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Areas of expertise

Professional information

  • 2024: Associate Member, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators
  • 2023: CEDR Accredited Mediator
  • 2019 – 2022: Council Member, Council of the Faculty of Advocates
  • 2021 – date: Judge, Oxford University (OIPRC) International Intellectual Property Moot
  • 2018 – date: Member of the Law Society of Scotland Intellectual Property Accreditation Panel
  • 2011 – 2020: Committee Member, The Intellectual Property Lawyers Organisation
  • 2009 – date: Door Tenant, 8 New Square, Lincoln’s Inn
  • 1999 – 2000: Faculty of Advocates Lord Reid Scholar
  • Devilmasters: W. James Wolffe KC, Ian Duguid KC

 

Professional experience

Roisin specialises in intellectual property disputes and also has significant expertise in general commercial and construction litigation. She practises primarily in the Court of Session and has also appeared in the sheriff courts, the UKIPO, the employment tribunal and at arbitration. Roisin is regularly instructed in complex, high-value litigation and is adept at analysing difficult legal issues in the context of the client’s commercial needs and goals. She frequently gives seminars on intellectual property for various organisations, including the Faculty of Advocates, the Law Society of Scotland, the WS Society, the University of Edinburgh and the British Irish Commercial Bar Association. Roisin is also a CEDR Accredited Mediator.

Notable cases

Intellectual Property

  • Titan Torque Services Ltd. and Anr. v Hydra Systems AS BL O/0508/24: Application for declaration of non-infringement – patents relating to methods of plugging and abandoning a subterranean well
  • Gillian Taylor v Lanarkshire Health Board BL O/556/21: Right to be named as proprietor of patents and applications – claim by named inventor to be named as proprietor in place of the defendant on grounds the defendant was not her employer at the relevant time and invention (medical device) devised in her own time – claim for transfer of licences – statutory time bar for transfer orders
  • Reactec Limited v Curotec Team Limited 2020 SLT 783:  Patent infringement and revocation – claim of infringement of a patent for vibration monitoring equipment and counterclaim on the grounds of obviousness
  • Verathon Medical (Canada) Limited v Aircraft Medical Limited [2011] CSOH 19: Patent infringement, amendment and revocation – claim of infringement of, and application to amend, a patent for a medical device and counterclaim for revocation of the patent on the grounds of anticipation and obviousness
  • Bayer Cropscience KK v Charles River Laboratories Preclinical Services Edinburgh Limited 2011 SLT 145: “Springboard” profits claim – first case in which a UK court accepted a claim for an account of profits advanced on a “springboard” basis against the infringer of a patent
  • Arrow Generics Ltd v Akzo NV 2008 SC 518; 2006 SLT 919: Patent revocation – claim to revoke a pharmaceutical patent on the grounds of anticipation and obviousness
  • ITP SA v Coflexip Stena Offshore Limited 2005 1 SC 115; 2003 SLT 1197: Patent infringement and revocation – claim of infringement of patent and counterclaim for revocation on the grounds of anticipation and obviousness – pursuer succeeded at first instance but patent subsequently revoked by the EPO – defender’s appeal against finding of infringement allowed

Commercial

  • Southbank Asset Finance Limited v The Rangers Football Club Limited 26 October 2023, Glasgow Sheriff Court (commercial): action for payment under allegedly assigned contracts – defences of no obligation to make payment, ineffective assignation, mutuality of contract, breach of contract and personal bar
  • MCR Oil Tools LLC v SPEX Offshore (UK) Limited & Ors. [2020] BCC 679 (appeal); 2020 SLT 607 (first instance): Restoration of dissolved companies – opposed application to retore two dissolved Scottish companies to the Register of Companies for the purpose of pursuing them in ongoing US proceedings
  • Weatherford Switzerland Trading and Development GmbH v iiiTec Ltd. [2019] SC ABE 87: Construction of contracts and prescription – claim for declarator and damages following upon breach of a manufacturing and distribution agreement relating to patents and know-how in the oil and gas sector
  • David MacBrayne v ATOS IT Services (UK) Limited [2018] CSOH 32: Breach of contract – claim for damages by ferry operator against IT service provider who had been engaged to provide a new booking system
  • Scanmudring AS v James Fisher MFE Limited [2018] CSOH 16: Construction of contract – claim for payment of hire charges for a subsea dredging machine and counterclaim for the costs of retrieving the machine from the seabed
  • Hines v King Sturge LLP 2011 SLT 2; 2009 SLT 763: Proximity and duty of care in negligence claims – claim for damages made against managing agents by the occupiers of business premises who sustained losses after a fire

Construction and Engineering

  • Greater Glasgow Health Board v Multiplex Construction Europe Ltd & Ors. [2021] CSOH 115: Construction contracts – claims against contractors and supervisors for well-publicised defects in large children’s hospital – whether provisions of NEC3 mandating adjudication operated as a contractual bar to court proceedings – whether court proceedings incompetent as a result – whether claims capable of being adjudicated
  • Morgan Sindall Construction and Infrastructure Limited v Westcrowns Contracting Services Limited 2018 SCLR 471: Challenge to adjudicator’s decision – challenge advanced on grounds of want of jurisdiction, failure to take into account relevant considerations, procedural unfairness and failure to exhaust jurisdiction
  • City Inn Limited v Shepherd Construction Limited 2011 SC 127; 2008 BLR 269: Damages in construction contracts – contractor’s claim for damages arising out of delay and extensions of time
  • Castle Inns (Stirling) Limited t/a Castle Leisure Group v Clark Contracts Limited [2009] CSOH 174: Damages in construction contracts – claim for damages against contractor in respect of lost profits sustained due to delays in opening of licensed premises – ‘material’ cause of delay
Directories
  • Chambers UK Bar – Recommended as leading silk in Intellectual Property (Band 1) and Commercial Dispute Resolution (Band 3)
  • Who’s Who Legal: Recommended in Intellectual Property

Chambers and Partners:

  • “Roisin is simply the best IP lawyer at the Scottish Bar. She is peerless in her knowledge, with a calm and assured style of advocacy.”
  • “Roisin is excellent to work with, thorough and extremely knowledgeable.“
Select publications
  • “Confidentiality: Counselling, Psychotherapy and the Law in Scotland”, Tim Bond, Roisin A. Higgins and Alan Jamieson, 2001
  • “Confidentiality, Counselling and the Law in Scotland”, Tim Bond and Alan Jamieson, 2006, contributor
  • “An International Guide to Patent Case Management for Judges”, WIPO, 2024, contributor