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Peter Vaughan

Associate Professor

Nottingham Law School

Staff Group(s)
Nottingham Law School staff

Role

Peter is an Associate Professor at Nottingham Law School and practising Chartered Trade Mark Attorney where he supervises the IP work at NLS Legal.  Prior to joining NTU in 2020, Peter worked for a leading International Firm of Trade Mark and Patent Attorneys in their Cambridge office.

Peter volunteers at NLS Legal, supervising the IP case work, providing advice to small businesses and individuals in the field of IP.  The IP Team won the "Team of the Year" award at the Nottingham Law Society Awards in 2024 and the IP work at was shortlisted in 2021 for the “best new pro-bono activity” category.

Peter is the Deputy Course Leader on the IP Practitioner Portfolio of Courses.  He teaches on and is module leader on the Professional Certificate in Trade Mark Practice, a course accredited by IPREG for trainee trade mark attorneys wishing to qualify.  He is also module leader on the new Postgraduate Diploma in Commercial Intellectual Property course.

Peter is module leader and tutor on the Fundamentals of Intellectual Property and Contemporary Issues in Intellectual Property and Technology Law modules taught on the LLM courses.  He supervises dissertations in the field of Intellectual Property.

Peter's research interests lie in educating SME's and individuals as to the importance of Intellectual Property and how to protect those rights.  He is also interested between the overlaps of different  Intellectual Property rights as well as all things trade marks!

Career overview

Peter studied Law with German (Ba Hons) and an LLM in International Commercial Law both at the University of Nottingham.  He qualified as a trade mark attorney in 2014.  Prior to joining Nottingham Law School in March 2020 Peter worked for a leading International Firm of Trade Mark and Patent Attorney in their Cambridge office.

Research areas

Peter’s main area of interest is that of trade mark law and practice and the overlap between the different IP rights. He is also interested in intellectual property infringement online and with respect to domain name disputes.

Peter's main research is with respect to  educating SME's and individuals as to the importance of Intellectual Property and how to protect those rights and avoid common pitfalls.  Peter recently had published, co-written with Professor Jane Jarman, "The Intellectual Property Map" which seeks to help those working in the creative sector protect their IP rights.

He also has an interest in the use of problem based learning as a tool to enhance student outcomes.

External activity

Peter is on the advisory board of the mental health charity Jonathan’s Voice (Jonathan's Voice – Speaking out for mental health (jonathansvoice.org.uk)).

Peter chairs the Chartered Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys Working Group on Domain Names and is a member of the CITMA Law and Practice Committee.  He has written CPD Seminars on Mediation and Registry Oppositions for CITMA.

Peter also sits on the education committee  of the MARQUES organisation.

Course(s) I teach on