Intellectual Property

An Oral History

Laddie, Hugh

Education
Aldenham School; St Catharine’s College, University of Cambridge

Call to the Bar
Middle Temple (1969); QC (1986)

Chambers
Francis Taylor Building

Pupils
Deborah Fosbrook

Cases
Cassou’s Patent [1970] FSR 433
Bugges Insecticide Ltd v Herbon Ltd [1971] FSR 284
Regina Glass Fibre Ltd v Werner Schuller [1971] FSR 353
Granada Group Ltd v Ford Motor Co Ltd[1972] FSR 103
Church of Scientology of California v Kaufman[1972] FSR 591
George Hensher Ltd v Restawile Upholstery (Lancs) Ltd [1972] FSR 557
Lerose Ltd v Hawick Jersey International Ltd [1973] FSR 15
George Hensher Ltd v Restawile Upholstery (Lancs) Ltd[1973] FSR 477
Baylis & Co (Maidenhead Advertiser) Ltd v Darlenko Ltd[1974] FSR 284
Computervision Corp v Computer Vision Ltd [1974] FSR 206
George Hensher Ltd v Restawile Upholstery (Lancs) Ltd [1974] FSR 173
EMI Ltd v Kishorilal N Pandit [1975] FSR 111
Radley Gowns Ltd v Costas Spyrou [1975] FSR 455
Landi den Hartog NV v Sea Bird (Clean Air Fuel Systems) Ltd [1975] FSR 502
Slick Brands (Clothing) Ltd v Jollybird Ltd [1975] FSR 470
EI Du Pont de Nemours Co (Dahlstrom and Bunting’s) Patent [1975] FSR 559
Tetra Molectric Ltd v Japan Imports Ltd [1976] RPC 541
Stauffer Chemical Co’s Application[1976] FSR 303
Universal City Studios Inc v Mukhtar & Sons[1976] FSR 252
Landi den Hartog BV v Sea Bird (Clean Air Fuel Systems) Ltd [1976] FSR 489
Anton Piller KG v Manufacturing Processes Limited [1976] FSR 129
EMI Ltd v Sarwar and Haidar [1977] FSR 146
Roussel-Uclaf v GD Searle & Co Ltd (No.1) [1977] FSR 125
Morrish’s Patent [1977] FSR 429
Globe Industries Corp’s Patent [1977] RPC 563
Hayashibara Co’s Patent [1977] FSR 582
General Electric Co Ltd (Cox’s) Patent [1977] RPC 421
LB Holliday & Co Ltd’s Application [1978] RPC 27
TORBOGAZ Trade Mark [1978] RPC 206
BALI Trade Mark (No. 2) [1978] FSR 193
Corruplast v George Harrison (Agencies) [1978] RPC 761
Island Records Ltd v Corkindale [1978] FSR 505
Roussel-Uclaf v GD Searle & Co Ltd (No.2) [1978] RPC 747
Elanco Products Ltd v Mandops (Agrochemical Specialists) Ltd [1979] FSR 46
Centri-Spray Corp v Cera International Ltd [1979] FSR 175
Tiefebrun’s Application [1979] FSR 97
SCM Corp’s Application [1979] RPC 341
Rexnord Inc v Rollerchain Distributors Ltd [1979] FSR 119
Belegging-en Exploitatiemaatschapij Lavender BV v Witten Industrial Diamonds Ltd [1979] FSR 59
Powerscreen International Ltd v J Finlay (Engineering) Ltd and Sure Equipment Ltd [1979] FSR 108
Norprint Ltd v SPJ Labels Ltd [1979] FSR 126
Metric Resources Corp v Leasemetrix Ltd [1979] FSR. 571
British Leyland Motor Corp Ltd v Wyatt Interpart Co Ltd (No.2)[1979] FSR 583
British Leyland Motor Corp Ltd v TI Silencers Ltd [1979] FSR 591
British Leyland Motor Corp Ltd v Wyatt Interpart Co Ltd (No.1) [1979] FSR 39
Ravenscroft v Herbert [1980] RPC 193
Rank Film Distributors Ltd v Video Information Centre[1980] FSR 242
DA VINCI Trade Marks [1980] RPC 237
British Leyland Motor Corp Ltd v TI Silencers Ltd [1981] FSR 213
Compagnie Francaise de Television v Thorn Consumer Electronics Ltd [1981] FSR 306
CBS Inc v Ames Records & Tapes Ltd [1981] RPC 407
Rank Film Distributors Ltd v Video Information Centre [1981] FSR 363
Extrude Hone Corp v Heathway Machine Sales Ltd [1981] 3 C.M.L.R. 379
Imasa Ltd v Technic Inc [1981] FSR 554
Kevi A/S v Suspa-Verein (UK) [1982] RPC 173
Extrude Hone Corp’s Patent [1982] RPC 361
PREDATOR Trade Mark [1982] RPC 387
Fletcher Sutcliffe Wild Ltd v Burch [1982] FSR 64
Agfa-Gevaert AG (Engelsmann) Application [1982] RPC 441
Energy Conversion Devices Incorporated’s Applications [1982] FSR 544
British Leyland Motor Corp v Armstrong Patents Co Ltd [1982] FSR 481
Hollister Inc’s Application [1983] RPC 10
British Leyland Motor Corp Ltd v Armstrong Patents Co Ltd [1983] FSR 50
Glatts’ Patent Application [1983] RPC 122
Protoned BV’s Application[1983] FSR 110
Coditel SA v Cine Vog Films SA (262/81) [1983] FSR 148
Wistar Institute’s Application [1983] RPC 255
Unilever Ltd’s Patent Application (Davis’s)[1983] RPC 219
Tomy Kogyo Co Inc’s Design Applications[1983] RPC 207
On Tat Bakelite Electric and Metal Works’ Design Application [1983] RPC 297
Adidas SARL’s Trade Mark [1983] RPC 262
Wellcome Foundation Ltd’s Two Patent Applications [1983] RPC 200
HAVE A BREAK Trade Mark [1983] RPC 217
Weir Pumps Ltd v CML Pumps Ltd[1984] FSR 33
Lebelson’s Application[1984] RPC 136
General Electric Co’s Amendment Application [1984] RPC 311
Mutoh Industry Ltd’s Application [1984] RPC 35
OHI Seisakusho Co Ltd’s Application [1984] RPC 219
Cement and Concrete Association’s Patent[1984] RPC 131
Aisin Seiki KK’s Application [1984] RPC 191
Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co Ltd’s Application [1984] RPC 471
NETWORK 90 Trade Mark [1984] RPC 549
Daido Kogyo KK’s Patent [1984] RPC 97
Anheuser-Busch Inc v Budejovicky Budvar NP [1984] FSR 413
British Leyland Motor Corp Ltd v Armstrong Patents Co Ltd[1984] FSR 591
Armaturjonsson AB’s Application [1985] RPC 213
M’s Application [1985] RPC 249
Dukhovskoi’s Applications [1985] RPC 8
Parker Knoll Plc v Knoll Overseas Ltd[1985] FSR 349
B&R Relays Ltd’s Application [1985] RPC 1
Thermo Technic Ltd’s Application [1985] RPC 109
Payne’s Patent Application [1985] RPC 193
VISA Trade Mark [1985] RPC 323
Coca-Cola Co’s Applications, Re [1985] FSR 315
Mill’s Application, Re[1985] RPC 339
Beecham Group Plc v Gist-Brocades NV [1985] FSR 379
John Wyeth & Brother Ltd’s Application [1985] RPC 545
Allen & Hanburys Ltd v Generics (UK) Ltd (No.1) [1985] FSR 610
L’Oreal’s Application [1986] RPC 19
Chinoin’s Application [1986] RPC 39
Ogawa Chemical Industries’ Applications[1986] RPC 63
Amstrad Consumer Electronics Plc v British Phonographic Industry Ltd [1986] FSR 159
Coal Industry (Patents) Application, Re [1986] RPC 57
Kiwi Coders Corp’s Application [1986] RPC 106
Allen & Hanburys Ltd v Generics (UK) Ltd (No.2) [1986] RPC 203
Beecham Group Plc v Gist-Brocades NV [1986] 1 WLR 51
British Leyland Motor Corp Ltd v Armstrong Patents Co Ltd [1986] FSR 221
C Van der Lely’s Application [1987] RPC 61
Application des Gaz’s Application[1987] RPC 279
Masuda’s Application [1987] RPC 37
Further References
H Laddie and A Walton The Patent Law of Europe and the United Kingdom (Butterworths, 1978)
H Laddie, P Prescott and M Vitoria The Modern Law of Copyright and Designs (Butterworths, 1980)

Laddie, Hugh

UPPA/Photoshot

"My pupil master: Hugh Laddie" by Deborah Fosbrook

View transcript here
Deborah Fosbrook: Hugh Laddie was very much a family man, he was not particularly tall, a bit taller than me and not much more. He wasn’t skinny, he was – he liked his tea and cakes and everything. But he was a very, very family oriented man, he would talk about his wife and his kids. That they were booking a holiday to go to Florida. His whole focus outside of his work was his family, so his children must have been quite young at that point. He was very smily, happy sort of person, he wasn’t one of those like some of them are at the Bar who are very pompous and severe. He liked to enjoy being at work but he was very hardworking – starting off eight o’clock in the morning, he wasn’t one of those turning up half past nine, ten o’clock. I would turn up and he would already have been in there an hour or more. The amount of paperwork that he would get through would be phenomenal. I mean you have got to remember that there was no internet and there were no mobile phones. There was not not even a machine on the desk where you could type everything up and then edit it and change it. Everything was done by hand. What they would do is they taped everything, using a cassette machine so that it could be transcribed.
 
Facilitator: Was he silk already when…?
 
Deborah Fosbrook: No, he wasn’t, no, and also he was still at that point living on a high from the creation of the Anton Piller order, because it wasn’t many years since that success. So every time we went to court, some judge would make the point – this Mr. Laddie of the Anton Piller.
 
Deborah Fosbrook: Everybody knew about his Anton Piller Orders and the only reason that he’d come up with it was because he’d had a criminal background before for quite some time and he had a very creative mind to the law. He wasn’t somebody who would just say well that’s what the Law says, there is no room for manouvre. He would be able to see beyond that and say yes, we’ll take it into account the Law, we can still do this, this and this. He was very thorough.
 
Facilitator: Did he have a science background?
 
Deborah Fosbrook: I don’t know what background he had, all I know – because we didn’t have personal discussions, everyday it was business, it was work. Other than him mentioning his wife and his children, whether they were going on holiday. You don’t have that sort of relationship with your pupil master where you say – what’s on your CV, what did you do for your A levels, we just wouldn’t have that conversation.
 
Facilitator: I think that might be before your time but at some point you have to pay the pupil master. Do you have to pay?
 
Deborah Fosbrook: Well, that used to be that you would pay a guinea…
 
Facilitator: And the clerk as well?
 
Deborah Fosbrook: I mean the reality was that – you would work as a pupil – it wasn’t a question of you paying chambers. I wasn’t asked to pay a penny to those chambers. But I was never paid a penny for any of the work that I did, and I wasn’t expecting to be paid. I wasn’t asked for any contribution towards rent or anything because it wasn’t appropriate, I wasn’t a tenant, I was just a pupil. You would be expected to turn up suited and booted, kitted out looking smart in black. I had a whole conversation one time with Mary Vitoria because she’d been – she was laughing because some judge had pointed out the fact as to how big her ring was on her hand and how big her earrings were, because she liked jewellery. You weren’t allowed to – you weren’t expected to wear anything that would be showy. You blend into the background, black skirt, black shirt, black jacket. So you would fund yourself – I funded myself but first of all I managed to get a loan out of Gray’s Inn. They had a loan scheme for pupils. In December, 1980 Gray’s Inn agreed to loan me 850 pounds. I was living on an overdraft – I would have to go into overdraft to buy my wig and gown and everything else. So that was money that I used towards my pupillage and then I ran a stall, I had a stall with my boyfriend, he was also at the Bar doing pupilage. The stall was at Camden Market selling jumble like coats and anything second hand that we could buy. So I’d spend all week doing pupilage, Saturday we’d go around sales and jumble sales and Sunday I’d be down the market flogging stuff to be able to survive being a pupil.