Colin Miller

Colin Miller is a Legal Director in our Corporate team, specialising in intellectual property and competition law.

He has over thirty years of experience in these areas in both Scotland and England, having qualified in both jurisdictions. Colin is ranked in the UK legal directories as a specialist in both intellectual property and competition law.

He has focused on non-contentious aspects of IP such as IP licensing, particularly on patent and trade mark licences ; franchising ; joint R&D and collaboration projects and IP support on corporate transactions. He has acted for clients across a range of sectors including life sciences (counting many University spin-outs), food and drink, hospitality, energy and technology.

In competition law, Colin advises clients subject to cartel investigations by the Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) with experience in various sectors such as construction, roofing, transport, dairy and football, as well preparing complaints to the CMA; provides competition compliance advice and training to clients; advises on contracts and commercial disputes; provides support on corporate transactions and in particular, advice on securing clearances from the CMA for transactions under the UK merger rules.

Accreditations

• Colin has been accredited by the Law Society of Scotland as a specialist in intellectual property.

Legal Directory Rankings

• Individually ranked in Chambers and Legal 500 in Scotland for both competition law (Band 1) and intellectual property (Band 2)

Experience

• Acting for University spin-out companies in the negotiation of IP licences from numerous Universities, including almost all Scottish Universities, usually for the exploitation of patents and knowhow generated by the University employees.
• Advising various life-sciences companies on R&D and collaboration agreements for the joint development and commercialisation of IP, material supply agreements and contract research services. Also advised investors on IP due diligence on potential investees.
• Advising several whisky distilleries on a wide range of IP matters, including trade mark licensing, protection of trade secrets, design rights in packaging and trade mark disputes, as well as major sponsorship deals for well- known brands.
• Providing copyright advice to the tech sector, particularly on software development and online platforms. Preparing and negotiating software development contracts, licences and SaaS contracts.
• Providing IP audits or “health- checks” for a wide range of businesses.
• Training many organisations on intellectual property issues and tutoring on commercial contracts and IP at the University of Glasgow.
• IP support in major corporate transactions, including M&As in and investments into:  life sciences companies in diagnostics and therapeutics; post-operative radiotherapy for breast cancer; animal health and veterinary medicine; financing of branded and boutique hotels; securing transfer of household brands of a well known holiday company and retailer.

Competition law experience includes:

• Acting for numerous clients subject to cartel investigations by the CMA. This included advice on dawn raids, whistleblowing, applications for leniency and negotiating with the CMA across various sectors including roofing, wooden pallets, construction, transport, ferries and football.
• Acting for clients in the energy and hospitality sectors making complaints to the CMA about anti-competitive arrangements entered into by competitors or abuse of market power by competitors.
• Advising on competition law issues arising in the context of litigation. For example, recently challenging the ability of a patent owner to demand payment of royalties on an expired patent under competition law. This was in the context of an action for patent infringement in the Court of Session.
• Advising on the extent to which non-compete undertakings and similar restrictions are enforceable under competition law.
• Advising on competition law issues arising in commercial contracts and ensuring that the relevant agreements are enforceable. This often involves assessing contracts under relevant block exemptions, such as the block exemption which applies to distribution, franchise and other “vertical” agreements or for technology transfer arrangements.
• Advising on general compliance, staff training and preparing competition law compliance policies. This is now regarded as necessary as this is often one of the first questions which the CMA will ask when it decides to investigate a company.

Memberships & Appointments

Colin was on the board member of West Lothian College for a period of eight years until 2024.

He has a strong interest in teaching and mentoring and has taught IP and commercial contracts on the Diploma for Legal Practice at the Universities  of Glasgow and Strathclyde  for over 10 years.