Iain Colville

Iain specialises in the following:

• The protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights including:
• Infringement of design rights and registered designs
• Trade mark infringement and passing off claims
• Copyright infringement
• Patent infringement
• Misuse of confidential information
• Technology disputes including:
• Disputes over the ownership of software
• Disputes between website designers and their customers
• Disputes over the supply, installation and performance of software and hardware systems, acting both for suppliers and purchasers
• Disputes over sponsored link schemes such as Google Adwords
• Domain name disputes
• Competition law advice including
• Advice to parties subject to an OFT investigation
• Acting in an appeal to the Competition Appeal Tribunal
• Iain also acts in commercial litigation involving intellectual property rights and advises on pensions disputes.  He also has particular expertise in costs and funding litigation effectively.

Recent cases of note include:

• Successful settlement of trade mark infringement proceedings involving vehicle wheels from major automotive supplier (2011);
• Advising upon copyright ownership of software developed for a major retailer (2011);
• Advising on patent and unregistered design rights in sales information display device (2011);
• Successful resolution of trade mark infringement allegation relating to merchandise for prominent children’s TV show (2011);
• Successful resolution of artistic copyright infringement claim where ex- employee went freelance, taking former employers’ works (2010);
• Successful settlement of nestable shopping trolley patent infringement (2010);
• Successful settlement of door hinge patent dispute and related design infringement proceedings (2010);
• Advised upon trade mark infringement claim over merchandise linked to prominent Fox TV show (2010);
• Belfairs Management Limited v Sutherland & another - £2m shareholder dispute concerning the company's ability to perform a large public sector IT contract (3 week trial in Chancery Division, 2010);
• Advised on copyright issues in relation to polar explorer’s memoirs (2010);
• Advised sporting body on intellectual property and competition issues (2010);
• Advised on numerous unregistered design right claims for major lighting manufacturer (2010);
• Advised on copyright infringement and ownership disputes involving website content and meta tags;
• Meridian International Services Limited v Richardson & others - a dispute over copyright in financial forecasting software written for a division of GlaxoSmithKline (Chancery Division 2007, Court of Appeal 2008);
• Successful settlement of various claims involving unlicensed and counterfeit Microsoft software;
• Lighthousecarrwood Limited v Luckett - Chancery Division trial successfully struck out on 4th day of trial (2007);
• Apex Asphalt and Paving Co. Limited v Office of Fair Trading (Competition Appeal Tribunal, 2005).

Iain has delivered a number of training seminars to different audiences, including members of a trade organisation. He has also written articles on intellectual property, one recently being published in the IED’s Engineering Designer magazine.

Background

Interests

Interests include gadgets, computers, family and faith - but not necessarily in that order!