A new publishing milestone
Keith Havelock adds a further perspective on CITMA’s new publication
The Second Edition of Michael Edenborough KC’s Contentious Trade Mark Registry Proceedings is a big book in every sense.
As an intended complement to Tom Hooper’s review of the work in the September issue of CITMA Review, your present reviewer writes from the viewpoint of an older practitioner who has known the author and has had the privilege of instructing him professionally on many occasions in the past, over a period of twenty years or more.
In consulting this big new book or even browsing its considerable contents, readers will quickly gain a sense not only of Michael’s great competence and attention to detail, but also his friendly and humorous approach to his subject. He is never glib, but there is a twinkle in his pen and a lightness to his writing.
The feeling will be gained that, with his help, not only will using the book bring great benefit but that it will also be an enjoyable and instructive experience.
One of the many qualities of the book is that, despite its length (some 700 pages), through its smart appearance and bold design, using the familiar blue and white CITMA house style, it has an elegance and lightness of touch that contradicts its density.
The book handles well and sits sturdily yet comfortably on the bookshelf when not in use. It contains ten chapters of detailed information and insight into subjects ranging from Applications and Hearings, to Evidence, Challenging a Decision and Costs.
Added to this are appendices of the names of trade mark forms and of Tribunal Practice Notices as well as a glossary of Latin terms frequently used in legal practice – how often one has struggled with these in the past.
In discussing the earlier edition of the book with the author, your reviewer raised with him the subject of footnotes, proposing the view that these were sometimes irritating in that they diverted attention away from one’s reading of the text and sometimes contained little information of value, whereas the author’s were often both informative and amusing. The author confirmed that he indeed intended that the footnotes in this instance should be interpreted as a sometimes humorous commentary on the main text.
In connection with the preparation of the book, full acknowledgement is given to the many colleagues, both in his own set of chambers (Thomas Elias, Adrian de Froment and Stephanie Wickenden) and outside it, for example in the UK IPO and CITMA, who assisted the author in many respects, as well as the colleague who prepared the book’s index, Niamh Herrett.
As anyone who has ever written a book knows, preparing an index as the last task on an author’s list can be an agonising one, not for the faint-hearted. The book also includes an introduction from CITMA President Rachel Wilkinson-Duffy, as did the earlier edition by one of her predecessors, Kate O’Rourke. The new book is warmly recommended.
Keith Havelock is a former President of CITMA and an Honorary Member. He was a CITMA Council Member from 1972 to 2020 and was Secretary General of ECTA from 2001 to 2011.
