Sir Robert Raphael Hayim Jacob, PC (born 26 April 1941), known as Robin Jacob, is a former

judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

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 regulations along with some standards that courts follow when adjudicating civil lawsuits (as opposed to procedures in criminal law matters). These rules govern how a lawsuit or ca ...

in the UK.

Education and professional career

He read Natural Sciences (physics) at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, 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 ...

(1960-1963) and law at the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

(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 Wale ...

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 fiber, natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be weaving, woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is most commonly produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoon (silk), c ...

in 1981. In 1993, he was appointed a High Court judge (a designated Patent Judge) and to the

Court of Appeal An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to Hearing (law), hear a Legal case, case upon appeal from a trial court or other ...

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 The Unified Patent Court (UPC) is a common Supranational law, supranational patent court of 18 member states of the European Union, which opened on 1 June 2023. It hears cases regarding patent infringement, infringement and revocation proceeding ...

(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 University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

. 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 know ...

, 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. The Constitutional Statute "On the Astana International Financial Centre" approved on 7 December 2015 provides a ...

in the capital of Kazakhstan.

Selected cases in which Jacob appeared as counsel

* Interlego AG v Tyco Industries (Hong Kong)

988 Year 988 ( CMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Fall – Emperor Basil II, supported by a contingent of 6,000 Varangians (the future Varangian Guard), organiz ...

UKPC 3 - in which he successfully argued that designs for

Lego Lego (, ; ; stylised as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys manufactured by the Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. Lego consists of variously coloured interlocking plastic bricks made of acrylonitri ...

's bricks were not protected by copyright * Smith Kline & French Laboratories v Evans Medical

989 Year 989 ( CMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Emperor Basil II uses his contingent of 6,000 Varangians to help him defeat Bardas Phokas (the Younger), who suffe ...

1 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 of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Spring – The 12-year-old King Otto III gives the Sword of Saints Cosmas and Damian (also known as the Sword of Essen) as ...

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 ( CMXCVII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Japan * 1 February: Empress Teishi gives birth to Princess Shushi - she is the first child of the emperor, but because of the power stru ...

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

the Troubles The Troubles () were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted for about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it began in the late 1960s and is usually deemed t ...

*
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 Media Books * 999 (anthology), ''99 ...

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 Kingdom law and the United States law, a common-law tort that protects private information conveyed in confidence. A claim for breach of confidence typically requires the information to be of a co ...

Court of Appeal

*''

Walton v Independent Living Organisation ''Walton v Independent Living Organisation'' 003EWCA Civ 199is a UK labour law case regarding the National Minimum Wage Act 1998. Facts Miss Julie Walton was a care worker, who looked after Miss E Jones, who had epilepsy but was a relatively ea ...

003 003, O03, 0O3, OO3 may refer to: * 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 blood type alleles in the AB ...

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 have a minimum set of employment rights, from Acts of Parliament, Regulations, common law and equity (legal concept), equity. ...

, regarding the

National Minimum Wage Act 1998 The National Minimum Wage Act 1998 (c. 39) creates a minimum wage across the United Kingdom.. E McGaughey, ''A Casebook on Labour Law'' (Hart 2019) ch 6(1) From 1 April 2025, the minimum wage is £12.21 per hour for people aged 21 and over, £10. ...

*
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 * La ...

EWCA Civ 159 - UK

trademark law A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a form of intellectual property that consists of a word, phrase, symbol, design, or a combination that identifies a product or service from a particular source and distinguishes it from ot ...

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

005 ''005'' (pronounced "''double-o five''") is a 1981 arcade video 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. ...

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 is a fictional character who is the main antagonist in the 1995 James Bond film ''GoldenEye,'' portrayed by actor Sean Bean. Bean's likeness was also used as the model for Alec Trevelyan in the 1997 video game '' GoldenEye 007' ...

EWCA Civ 145 - concerning a patent for a cockroach trap *
Pozzoli SPA v BDMO SA and others
'

007 The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

FSR 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 Californian aerospace and surf culture. Windsurfing gain ...

'' case *'' Aerotel Ltd v Telco Holdings Ltd''

RPC 7 - UK patent law, regarding the excluded subject-matter (software) in the UK patent law *
European Central Bank v Document Security Systems
'

EWCA 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 The Turkish Angora (, 'Ankara cat') is a breed of domestic cat. Turkish Angoras are one of the ancient, natural breeds of cat, having originated in central Anatolia ( Ankara Province in modern-day Turkey). The breed has been documented as ear ...
. 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
'

EWCA 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 Lord 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