The 2015 inductees into the IP Hall of Fame are revealed

Following a nomination process that began back in January, today we can officially announce the five individuals who have been selected by the IP Hall of Fame Academy as this year’s inductees into the IP Hall of Fame. They are:

• Paul Goldstein: Leading US copyright scholar, lawyer and author. As well as writing influential treatises on both US and international copyright law, Goldstein has authored popular non-fiction works on intellectual property and three novels, the most recent of which received the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction. He continues his legal practice as Of Counsel at Morrison & Foerster, and is a professor at Stanford Law School where he has twice been awarded for excellence in teaching. Goldstein has also been a visiting scholar at the Max Planck Institute and is a founding faculty member of the Munich IP Law Center.
• Frederick Mostert: Past president of the International Trademark Association (INTA) and former chief intellectual property counsel of luxury group Richemont. Mostert is a recognised authority on trademark law and has published articles and books on the subject including Famous and Well-known Marks - An International Analysis. He continues to serve Richemont in an advisory capacity, while also acting as research fellow at St Peter’s College, University of Oxford, and guest professor at Peking University.
• Jeremy Phillips: Influential IP blogger and academic. Phillips was one the founders of the highly popular IPKat blog and continues to contribute to it on a regular basis.. He has also been responsible for launching a number of IP publications including Managing Intellectual Property.  He currently serves as IP consultant to Olswang LLP, and is a professorial fellow at Queen Mary IP Institute in London. He oversees the social media for European trademark association MARQUES, acts as editor of the Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice and the European Trade Mark Reports, and works on select IP research projects.
• Des Ryan: Leading Australian IP lawyer. During a career that spans more than 60 years with Davies Collison Cave, Ryan has been the recipient of numerous awards for his contribution to intellectual property, including the prestigious Order of Australia in 2001. He is former president of the Institute of Patent Attorneys, and of the Licensing Executives Society International (LESI) from whom he received the LESI Gold Medal. Ryan has lectured in IP law at the University of Melbourne and today continues his legal practice as a consultant to Davies Collison Cave.
• Nikola Tesla: Serbian-American inventor best known for his contribution to the modern alternating current electricity supply system. Tesla was also instrumental in early developments of radar, x-rays and radio transmissions. The Tesla coil, invented in 1891, is still used in radio technology today. Upon his arrival in the United States, Tesla worked briefly with Thomas Edison before the two parted ways, reportedly acrimoniously. He sold a number of patents to businessman George Westinghouse, and through the Westinghouse Corporation Tesla continued to compete with Edison. Tesla died in New York City in 1943 aged 86.

Responding to the news, this year’s inductees had the following to say:

“This is a great honour, indeed. I have known several of the inductees for many years, and have long been familiar with the contributions of virtually all of the others. I couldn't hope to be in better company!”  Paul Goldstein

"It really goes without saying that this is the most stupendous honour and I feel quite overwhelmed.  It is amazing to me that I am about to join a club, which is home to so many illustrious names.  I should tell you that my bemused wife still can’t believe her husband is going to be inducted at the same time as Nikola Tesla.  Her husband can’t either!

I have always believed that lawyers should be facilitators as much as gatekeepers to intellectual property.  I have written many academic treatises and articles but the work I found most rewarding is a how-to-book I wrote for non-lawyers called “From Edison to Ipod.”  It was also the most difficult writing assignment I have ever had because I tried to get rid of opaque legal language – and we lawyers do like our legal jargon – and to “democratise” the language of intellectual property law – so to speak. The idea was to make intellectual property accessible to those who need it.  There are so many people in the ordinary walk of life who are creative and entrepreneurial these days and I feel strongly that the man in the street should have a sound understanding of what his rights are and how they should be protected." Frederick Mostert

"Our increasingly interconnected world brings together creators and competitors, entrepreneurs and consumers, judges and administrators, pirates and parasites. We can't escape each other and, if we only listen, each of us has something to teach the others. I'm so thrilled to have been part of this teaching process and I'm proud to be part of the intellectual property community, a community which has given so much to so many people despite its diversity and the challenges of constant change".  Jeremy Phillips

2012 IP Hall of Fame inductee David Kappos provided the following tribute to Nikola Tesla:

It is hard to think of an innovator who has had more real impact on our world than Nikola Tesla.  He is truly the father of the entire world's electrical backbone.  His approach to generating, transmitting, and deploying electrical power proved to be the most practical and efficient, so much so that the system he created remains the global standard essentially unchanged to this day.  In very real ways Tesla's work paved the way for the miracles we enjoy in the 21st Century.

Earlier this year members of the global IP community were invited to nominate individuals who they felt had “made an outstanding contribution to the development of intellectual property law and practice” and to supply supporting paragraphs giving their reasons. The nominees were then presented to the IP Hall of Fame Academy members, who voted on who should be inducted.

Established in 2006, the IP Hall of Fame honours those who have helped to establish intellectual property as one of the key business assets of the 21st century. The aim is not only to acknowledge the vital role played by these innovators in fostering today's vibrant IP environment and ensuring its continued health, but also to show how central IP is to the global economy and to the well-being of people across the world. The full list of previous inductees can be found here.

This year’s inductees will be honoured at a gala dinner being held in San Francisco this June during IPBC Global.