Tuesday, 3rd November. Join LES B&I for their virtual Annual Conference featuring invited panellists and a Q&A session to discuss how to position your company for investment. Issues to be covered: -What does a venture capitalist look for when prospecting investment? Identifying the key areas to set up your business for investment. -What to expect when contracting with regulated organisations. Becoming prepared for signing major agreements. Understanding the contractual landscape and setting up your business to ensure compliance. -IP ownership and positioning for investment. Identifying and protecting your company’s core IP assets and maximising them for investment. Speakers: Phil Hall and Craig Allan Megan Briggs and Paul Scullion View the Programme here
“An Introduction to Intangible Asset (IA) and IP Valuation – deploying valuation to help drive business value & make good business decisions“ Join LES B&I and their IA Management & IP Valuation Committee for a webinar featuring invited panellists and a Q&A session. Speakers: –Dr Fernando Da Cruz Vasconcellos -Dr André Gorius, PhD -Janet Knowles Questions to be covered: – What is Valuation and how can one use it to make better business decisions? – What is the difference between Company and IP valuations? Which methods are most common for each case? – What are some of the main purposes that valuations are used for? If you want to raise investment, licence IP, acquire/sell IP, transfer ownership of the IP to a holding company, or issuing management incentive schemes based on growth shares and IP: how should one approach valuation for each of these cases? What are tips that one should consider. – How can you use IP valuations to help determine value and use it to negotiate licensing transactions? In this context, how do valuation experts respond to the question: how much should I charge for this licence? What is a reasonable royalty rate for this transaction? How important is performing a valuation to define a licence agreement? – How is valuation used when spinning out technology? – How is valuation used at the Corporate level? – Who does this sort of work? – It sounds expensive. How much does a valuation typically cost? Is it affordable for start-up companies and SMEs? LES Members – Free Non Members – £25 In anticipation of the LES100 Training Course later this year (November 2020), our Young Members’ Co-Chairs have organised a lunchtime webinar that aims to answer your questions on the licensing of intellectual property (IP). The webinar also follows the recent publication of the IP Licensing Business Briefing by LESI, which was co-authored by Alfred Chaouat, Adam Coughlin, Eszter Szakács and Anke Nestler. This publication, as well as the associated business briefings on IP Valuation and IP Management, can be found at: https://www.lesi.org/publications/business-briefings. A panel of experts from a range of fields has been assembled, and they will be tasked with answering questions submitted by attendees on all areas of licensing. Our question is: what do you want to know about IP licensing? The session is aimed at: -SMEs and entrepreneurs wanting an introduction to licensing IP; -people who are new to, or considering a career in, licensing; -businesses seeking guidance on identifying IP assets, and exploiting/monetising IP assets; -practitioners (patent attorneys, trade mark attorneys and lawyers) looking to build upon their licensing knowledge; and -students interested in learning the basics of IP and how commercialisation through licensing works. What will the webinar cover? When you have confirmed your attendance at the event, please send the questions you would like to ask to les@northernnetworking.co.uk (for the attention of Rose Smalley and Adam Coughlin) by 1 July 2020. Panelists: -Dr Kevin Nachtrab -Dr Hayley French -Colin Hunsley -Simon Chalkley Read more about the panelists here. LES Members – Free Non Members – £40 Join us for a seminar discussing the latest trends in the legal industry. Our expert speakers will examine hot topics and provide practical, easy-to-digest, guidance. The seminar will cover a range of areas, including the world of IP insurance, brand collaborations, global patent trends, the copyright implications of the Cofemel case and a quick round-up of recent contractual case law. Speakers: LES Member – £35 LES Member Guest – £55 Non Member – £100 It is said that data is the new currency of the information society but how do you make it pay? There is no specific EU legislation that regulates ownership of data and currently no real consensus on how to regulate it; different industry sectors have different views how to do this. In terms of unlocking data’s potential, a planned and formal data strategy is important. In this panel session we will explore some of the strategies companies are using to successfully exploit data and discuss the legal and commercial aspects of an effective data strategy; compliance, contracts and collaboration – the three Cs. Please do join us for what is likely to be a lively discussion led by a team of expert panellists! Panellists: Cerys Wyn Davies – Partner, Pinsent Masons (Moderator) Cameron Ross Dunne – Director of IP Management, Openet Dr Alison Orr – Business Development Manager, Inngot Mark Marfé – Senior Associate, Pinsent Masons View the Full Programme here. LES Member – €20 LES Member Guest – €20 Non Member – €40 We are thrilled to offer a discount to Non Members wanting to join LES! Please contact the LES B&I Admin Office to receive €20 off your 2020 membership! London Evening Seminar Chris Ryan was the instructing solicitor in the case of Shanks v. Unilever before the Supreme Court acting for the former employee in Unilever’s research department who successfully argued that he was entitled to compensation as a result of the invention he had devised while in their employ. Chris will provide knowledge and experience gained from working on the claimant’s legal team in this interesting and seminal case which resulted in the Supreme Court overturning judgments of all of the earlier courts and tribunals. Chris will also opine on the subsequent legislative changes. The case received general as well as specialist media attention – even being commented upon in Private Eye and the Victoria Darbyshire Show. LES Member – £30 LES Member Guest – £40 Non Member – £50 Fireside Chat: The Twelve Days of Christmas… LES B&I and One Nucleus‘ Fireside Chat “The Twelve Days of Christmas…” will be looking at the most interesting legal decisions and developments that impact on life sciences businesses over the past year. The event will be followed by LES B&I’s Annual Christmas Drinks at Jamies Tudor Street from 6:30pm onwards. The first one is on us! The event, which will be held in Dublin on 4-5 November 2019, provides a platform for high-growth technology enterprises and others in their innovation ecosystem to learn about business strategy and IP management. An international team of experienced practitioners will share best practices on how to leverage patents for business success. Panel discussions and breakout sessions will also be offered for two conference tracks: business and intellectual property. Both tracks will also be reflected in the training day format, where experts will offer workshops for smaller groups of participants. In addition, individual coaching will be available in the form of IP clinics. Click here to read more and register. We are delighted to welcome André Gorius, former Intellectual Assets Valorisation Director, Solvay (France), to speak. André is Chair of the LES International IP Valuation Committee with a wealth of practical experience and knowledge in IP valuation. In this seminar, André will exemplify with his corporate experience on how making the right choices in IP management helps determine and draw the best value out of IP in multinational enterprises through best practices, in agreement with OECD guidelines.Register online
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Epidarex
NatWest Group
Burness PaullClick to register online
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IA Director, Valuation Consulting
Independent Consultant
Partner, HGF LawRegister online
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That is up to you! Submit your questions in advance of the webinar, and (once moderated) the panel will hopefully address all of the questions asked.
Senior IP Attorney, Johnson & Johnson
Chief Executive Officer, Apitope International
Director, Inspired Licensing
Commercial IP Lawyer and Partner, Keystone LawRegister online
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POSTPONED
NEW DATE TO BE ANNOUNCED SHORTLY
Catriona will provide a global overview of the latest patent trends.
Abbie will take a look at the growing trend of brand collaborations, including: the benefits and pitfalls; thinking “outside the box”; and the key to making successful partnerships.
Sara will highlight the key ‘take home’ messages from the COFEMEL decision and consider how developments in the law may impact existing and future licensing transactions involving subject matter which, pre recent CJEU case law, have previously been considered only to be protected by registered and unregistered design rights.
(must register with LES Member)Click to register online
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(must register with LES Member)Speaker: Chris Ryan, Formerly Head of IP at Norton Rose Fulbright
(must register with LES Member)
For information on older events please contact the admin office by email les@northernnetworking.co.uk