[The IPKat] RESCHEDULED Retromark: the conference – now on 23 June 2026

[Eleonora Rosati]

RESCHEDULED Retromark: the conference – now on 23 June 2026

 Eleonora Rosati Monday, March 16, 2026 - trade marks; Retromark; events; London

RetroKat

The seventh annual Retromark conference has been rescheduled in light of the up-and-coming London Tube strike. If you signed up previously, you will need to do so again as registrations from the previous event do not carry over.

The in-person afternoon of trade mark law and practice hosted by Darren Meale of Simmons & Simmons and the IPKat will now take place on Tuesday 23 June. This year, the keynote speech will be delivered by Gordon Humphreys of the EUIPO Board of Appeal.

Starting at 2pm and finishing with drinks and canapes from 6:15pm at Simmons’ offices in Citypoint, Moorgate, the full line up is below:

14:00-14:30 – Registration

14:30-14:40 – Introduction and welcome (Darren Meale)

14:40-15:40 – Panel 1 – Life after SkyKick – can we still file for whatever we want? (we will consider recent post-SkyKick jurisprudence on bad faith, and look at whether practices have changed or we are all still guilty of the same specification drafting indiscretions)

Moderator: Marisa Broughton, Partner, Simmons & Simmons

Panellists: 

• Dr Jasem Tarawneh, Reader in Commercial and Intellectual Property Law, Queen Mary University of London.
• Charlotte Blythe, Barrister at Hogarth Chambers
• Kemal Tayyareci, IP Counsel at Kingfisher
• Sarah Bailey, Partner, Simmons & Simmons

15:40-16:00 – Unspecified presentation on trade mark things (Darren Meale)

16:00-16:30 – Coffee/tea break

16:30-17:15 – Keynote address: Gordon Humphreys, EUIPO Board of Appeal

17:15-18:15 – Panel 2 – Tired, hungry or intoxicated: the state of mind of the average consumer (we will explore several angles on the reality of the “average consumer” including the Court of Appeal’s characterisation in Morleys, and the post-sale context of Iconix)

Moderator: Darren Meale, Partner, Simmons & Simmons

Panellists: 

• Jennifer Richardson, General Counsel & Company Secretary, Superdry
• Andrea Rossi, Hearing Officer, UKIPO
• Hanna Arnold, Head of Business & Legal Affairs, Brand Protection, BBC
• Amarjit Purewal, Associate Group IP Counsel, Natura & Co

18:15-19:30 – Drinks and canapés

Tickets are strictly limited and available on a first come, first served basis. The event usually sells out, so don’t delay. Tickets are free, but there is again an option to make a donation to charity by purchasing a special ticket – the event will be supporting Bowel Cancer UK once more (please give generously!). If you donated to the original date, no need to donate again unless you really want to!

You can sign up via the new Eventbrite page here.

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