2013 President’s Award Winner Reflects on His Career in Trademark Law and the Origins of INTA’s Country Guides

Robert Weston (United Kingdom)

This year’s INTA President’s Award will be presented during a ceremony at the 2023 Leadership Meeting in Houston, Texas. In a conversation with the INTA Bulletin, 2013 President’s Award Winner Robert Weston (United Kingdom) reflects on his storied career in intellectual property (IP) law and shares his advice for today’s young practitioners.

Mr. Weston is now retired but wore many hats during his more than 50 years in IP law, which included roles as a Chartered Engineer, a Chartered Patent Attorney, European Patent Attorney, Registered Trademark Attorney, European Trade Mark and Design Attorney, and Member of the Institute of Electrical Engineers.

As a founding and principal editor of Country Guides, INTA’s most used online publication, Mr. Weston has made an enduring contribution to both INTA and the greater IP community. He also served on the Publications Committee for many years and was the Chair of that group for the 2000–2001 term. Additionally, Mr. Weston served for several years on the Programs Committee and also as Co-Chair of the Italy Forum Project Team in 2006.

Please tell us what led you to a career in IP law.
The true reason for my career is an oily rag. It all started when my father was courting the lady who was to be my mother, and one day her father’s car wouldn’t start. It was an old car. This was back in the 1920s. My father came from a motor engineering background. He knew that if you grabbed an oily rag and wrapped it around the carburetor, the engine would start. So, he did that, and the engine started. Then my grandfather-to-be said, “You look like a bright young lad, Weston. Do you want to come work for me?” He was a patent agent at the firm of Phillips & Leigh (London, United Kingdom).

That’s how my father changed track and qualified as a patent agent. I saw how hard he worked and said, “I’m never going to do that.” Instead, I joined the Royal Naval Scientific Service as a lowly Scientific Assistant and then became an Assistant Experiment Officer. Then my dad said the office boy who worked for him was leaving to go to university. I took the job, then trained and served and finally qualified as a patent attorney. At that time, if you qualified as a patent attorney, you didn’t need to separately qualify as a trademark attorney. I took an interest in trademarks because it had a bit more of a commercial and business association with it. That’s how I became a trademark attorney. Then my son followed me into the business.

Your career in law spanned more than half a century, and as you just mentioned, your son, John, has followed in your footsteps, including as an active INTA member. How did your involvement with INTA influence your professional journey and career?
To be honest, it’s a very good way of advertising your skills. Some people at my earlier Meetings saw the opportunity as a cash grab and were just shoving business cards in people’s hands. That wasn’t for me. I found that the talks and the lectures and group activities were some of the most interesting things, as well as getting to meet my foreign associates and people like that. It appealed to me.

I was a big joiner of professional organizations. I took an active role. I believe if you join an organization, you should do it properly and do the best you can. That’s the best way to show your wares to other professionals. Also, in the Association, you meet a very high level of competence in fellow trademark attorneys. You get to know each other and benefit from the exchange of information. The thing is to not think about what you can get out of the Association, but what you can put into it. In the long term, this gives you the best results.

You were a founding and principal editor of Country Guides, INTA’s most used legal resource. In your opinion, why is Country Guides such an important and enduringly popular resource among INTA members?
At the first Annual Meeting I went to, I was handed a review of U.S. law that was written to be understood by foreigners, and asked if I wouldn’t mind reviewing it. I found it to be not much help, so I rewrote it.

That led me to wonder how to best help practitioners who don’t have top resources, and those for whom English isn’t their first language, to access this information. I had the idea of creating a series of questions that practitioners could answer about their countries. The answers would be compiled into a book.

Mary McGrane put me together with Mario Arrigucci who had created a giant spreadsheet where attorneys could provide short answers to these types of questions. We put this together and created a format that’s been very successful.

I’m a big believer in KISS—keep it simple stupid! If there’s a plethora of detailed information in a resource, it might be overwhelming, and you’d be better off just speaking to a local attorney in the particular country. But it’s great for finding a simple answer to a simple question. A secondary benefit is that if you have standard questions, you can group the data not just by country but by answer. It enables you to codify.

We sent the first questionnaire out to test with some associates to see how they’d answer and send it back. Soon we found that by having a standard set of questions, we had some control over the format of answers we got back. That made it easier for us to edit it into a cohesive form. Although the information was different, the format was the same from country to country. You knew where to go to find a nice, codified answer by country.

When we finally came out with the first edition, we decided not to withhold copyright. If people wanted to copy the answers they needed, it was all right with us, provided they identified the source. We’ve since moved on in the editorial world, but at the time, a number of people said they liked that quite much.

You were a member of the Publications Committee for many years and served as the Chair of that group for the 2000–2001 term. How did INTA’s approach to publications evolve during this time?
It was very interesting because this was the time it was changing from USTA to INTA. One of the ways to reach the international audience was through publications. But the problem was that a lot of people in the U.S. have less exposure to the outside world. We had to answer the question: How do we coach and develop the international aspects of the Association to reach out to the outside world instead of keeping things U.S.-centric?

Can you recall your first experience attending an INTA Annual Meeting? What stands out from the experience?
It’s all Walt Disney’s fault! The first one I went to was in Florida, so I took my wife and younger daughter with me. Going to the Meeting was just an excuse to go to Disney World. But I found it very interesting. It was overwhelming to see the sheer number of people around. Everyone was very friendly and interested. Something got cooking in my brain. I realized I could get involved in an organization like this. I could make a contribution. I’m an individual thinker. I like thinking out of the box. INTA gave me an opportunity to do this, but it’s Disney’s fault!

What stands out is the sheer number of people there and how keen and interested they were. Also, from a British and European point of view, it was surprising how many women were there at the time. This was in the 1990s and there weren’t that many women practicing in Europe at the time. This reflected well on the Association.

What advice do you have for young practitioners who aspire to one day follow in your footsteps and win the President’s Award?
Don’t try and win an award. If you want to make waves in an organization, you have to think about what you can contribute to it, not what you can get out of it. Ask yourself if you have any knowledge or skill sets that the Association doesn’t have yet that you can provide. Don’t be afraid to ask simple questions that can lead to solutions. This is what I tried to do throughout my time with INTA.

The 2023 Leadership Meeting takes place November 14–17, in Houston, Texas, USA. The Meeting is an invitation-only event for the INTA Board and its member volunteers, where they gather to advance the Association’s mission and strategic objectives, network, and take advantage of an advanced-level educational program. Learn more and register.

The President’s Award and INTA Service Awards will be presented during the 2023 Leadership Meeting Opening and Awards Ceremonies. Learn more and submit your nominations by August 30, 2023.

Although every effort has been made to verify the accuracy of this article, readers are urged to check independently on matters of specific concern or interest.

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