Background:

Intellectual property (IP) is so often seen just as a legal issue, but it is fundamentally a business matter. At its core, IP represents valuable assets that can drive a company’s growth, innovation, and competitive advantage. Businesses leverage IP, such as patents, trademarks, copyrights, designs, and trade secrets, to create unique products, protect brand identity, and generate revenue streams through licensing, sales, or strategic partnerships.

Managing IP effectively involves aligning it with the company’s overall business strategy, identifying opportunities to capitalise on it, and assessing risks related to infringement or loss of exclusivity. While legal expertise is crucial for securing and enforcing IP rights, the strategic management of IP requires a business-focused approach. Companies must view IP as a key component of their business model, ensuring it contributes to long-term profitability and market positioning, rather than merely a legal requirement to be managed by IP specialists.

Design law expert Nick Kounoupias founder of Kounoupias IP and ACID Chief Counsel together with Dids Macdonald OBE., Chairman and Co-founder of Anti Copying in Design (ACID) will share their experiences within the context of Design’s importance to the UK economy.

Speakers:

Dids Macdonald OBE has over 35 years’ experience within the design sector and co-founded ACID (Anti Copying in Design) because her products were consistently copied. ACID represents many UK designers and campaigns for design law reforms, most notably the introduction of criminal provisions for the intentional infringement of a registered design enshrined in the 2014 IP Act. Dids is passionate about helping micro and SMEs protect their valuable IP via education and awareness and helping them create a proactive IP Strategy.

Dids is an Honorary Fellow of the British Institute of Interior Design (BIID) and in 2015 was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her services to the design industry. In 2016 she was admitted to the Design Week Hall of Fame and the first to be awarded the Alliance British IP Day Champion. She is currently Vice-Chair of the Alliance for Intellectual Property, a UK-based coalition of 19 trade associations and enforcement organisations with an interest in ensuring intellectual property rights receive the protection they need and deserve. She is on the Steering Board for the Design Council Design Economy. In May 2019 she was installed as Master of the Worshipful Furniture Makers Company and is still actively involved as a Past Master. In June 2022 Dids received Honorary Fellowship of the Society of Designer Craftsmen. She is also very proud to have received the UK 2022 Enterprise Innovation Legal Advisor Award. On 2024 International Women’s Day, she was included in the 100 PowerList of Trade Association leaders and received the Interiors publication annual Lifetime Achievement Award in July 2024.

Nick Kounoupias is one of the best known names in the International IP world, practising as an IP solicitor across all IP sectors inhouse and privately since 1986. Nick has been Chief Counsel for Anti Copying in Design (ACID) since 2008, advising the organisation on the intellectual property aspects of design lobbying issues. In 2020 he was appointed as a Director of ACID. In 2014 he, together with ACID’s CEO Dids Macdonald, OBE, led the successful campaign on behalf of UK designers to recognise the intentional copying of registered designs as a criminal offence.

Nick is also the founder and CEO of Kounoupias IP and is also a fully accredited mediator.

He successfully lobbied for and helped draft the Copyright and Trade Mark (Offences and Enforcement) Act 2002 and the IP Act. In recognition of his contribution to the design industries Nick was appointed a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Furniture Makers and a Freeman of the City of London.