William Cornish, Roberto Dini, and Justice Prathiba M Singh Named 2026 IP Hall of Fame Inductees

The 2026 class of the IP Hall of Fame has been revealed, honoring three individuals whose work has significantly shaped the intellectual property landscape worldwide. The inductees are William ‘Bill’ Cornish, Roberto Dini, and Justice Prathiba M Singh.

The selection process ran from January through April, with voting conducted by the IP Hall of Fame Academy. This Academy comprises current inductees alongside other prominent figures within the IP community. Cornish and Singh were chosen from a broad list of nominees submitted by the wider IP community. Roberto Dini was selected for the Q Todd Dickinson Award, which recognizes major contributions to the IP business ecosystem, from a shortlist curated by the IAM editorial team.

William Cornish, who passed away in 2022, is celebrated as a founding father of intellectual property scholarship in the United Kingdom. An Australian-born academic, Cornish joined the London School of Economics (LSE) in 1962, where he developed pioneering LLM and LLB courses in IP law. His seminal 1982 textbook, "Intellectual Property: Patents, Copyright, Trademarks & Allied Rights," remains influential. Later, he served as Herchel Smith Chair in Intellectual Property Law at the University of Cambridge starting in 1990. Cornish’s scholarship extended beyond IP, emphasizing the historical context of law, as demonstrated in works such as "Law and Society in England, 1750-1950" (1989) and his 1968 book on the role of juries in the English legal system.

Roberto Dini is recognized as a pioneer in patent monetisation. In 1982, he founded Sisvel, which has grown into one of the world’s largest and most successful patent pool administrators. Dini’s early experience in patent licensing came from his work at Italian consumer goods company Indesit. He secured financial backing to acquire Indesit’s patents and established Sisvel to license those rights. Under his leadership, Sisvel launched its first patent pool, the MPEG Audio Programme, in the late 1990s, generating over $1 billion in revenue. Today, Sisvel manages more than a dozen active licensing programs across technologies including IoT, Wi-Fi, and video coding.

Justice Prathiba M Singh has been a formative influence on India’s IP landscape. She co-founded Singh & Singh, one of India’s leading IP law firms, and acted as counsel in landmark patent disputes before her appointment as a permanent judge of the Delhi High Court in 2017. Singh played a key role in establishing the High Court’s specialist IP Division, serving as its presiding judge during 2021-2022 and 2023-2024. She contributed to framing India’s National IPR Policy in 2015 and was recently appointed chair of the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Advisory Board of Judges. Notable cases in her legal career include the Supreme Court’s 2013 Novartis v Union of India patent case and one of India’s early standard essential patent disputes, Ericsson v Micromax.

Reflecting on his award, Roberto Dini stated, “I am deeply honored by this recognition and to be the recipient of the Q Todd Dickinson Award. Sharing a place in the IP Hall of Fame with so many people whose achievements I have long admired is deeply humbling. When I look at those names and think of mine beside them, it is an incredible feeling. I'd like to thank the Academy members for selecting me and, most especially, everyone at Sisvel – past and present – who have worked so hard to make the company what it is today. It's come a long way since I began it in Turin in 1982. It would not have done so without them.”

Justice Prathiba M Singh commented, “It is indeed my privilege to be inducted in the IP Hall of Fame. A glance at the list of awardees consisting of individuals from the world IP community who have dedicated to positively shaping the IP landscape makes me further humbled. I am grateful to my colleagues in the judiciary and also the Bar who have equally contributed in this journey. India stands at a fascinating moment in its IP story – as a nation of immense creative and innovative potential, it is increasingly finding its voice in global IP discourse. Over the last four decades, judges have contributed in full measure to building an IP framework that is not only robust and forward-looking, but also just and balanced. This award is an unequivocal recognition of India’s leadership role in the global IP domain.”

The 2026 inductees exemplify the diverse ways in which intellectual property law and business continue to evolve globally, from foundational academic scholarship and innovative patent licensing models to judicial leadership shaping national and international IP policies.