Chris Sleep
Associate
Thirty Station Road
Cambridge
Cambridgeshire
CB1 2RE
Experience
Chris is an associate in our Cambridge office with experience in a broad range of commercial disputes including high value contractual disputes, shareholder/partnership disputes, and defamation.
In particular, Chris specialises in dealing with intellectual property disputes, including the enforcement of trade marks, copyright, design right (unregistered and registered) and domain name disputes. Chris works closely with the firm's commercial IP lawyers.
Chris has a particular expertise in the protection and enforcement of rights in databases, having devised and implemented a sophisticated and specialist regime for pursuing infringers of database right for a number of high profile companies within the data publishing industry, including several member companies of the Wilmington Group Plc and GFMS - the world's foremost precious metals consultancy (part of Thomson Reuters).
Chris acted for Binley's (part of the Wilmington Group Plc)in the leading decision on database right infringement in the Patents County Court, which has wide-reaching implications and is of huge benefit to, the data-publishing and direct marketing industies, and for database owners generally (Beechwood House Publishing Limited (t/a Binley's) v Guardian Products Limited and another [2011] EWPCC 12, 20 June 2011). For a detailed analysis of this case on Practical Law, please click here. For further details on the potential implications for database owners, please click here.
Other Information
Chris represents the firm in its membership of the Professional Publishers Association (PPA).
He recently prepared a briefing note in conjunction with the PPA Business Media Group called “Rights in Databases – A Briefing Note for Business Information and Data Providers”. The briefing note is aimed at both data owners and data users, and provides an overview of how databases can be protected, how rights in databases are infringed, and addresses some common misconceptions. Click here to view the note.
In April 2009, Chris achieved a distinction in the Postgraduate Diploma in Commercial Intellectual Property provided by Nottingham Law School.
Chris is recognised by clients in Legal 500 [UK 2010] who describe him as being "clear minded, fast and efficient".
Chris is a commitee member of the Cambridge Enterprise & Technology Club.
