Bio

Jamie Watt leads the firm’s intellectual property & technology (IP&T) team, as well as the life sciences group. He is a specialist in both intellectual property law and cybersecurity, accredited by the Law Society of Scotland, and a specialist in international trade marks, certified by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). His expertise includes trade marks & brand management (including anti-counterfeiting), patent law, pharmaceuticals and medical devices (including their regulatory regimes), aquaculture and marine technology, blockchain and decentralised network innovation, software, IT/ICT and the internet, and music, entertainment, sports and publishing. In addition, the European Commission has recognised Jamie as an expert in intellectual property under the Horizon programme, and previously under Framework Programmes FP5 to FP7. He has advised both the European Commission on commercialisation policy and the OECD on open access policy. He has also assisted extensively with the development of IP related legislation at both the Scottish and UK parliaments. Prior to joining the firm he was the in-house IP manager at a leading Scottish university. He has also worked in-house for a major independent record label and an artist management company. Jamie has extensive experience of cross border work and foreign jurisdictions, particularly the US, Netherlands, India and China. He also coordinates the Netherlands country desk, part of Harper Macleod’s international offering. He contributes regularly to journals such as Sports Law and Taxation on international IP related matters. Jamie is rated as an expert in trade mark matters by World Trade Mark Review, which comments that he “is highly skilled and experienced within the trademarks field, and has an impressively broad practice”. He is recommended in Intellectual Property, EU & Competition and IT & Telecoms in the UK’s leading, independent legal directories, Chambers UK and The Legal 500 with clients describing him as “a team player and is loyal to his clients.” and “always gives good advice”. He was previously shortlisted for Up-and-Coming Lawyer of the Year at the Law Awards of Scotland and was part of the team shortlisted for Commercial Team of the Year at previous British Legal Awards. He has been named as an IP Star by Managing IP since 2014.