Sir Robert Raphael Hayim "Robin" Jacob, PC (born 26 April 1941) is a former judge in the

Court of Appeal of England and Wales The Court of Appeal (formally "His Majesty's Court of Appeal in England", commonly cited as "CA", "EWCA" or "CoA") is the highest court within the Senior Courts of England and Wales, and second in the legal system of England and Wales only to ...

Personal life

Jacob's father was Sir Jack Jacob, a Senior Master of the High Court who is well-known for editing the White Book on

civil procedure Civil procedure is the body of law that sets out the rules and standards that courts follow when adjudicating civil lawsuits (as opposed to procedures in criminal law matters). These rules govern how a lawsuit or case may be commenced; what kin ...

in the UK.

Education and professional career

He read Natural Sciences (physics) at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

(1960-1963) and law at the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is a public university, public research university located in London, England and a constituent college of the federal University of London. Founded in 1895 by Fabian Society members Sidn ...

(1963-1967). He was called to the bar by

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and W ...

in 1965 (Treasurer 2007). From 1976 to 1981, he was the Junior Counsel for the Comptroller of Patents and for Government departments in intellectual property. He took

silk Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the ...

in 1981. In 1993, he was appointed a High Court judge (a designated Patent Judge) and to the Court of Appeal in 2003. His primary area of expertise is intellectual property rights. He was admitted to the IP Hall of Fame in 2006. He was awarded the Outstanding Achievement in IP award by MIP in 2012. The position he held before includes member of the Scientific and Advisory Board of the European Patent Office and the European Commission’s Expert Group on the development and implications of patent law in the field of biotechnology and genetic engineering. He is the President of the Intellectual Property Judges’ Association (the association of European IP, particularly patent, judges) and the Chairman of the Advisory Board concerning appointment and training of Judges to the Preparatory Committee for the Unified Patent Court (and also a member of the Committee’s Expert Panel). He retired from the Court of Appeal in March 2011 (acknowledged in a valedictory address before a court-room packed with well-wishers) to take up his current position as the Sir Hugh Laddie Chair in Intellectual Property Law at th
Institute of Brand and Innovation Law (IBIL)

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

. However, in accordance wit
section 9
of the

Senior Courts Act 1981 The Senior Courts Act 1981 (c.54), originally named the Supreme Court Act 1981, is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Act prescribes the structure and jurisdictions of the Senior Courts of England and Wales (previously known as ...

, he has continued on occasion since that date to sit as a judge in the High Court and the Court of Appeal until April 2015. Jacob is currently a

door tenant A door tenant is a barrister who has been granted permission to join a set of chambers and work with them from premises outside the chambers themselves.Anna Williams (ed), ''Chambers Student Guide to the Legal Profession'' (London: Chambers and Pa ...

at 8 New Square Chambers. In 2018, Jacob took up the post of a Justice at the

Astana International Financial Centre The Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) is a financial hub in Astana, Kazakhstan that officially launched on July 5, 2018. On 20 May 2015, the President of Republic of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev announced the “100 Concrete Steps ...

in the capital of Kazakhstan.

Selected cases in which Jacob appeared as counsel

* Interlego AG v Tyco Industries (Hong Kong) 988UKPC 3 - in which he successfully argued that designs for Lego's bricks were not protected by copyright * Smith Kline & French Laboratories v Evans Medical 9891 FSR 561 - in which it was held that private acts can infringe upon a patent if they are done for commercial purposes * Lux Traffic Controls v Pike Signals

993 Year 993 ( CMXCIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Spring – The 12-year-old King Otto III gives the Sword of Saints Cosmas and Damian ...

RPC 107 - it was held that a prototype tested publicly such that an observer would be able be to figure out how it worked would be disclosed, and thus constitute prior art

Judgments

High Court

* Henry Brothers (Magherafelt) Ltd v Ministry of Defence

997 Year 997 (Roman numerals, CMXCVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Japan * 1 February: Empress Teishi gives birth to Princess Shushi - she is the first ...

RPC 693 - concerning a patent for a prefabricated blast-proof building designed for use in Northern Ireland during

the Troubles The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an " ...

*
Mars UK v Teknowledge
'

999 999 or triple nine most often refers to: * 999 (emergency telephone number), a telephone number for the emergency services in several countries * 999 (number), an integer * AD 999, a year * 999 BC, a year Books * ''999'' (anthology) or ''999: T ...

EWHC 226 (Pat) - where he held that the mere fact of encryption will not make information confidential for the purposes of the action for

breach of confidence The tort of breach of confidence is, in United States law, a common law tort that protects private information that is conveyed in confidence. A claim for breach of confidence typically requires the information to be of a confidential nature, whi ...

Court of Appeal

*'' Walton v Independent Living Organisation''

003 003, O03, 0O3, OO3 may refer to: *003, fictional British 00 Agent *003, former emergency telephone number for the Norwegian ambulance service (until 1986) *1990 OO3, the asteroid 6131 Towen * OO3 gauge model railway *''O03 (O2)'' and other related ...

EWCA Civ 199,

ICR 688,

IRLR 469 -

UK labour law United Kingdom labour law regulates the relations between workers, employers and trade unions. People at work in the UK can rely upon a minimum charter of employment rights, which are found in Acts of Parliament, Regulations, common law and equit ...

, regarding the

National Minimum Wage Act 1998 The National Minimum Wage Act 1998 creates a minimum wage across the United Kingdom.. E McGaughey, ''A Casebook on Labour Law'' (Hart 2019) ch 6(1) From 1 April 2022 this was £9.50 for people age 23 and over, £9.18 for 21- to 22-year-olds, £6 ...

*
Reed Executive Plc & Anor v Reed Business Information Ltd & Ors
'

004 004, 0O4, O04, OO4 may refer to: * 004, fictional British 00 Agent * 0O4, Corning Municipal Airport (California) * O04, the Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation * Abdul Haq Wasiq, Guantanamo detainee 004 * Junkers Jumo 004 turbojet engine * Lauda Ai ...

EWCA Civ 159 - UK

trademark law A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from othe ...

, on the test of confusion *
Hyperion Records v Dr Lionel Sawkins
'

005 ''005'' is a 1981 arcade game by Sega. They advertised it as the first of their RasterScan Convert-a-Game series, designed so that it could be changed into another game in minutes "at a substantial savings". It is one of the first examples of a ...

EWCA Civ 565 - concerning copyright in unfinished works by Lalande that had been completed by the claimant *
IDA v University of Southampton
'

006 Alec Trevelyan (006) is a fictional character and the main antagonist in the 1995 James Bond film '' GoldenEye'', the first film to feature actor Pierce Brosnan as Bond. Trevelyan is portrayed by actor Sean Bean. The likeness of Bean as Ale ...

EWCA Civ 145 - concerning a patent for a cockroach trap *
Pozzoli SPA v BDMO SA and others
' 007FSR 37 - he set out the prevailing test for

inventive step The inventive step and non-obviousness reflect a general patentability requirement present in most patent laws, according to which an invention should be sufficiently inventive—i.e., non-obvious—in order to be patented. In other words, " henon ...

, reformulating the test set out by Oliver LJ in the ''

Windsurfing Windsurfing is a wind propelled water sport that is a combination of sailing and surfing. It is also referred to as "sailboarding" and "boardsailing", and emerged in the late 1960s from the aerospace and surf culture of California. Windsurfing ga ...

'' case *'' Aerotel Ltd v Telco Holdings Ltd'' 007RPC 7 - UK patent law, regarding the excluded subject-matter (software) in the UK patent law *
European Central Bank v Document Security Systems
' 007EWCA Civ 192 - notable for the graphical illustration of the importance of consistency in interpreting patent claims in relation to validity and infringement:

... Professor Mario Franzosi likens a patentee to an
Angora cat Angora may refer to: Places *Angora, the historic name of Ankara, the capital city of Turkey *Angora, Philadelphia **Angora (SEPTA station), a commuter rail station * Angora, Minnesota * Angora Township, Minnesota *Angora, Nebraska *Angora Lake ...
. When validity is challenged, the patentee says his patent is very small: the cat with its fur smoothed down, cuddly and sleepy. But when the patentee goes on the attack, the fur bristles, the cat is twice the size with teeth bared and eyes ablaze.

*
Procter & Gamble Co v Reckitt Benckiser (UK) Ltd
' 007EWCA Civ 936 - UK design law

Publications

A Guidebook to Intellectual Property: Patents, Trade Marks, Copyright and Designs (6th edn, 2013)

"Is IP out of control?" (2020) 15(2) ''Journal of Intellectual Property Law and Practice'' 98

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jacob, Robin 1941 births Academics of University College London 20th-century English judges Knights Bachelor Living people Lords Justices of Appeal Members of Gray's Inn Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Alumni of the London School of Economics Honorary Fellows of the London School of Economics Governors of the London School of Economics 21st-century English judges