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This year marks 10 years of IP Inclusive. To celebrate, IP professionals recently gathered in London and online for an afternoon of insightful discussion.

IP Inclusive brings together people from across the IP sector in pursuit of a common goal: to promote and improve equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) and wellbeing within our community. By way of reflecting on the past 10 years, attendees were treated to a sneak peek of IP Inclusive’s Impact Report 2025.

This reiterated the value the organisation brings to the sector, with more than 77% of individual respondents agreeing or strongly agreeing that they personally value and/or have been impacted by IP Inclusive’s work on EDI and wellbeing.

Andrea Brewster, IP Inclusive's Lead Executive Officer, concluded the event by looking to the future: “We say that IP Inclusive is an umbrella people can collaborate under. But it’s not really an umbrella, it’s the people – it’s you. We’ve done great things in the first 10 years and I’m really proud of all we’ve achieved together.”

She added: “I face the next 10 years with a little trepidation, but with a commitment to carry on, and I hope you’re all still with me. We’ll be here for as long as you want us.”

Find out more at citma.org.uk/ipinclusive10

Photography: Carys Bello

Remembering Esmond Hitchcock

Esmond Antony Hitchcock (1948–2025)

Esmond Hitchcock, who has died at the age of 76, was a member of CITMA and CIPA and was born in North London. After schooling in Highgate and Hampstead, including some enthusiastic rugby participation (always in the front row!), early discovery of motorbikes and some entrepreneurial ventures in his teenage years, Esmond studied engineering at Woolwich College. 

Esmond joined Lloyd Wise (as it then was) straight out of college and later became a partner of the firm. He helped to grow the fledgling Hong Kong office for two years from 1985. His stay in Hong Kong included extensive travel for business, a part of his practice that was exceptionally successful and never stopped. 

Esmond qualified as a Patent Attorney as well as a Trade Mark Attorney and greatly enjoyed practising in both areas throughout his career. He worked for many local clients, as well as on overseas mandates, often for large multinationals. His skill and acumen were widely admired, and clients never left. Esmond had great attention to detail and a very precise memory – a skill admired by his clients and for which he was held in awe by his staff. 

In 1997, Lloyd Wise merged with McNeight & Lawrence in Stockport, following first contact in a trade mark dispute in which Esmond and the McNeight & Lawrence partners were on different sides. 

When the Lloyd Wise firm merged with Marks & Clerk in 2007, Esmond became a partner of the combined firm.  

To this day, his kind nature and professional skill are fondly remembered by everybody he worked with, as is his dedication to the best ideals of partnership.

Esmond was a founder member of Hammersmith and Fulham Rugby Club, organising tours in the UK as well as abroad. The friendships created there lasted throughout his life. Rugby was not the only sport Esmond loved. He was a member of Moor Park Golf Club and played for various golfing societies in England and Scotland. Frequent golf tours with them, often in Spain, Portugal and Scotland, were organised. Esmond was vigorous on the squash court, a skilled snooker player and fond of late-night poker games. He loved to play bridge – in person or, later, online – and drive his Panther. 

Esmond married Kaye Walls – a physiotherapist he met following a sports injury – in 1991. They had two children, Megan and Lorna. Esmond doted on his family, not least the grandson that followed more recently. Following retirement, Esmond and his wife bought a house in Deal and enjoyed many a visit to the town and its golf course, often hosting friends. Esmond volunteered for the Prince’s Trust, as it then was, for over a decade, helping young entrepreneurs starting their professional lives. 

Above all, though, Esmond was a great listener and had many friends. He was a reliable and very valued sounding board for many ideas, a confidante for the concerned, a builder of many bridges – a true man of the people.

Images: Shutterstock.com

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