Bill Cornish has not often had other occasion to refer to Scots law or Scotland in the course of his published work, whether on intellectual property, legal history, or other topics. But nevertheless his support of colleagues working on intellectual property in Scotland, notably with regard to the AHRB Research Centre for Intellectual Property and Technology Law at the Edinburgh Law School, has been generous, unstinting and greatly appreciated by the beneficiaries.

The thought that the topic for this essay could be appropiately addressed in Bill's honour was prompted by recollection of some gently amused comments of his at the time about the opening ceremonies of the Scottish Parliament on 1 July 1999, in particular his musician's appreciation of the singing in the chamber (and, significantly, before the Queen) of Burns' ‘A man's a man for a’ that’. On the face of it, however, Scottish devolution did not seem a matter of much moment for intellectual property lawyers as such.