A PARTNER with a York law firm has addressed an international conference on new patent regimes.

Intellectual Property specialist James Hodgson, a partner in the York office of law firm Andrew Jackson, presented at The London IP Conference, an international event organised by the Global Outsourcing Association for Lawyers.

Mr Hodgson, along with other speakers including Legal Counsel for Barclaycard, Xerox and Hexagon, took part in a round table discussion designed to assist global companies on preparing for the new patent regimes and intellectual property (IP) issues affecting businesses worldwide.

Mr Hodgson said: "UK businesses currently invest billions of pounds annually in IP and, in 2015, the European patent system will change with the introduction of the unitary patent system.

"Our presentation was intended to help delegates consider the issues and opportunities created by the new regimes, and also to discuss other IP related business issues."