We are delighted to announce that we have recruited Mr. Peter Back to our mediation panel.Until his retirement in September 2009, Peter Back was Divisional Director for Patents at the Intellectual Property Office. As such Peter spent many years as an hearing officer where he heard a range of IP disputes.In 2006 Peter took the lead in establishing the IPO's Mediation Service. Peter was trained and is accredited by CEDR (Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution). He has received advanced training in mediation of intellectual property disputes from the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Centre. In addition to this panel he is a member of the CEDR National Mediation helpline panel and the ACID (Anti-Copying in Design) “Mediate to Resolve” panel.

“He quickly established a rapport with the parties” 

“He holds a senior position at the UK Intellectual Property Office and has experience of patent mediations” 

“Discussions with him during the day were very helpful” 

“Peter had obviously prepared well and was most perceptive with a keenly developed eye for body language.” 

“...a job well done! The informal atmosphere you created and the skill you demonstrated in brokering a positive exchange of information between the parties was instrumental, in my view, in achieving a really positive result. 

"Again, many thanks. It was a pleasure to work with you”.

I have worked with Peter twice. Once as counsel in a dispute with a well known sportswear company over an impounded cargo (see my article in my IP/IT Update blog "Mediation in the IPO" 2 Oct 2009). The other time as chair of a IP Centre of Excellence presentation on mediation of IPR disputes on 10 May 2006 (see "Dispute Resolution: ADR and Arbitration of IP Disputes").