Business details

  • VAT number: 401902540

Overview

John-Paul joined Chambers in Autumn 2021, after completing pupillage in intellectual property law at 11 South Square. He was on his feet in his first week at Three Stone, successfully striking out a claim brought against his client. This foreshadowed a thriving County Court and High Court practice, in which John-Paul advises and represents clients in a range of commercial chancery disputes.

John-Paul appears regularly in interim applications (including freezing injunctions and Norwich Pharmacal applications), trials and appeals, mediations and round-table negotiations. He advises and represents clients in a range of IP disputes in the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court and Intellectual Property Office and in contentious and transactional media and entertainment matters. He is also building a practice in offshore work, so far in cases based in Jersey and the Cayman Islands.

Before pupillage, John-Paul studied for the Bar while working full time as a paralegal in Cartels at the Competition and Markets Authority. He has an MA (with Distinction) in the history of political thought, with a focus on Roman political and juridical thought and the thirteenth century digest of English law, known as Bracton. He obtained this while maintaining busy practices as an academic tutor and freelance copywriter for artists and brands around the world.

John-Paul is an experienced rock climber and mountaineer. Before his studies, he worked as an outdoor instructor in Eryri (Snowdonia), Wales, and continues to climb across Europe. He is a passionate guitarist and has restored two vintage Fender valve amplifiers, learning plenty about electrical engineering along the way. He dreams of designing and building his own amplifier.

Cases

Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment

Matthew Shaw v Excalibur Furniture Limited
John-Paul represented the Defendant from pleadings through to trial in this IPEC small claim for copyright infringement in 11 images. John-Paul took points on ownership in the Defence and cross examined the Claimant on the same. He succeeded in having the claim dismissed on the basis that the Claimant did not own the copyrights.

John-Paul argued for and obtained a rare costs order against the Claimant, on the grounds of unreasonable behaviour. John-Paul teed up the arguments by advising on and drafting pre-trial correspondence which grounded his submissions on costs.

Sheroze Nadeem v Wasime Patel, Mubarack Issa, Centurion Traders Limited and Hana Design Limited (IP 2023 000017)
John-Paul acted for each of the four Defendants in this trade mark and passing off claim. It concerned the use of the sign “V2” in relation to clothing. The Claimant’s passing off case was curious: he claimed to own goodwill in the V2 sign based on his father’s use of it in the early 2000s, through a limited company which was wound up in 2006 as part of a carousel fraud. John-Paul drafted the Defence and Counterclaim for revocation of the trade mark. He advised on and drafted a successful application to transfer up from the IPEC small claims track to the IPEC multi track. John-Paul drafted applications for strike out/ summary judgment and appeared as sole counsel before HHJ Hacon, securing judgment, an order for the revocation of the trade mark and a generous costs order for his clients.

WKA Worldwide K. Actionsports GmBH and Klaus Nonnemacher v Paul Ingram
The Claimants had obtained costs orders in Germany arising from trade mark litigation in the German courts and EU IPO. John-Paul appeared for the Defendant in the English Courts and was successful in obtaining a stay of execution on the basis of cross claims in Germany.

IPO Opposition O/0041/23 – EPIC RIDER and EPIC EQUESTRIAN
John-Paul drafted the written submissions for the successful Defendant in opposition proceedings, based on 5(1), (2) and (3) of the Trade Marks Act 1994.

 

As a pupil:

Kelly-Marie Smith v Kesi Dryden & Ors [2021] EWHC 2277 (IPEC)
John-Paul assisted Hugo Cuddigan QC for the Claimant at the trial of her copyright action against members of Rudimental.

Claire Stone v Alexandra Wenman [2021] EWHC 2546 (IPEC)
John-Paul assisted Christopher Hall in the settling of evidence for the successful Defendant in this trade mark action.

Facebook Ireland Limited v Voxer IP LLC [2021] EWHC 1377 (Pat)
John-Paul assisted Brian Nicholson QC and Christopher Hall for the Defendants in this trial to determine whether the Defendant’s patent was valid and whether Facebook’s instant messaging service had infringed it.

Original Beauty Technology & ors v Oh Polly & ors [2021] EWHC 294 (Ch)
John-Paul assisted Chris Aikens in the Defendants’ case from trial through to the damages inquiry.

 

Commercial and Insolvency:

The National Bank of Ras Al Khaimah (P.S.C) v John Bamidele Adetiba
John-Paul represented the UAE Bank in this appeal, successfully overturning the County Court’s decision to refuse summary judgment.

Windrush Alliance UK Community Interest Company v Fothergill and others
Led by Ian Mayes KC, John-Paul represented the Claimant in a trial to determine the identity of the Company’s lawful directors. They faced and successfully defeated no fewer than eight pre-trial applications by the various Defendants and obtained a resounding victory on the claim. John-Paul appeared as sole counsel in consequential hearings and in a subsequent bankruptcy action brought against one of the Defendants, in which John-Paul obtained a bankruptcy order.

RS Online Distributors Ltd v CK Morgan Ltd
John-Paul obtained summary judgment against the Defendant in this ‘pandemic case’ about whether or not the Defendant’s sale of face masks complied with the relevant law. This involved argument about the EU Regulations on Personal Protective Equipment and national guidance on the relaxation of those regulations during the Pandemic.

Collins (Contractors) Ltd v Evergreen Marine (UK) Ltd HT-2022-000376
John-Paul drafted pleadings and a summary judgment application on behalf of the Claimant in this adjudication enforcement claim, worth circa £350,000. The parties settled in the days leading up to the hearing. 

Symark Building Contractors Romsey Ltd (in Liquidation) v Trevor Holmes and Ors CR-2022-002116
John-Paul represented the liquidators in their claim for preference, transactions at an undervalue and misfeasance against company directors. John-Paul secured debarring orders and costs orders against the defendants which allowed for a favourable settlement on the eve of the liquidators’ application for summary judgment.

Education

  • BA in International Relations, Queen Mary, University of London (First Class, second in year group)
  • MA in History of Political Thought and Intellectual History (Distinction)
  • GDL, University of Law, London
  • BPTC with LLM in Legal Practice, University of Law, London (Distinction)

Awards

  • Princess Royal Scholarship 2016 (Inner Temple)
  • Major Exhibition Scholarship 2017 (Inner Temple)
  • GDL award 2016 (University of Law)
  • BPTC award 2017 (University of Law)
  • Best Dissertation Award, for paper graded 93% (Queen Mary, University of London 2016)
  • Draper’s Company Prize for Outstanding Academic Achievement (Queen Mary, University of London 2016)
  • Exemplary Essay (Queen Mary, University of London 2015)
  • Sir Henry Brooke Essay Prize (Society for Computers and Law 2017)

Publications

Personal Interests

Playing the guitar, rock climbing, mountaineering.