Chambers has been at the forefront of copyright law for well over half a century. Members of chambers are the authors of the leading international copyright textbook “the Modern Law of Copyright and Designs” and have been for over 50 years.
We regularly appear across all UK courts, from the Copyright Tribunal to the Supreme Court, and have experience in acting in related disputes regarding rights of jurisdiction and extra-territoriality. Members regularly appeared in the CJEU on copyright and related matters.
Members of chambers frequently act for rights holders and defendants in disputes regarding the unauthorised use of music, film & television and sports broadcasts.
We have a long history of dealing with high profile copyright cases. Members have acted for various musicians in disputes over joint authorship, copying of songs and licencing, including the Sheeran v Chokri matter (about the hit song “Shape of You”), Moylett v Geldof & anr (“I Don’t Like Mondays”) and Fisher v Brooker (about the song “Whiter Shade of Pale”). Chambers also works with film makers, writers and television & film production companies in relation to format and wider IP rights.
We have a longstanding expertise in literary and publishing cases having worked, for example, on Pasternak v Prescott – a dispute relating to the best-selling novel – The Secrets we Kept; Baigent v Random House Group (the Da Vinci Code case) and Allen v Bloomsbury and JK Rowling (relating to copyright in the Harry Potter books). Several members of Chambers also acted on both sides of the 2021 dispute between The Duchess of Sussex v Associated Newspapers.
Our experience in artistic copyright covers the entire range of fine and applied arts, from the fashion and textile industries to works of architecture and designs for video games. We frequently act for high street and online retailers including Marks & Spencer, French Connection and ASOS.
Further, we frequently act in cases involving copyright in computer software and online infringements of copyright. Members were involved in the seminal SAS v World Programming case relating to the protectability of the functionality of software and more recently on the IBM v LZLabs matter in the TCC and PQ Systems v Jeff Aughton in the High Court.