The 2014 Francis Gurry Lecture on Intellectual Property will be delivered by Dr Jeremy Phillips, on the topic “IP in transition: desperately seeking the Big Picture”.

Jeremy Phillips is a Professorial Fellow at Queen Mary, University of London; a consultant to London-based firm Olswang LLP; the founder of a number of highly successful IP magazines and journals, including Managing Intellectual Property; and the force behind the notorious “IPKat” weblog.

In the face of accelerating changes in the make-up of the world’s economic, cultural and political structure, IP rights face a stress-test. Pulled back into the past by legislative intent and judicial precedent, they are propelled forwards by new technologies, increasingly specialised laws and creative business structures. And they are subject to the constants of the need for justice, the requirement of legal predictability and the demand of due process.  Is there a Big Picture: a vision that can be shared by legislators, IP owners and their lawyers and attorneys?  If so, what does it look like?

Dr Phillips will provide his answers to these questions in the Lecture, to be presented in:

• Melbourne: 12 November, 6:15pm – Melbourne Law School, 185 Pelham St, Carlton
• Sydney: 17 November, 6:15pm – Wesley Conference Centre, 220 Pitt St, Sydney
• Brisbane: 18 November, 12:30pm – Fisher Adams Kelly, Level 29, 12 Creek St, Brisbane

Registration for the Lecture, which is free to attend, can be made by clicking the link on the relevant city above.