Robin Jacob

The former senior patent judge in the UK and one of the rare IP judicial experts in Europe. Sir Robin Jacob’s judgments are highly influential in the European arena. His major achievement as a judge in the English courts has been to streamline procedures in patent cases. This has resulted in a considerable acceleration of the procedure and a reduction in the cost. He has therefore helped to maintain the English courts as among the top IP courts in Europe, if not the world. Sir Robin once famously condemned his colleagues by stating that if one could bring all the experienced patent judges together, they would fit in a minibus. At the same time, he highlighted the political and economic folly of not having a centralised IP court system in Europe. More recently, he has stepped outside his usual judicial cloak and lobbied actively for the European Patent Litigation Agreement, which would centralise patent litigation for 1.6 million active patents in Europe. Diplomatically, on this occasion, he lobbied together with slightly more colleagues than would fit in a minibus. Sir Robin left the Court of Appeal for England and Wales in May 2011 to join University College London’s Faculty of Laws.