The first Irish meeting of the Patent Scholars Network was hosted in Maynooth University on 20th and 21st June 2019. The network was established by Dr Aisling McMahon (Maynooth University), Dr Naomi Hawkins (Exeter University) and Dr Karen Walsh (Exeter University) in 2019. The network brings together patent law scholars and practitioners based in the UK and Ireland.
The June meeting hosted leading patent law scholars and practitioners working in the UK and Ireland over two days of works-in-progress papers and discussions on contemporary patent law issues. Speakers and commentators included: Dr Mike Adcock (Durham University); Dr Lawrence Cullen, Deputy Director, UK Intellectual Property Office; Dr David Doyle (Maynooth University); Louise Hatherhall (Bristol University); Dr Naomi Hawkins (Exeter University); Dr Bronwen Jones (Newcastle University); Dr Cliona Kelly (UCD); Dr Phoebe Li (University of Sussex); Dr John Liddicoat (Cambridge University); Dr Aisling McMahon (Maynooth University); Dr Ella O’Sullivan (Waterford Institute of Technology); Dr Justine Pila (Oxford University); Dr Alison Slade (Leicester University); Prof Paul Torremans (Nottingham University); and Dr Karen Walsh (Exeter University). The event was also attended by patent law practitioners and students.
The Maynooth Patent Scholars Network event was generously supported by the Department of Law (Maynooth University) and Maynooth University’s Conference and Workshop Fund.
The June meeting follows on from the inaugural network meeting hosted by Exeter Law School in April 2019. These two initial meetings of the network, in Exeter and Maynooth, have served as an opportunity to shape the network, but also as a means to begin the work of the network to foster excellent scholarship and to build stronger connections between scholars working in patent law in the UK and Ireland. The network has attracted considerable interest and the organisers aim to expand and continue the network in future years with annual meetings in Ireland and the UK. With this in mind, the organisers (Dr McMahon, Dr Hawkins and Dr Walsh) have successfully secured funding from the Society of Legal Scholars to help support two future network meetings in Maynooth and Exeter in 2020.
For further information on the network, please contact: aisling.mcmahon@mu.ie