LINCOLNS' INN DECEMBER 6TH 2007
"I am Not British, On The Contrary"
On 6th December 2007, Mr Justice Floyd presided over a festive gathering of TIPLO members and their guests at the Old Hall, Lincoln’s Inn. As is want for this time of festive cheer,the TIPLO Christmas Meeting was an opportunity for the Christmas spirit to permeate the subject of IP Law & in this vein we could have wished for no more than the evenings speaker.
We were fortunate to have Cliff Kennedy, from MacLachlan & Donaldson of Dublin, as our guest speaker. As if this wasn't enough, we also had the inaugural performance of the acclaimed(!) TIPLO singers.
 
The singers favoured us with the first public rendition of some entertaining and only mildly actionable IP-oriented lyrics, sung to tunes which most of us know better as Christmas carols. Sadly, the audience failed to join in as requested – probably due to a shortage of song-sheets, or as we like to think, they were just overcome with the talent & beauty of the performance.
Mr Justice Floyd then introduced: “A speech of a slightly alternative nature from the celebrated Irish trade mark attorney, raconteur and wag, Mr. Cliff Kennedy”
Cliff immediately rejected some of the current more negative (and gender specific) connotations of the term “WAG”, and questioned whether “celebrated” was a typo for “celibate”. He then proceeded to entertain us with a string of anecdotes from his thirty tears experience as a patent attorney, describing some of the changes in the Irish branch of the profession over this time, with discursions into the differences between English and Irish practices (both patent and social). He also included a number of serious thoughts on relations between the countries.
  
A verbatim report would be inappropriate (not to say impossible), and further report is therefore limited to the highly selective recall of a few highlights.
   
Now, in case you haven’t guessed by my accent I am Irish or in the words of that great Irish playwright, Samuel Beckett “I am not British. On the contrary”.
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When I was first shown to my room at MacLachlan’s, in March 1978, there was an empty desk with just the Trade Marks Act, 1963 sitting on it. Looking back on that day it was a unique occasion for 3 reasons:
It’s the first and only time I have ever arrived for work before 9;
it was the only time I’ve ever had a clear desk; and
it was the only time I ever read the Act – there was no choice: - it was either that or die of boredom.
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I asked a couple of English colleagues what English people associate with Ireland. The first thing they all mentioned was our perceived love of the potato - they seem to have forgotten that the potato famine in Ireland was over 160 years ago and the potato is not important to us anymore– in fact we now import from Cyprus more potatoes than we grow ourselves
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Another thing is that Ireland remains a deeply religious country. The two main denominations are "us" and "them", and in the unlikely event you are asked which group you belong to, the correct answer is:” I’m an atheist, thank God". Then change the subject.
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From the Irish point of view, the English frequently call Irish people British when it suits them. For instance when Richard Harris was nominated for an Oscar in 1990, the Daily Mail proudly proclaimed “British actor nominated for Oscar” - but a few weeks later when Harris was evicted from a pub it carried the headline “Irish actor in drunken pub brawl”.
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2008 will mark the 10th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement which in the long run effectively ended 900 years of politically motivated conflict in Ireland. So if Samuel Beckett were alive today, I hope he would say “I am not British. On the contrary, they are our best friends” - and so it should be.
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Cliff closed with what he claimed to be an old Irish blessing:
May those who love you, love you;
And those that don't love you, may God turn their hearts;
And if He doesn't turn their hearts may He turn their ankles,
So you'll know them by their limping
At the completion of his speech, Cliff very wisely did not ask for questions from the audience, and the evening concluded as usual with members networking (well – it sounds better than carousing).
   
Synopsis kindly written by:
Christopher Hyatt
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