Dance and Diplomacy: Britain's IP Attaché to China will visit Northern Ballet

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Ever since Northern Ballet moved from West Park to Quarry Hill I have been looking for an opportunity to introduce the company to my connections in intellectual property (see Ballet and Intellectual Property - my Excuse for reviewing "Beauty and the Beast" IP Yorkshire 31 Dec 2011).

The opportunity arose when Mr Tom Duke, our IP attaché in Beijing, asked me to recommend a venue for a talk that he plans to give in Leeds on 19 Sept to business owners and their professional advisers entitled Succeeding in China - Mitigating the IP Risk. I could think of no better place than Northern Ballet' boardroom in its premises at Quarry Hill.

I suggested that venue for several reasons.

First, the building is magnificent, one of the finest new structures in the city. The view of Leeds from the boardroom is breathtaking.

Secondly, Northern Ballet creates a lot of intellectual assets such as choreography, costumes, musical scores, performances, properties and set designs which are protected by copyrights, rights in performances and unregistered design rights and the Northern Ballet brand is a valuable trade mark for all kinds of merchandise. The company performs regularly in China where it uses all those intellectual assets. It, therefore, exemplifies the topic of Mr Duke's talk.

The third reason for my suggestion is that letting fees and catering services are a source of revenue for the company. It helps to fund dazzling new productions.

Finally, I hope that some of the business owners, lawyers, patent and trade mark attorneys and other professionals may be tempted to return for a show at the Stanley and Audrey Burton Theatre or even a class at the Academy which I am sure they would enjoy enormously.

If any of my readers would like to attend the talk on 19 Sept it is free. Give me a ring on 020 7404 5252 or send me a message through my contact form.  The event starts at 09:30 with registration and networking.  Mr Duke will deliver his speech at 10:00. I will also speak briefly about the things you should do here before you leave for China. There will be opportunities for one-to-one discussions with all sorts of business and professional advisors. The event will end at midday so that Mr Duke can grab some lunch before his next appointment in Barnsley.

I have also written about the event in NIPC News and IP Yorkshire if anybody is interested.

23 July 2017	Jane Lambert	IP Rights in China	NIPC News
21 July 2017	Jane Lambert	Meet our IP Attaché to China	IP Yorks

Happy World Intellectual Property Day

Today is World Intellectual Property Day and I wish everybody in the dance world a happy World Intellectual Property Day, "Thank you very much" I hear you say "but what's that got to do with me or dance?"

Well everything actually. If you are a dancer you are a performer and performers have the exclusive right to object to the filming, taping or broadcasting of their performances. That's why someone tells the audience to switch off their mobiles and that filming and recording is not allowed just before the curtain rises.

The same goes for the orchestra in the pit or the maestro with his baton.

If you are a choreographer your work is protected against unlicensed performance or copying for the rest of your life plus 70 years. The same for your libretto if you are the dramaturge, your score if you are the composer, your backdrop if you are the artist who painted it and so on.

The sets and costumes may be protected from unlicensed reproduction by unregistered design right or even unregistered Community design.

If you are the Artistic Director or in charge of the company's business you should think about registering the company's name and logo as trade marks if you want to sell branded goods like T-shrts and ballet bags. You make a lot of money from doing that sort of thing.

I've written a lot of stuff about IP and ballet over the years.  Here are some of them:

• Ballet as a Brand? How to bring More Money into Dance for Companies and Dancers 13 March 2014
• Protecting the Brand 31 March 2014
• Branding and Ballet - Licensing the Brand 14 April 2014
• Branding and Ballet - Copyright and Rights in Performances 3 My 2014
• Inventions for the Ballet 29 May 2014
• Intellectual Property and Ballet 20 April 2013
• Oh dear I am beginning to sound like a lawyer 8 April 2015