James Parish is a Lecturer in Intellectual Property and Information Law at The Dickson Poon School of Law. He holds a BA (Hons) in Film Production from the Arts Institute of Bournemouth, LLB (Hons) from the University of Glamorgan, and LLM in Intellectual Property & Information Law from King’s College London. He completed his PhD entitled ‘Towards an Understanding of the Distinction Between Limitations and Exceptions in International Copyright Law’ at the University of Cambridge under the supervision of Professor Lionel Bently.

James is also a Solicitor of England & Wales, an Associate of the Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Law (CIPIL), University of Cambridge, and an Executive Committee Member of the British Literary and Artistic Copyright Association.

Research interests

James has an enduring interest in the history, legal theory and philosophical justifications for Intellectual Property, especially patents and copyright. In particular, he tackles topics that many overlook such as the ontology of copyright exceptions and limitations, and a detailed history of patent law during the World Wars.

Teaching

Undergraduate

• Intellectual Property Law
• Intellectual Property Dissertation
• Intellectual Property Legal Clinic

LLM

• International and Comparative Copyright Law
• Patents and Trade Secrets
• Intellectual Property Dissertation 

Awards

• Shortlisted for ‘Sustained Excellence’ at King’s Education Awards 2024
• Shortlisted for ‘Excellent Feedback’ at King’s Education Awards 2023

Presentations

Wright v Tallis (1845) 135 ER 794, 1 CB 892 (Ct of Comm Pleas): A coalescent moral right? January 2024: British Literary & Artistic Copyright Association (BLACA), London.

Regulation Panellist ‘Balancing Act: AI, Intellectual Property, and Legal Landscapes’. December 2023: Protecting Creativity in the Age of AI, co-hosted by King’s College London, Numbers Protocol and Instill AI.

Defining ‘limitations’ and ‘exceptions’ in Article 13 TRIPS: Time for international clarity. November 2023: British Literary & Artistic Copyright Association (BLACA), London.

Defining ‘limitations’ and ‘exceptions’ in Article 13 TRIPS: Time for international clarity. June 2023: IP Researchers Europe (IPRE) 2023 Conference, World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and World Trade Organization (WTO), Geneva, Switzerland.

‘UK wartime licensing: A blueprint for ‘suspending’ patent rights under the TRIPS Agreement as a response to WTO trade violations?’ May 2020: PASSIM workshop “Patents in the Service of War and Peace”, Linköping University, Sweden.

‘Copyright Protection for Fictional Characters’. November 2019: Cambridge Library Group

‘Copyright and the Music Industry’. August 2019: Sutton Trust Summer School, Lecture and Seminar, King’s College London

‘Copyright Ownership, Street Art, and Part V Civil Recovery under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002’. November 2018: King’s Information Technology and Intellectual Property Law Society (KIIPS) Seminar, King’s College London

‘A defence or right to quotation under UK copyright law? What is the difference and which is desirable?’ February 2018: The Institute for Law and the Web (ILAWS) Seminar, University of Southampton