Michael Bloch

Michael Gordon Bloch KC (born 18 October 1951) is a British barrister who is a member of Blackstone Chambers.

Life Born at Hampstead, a son of the marriage of John Bloch and Thelma E. Platzky, Bloch was educated at Bedales School, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, where he graduated BA and MA, and the University of East Anglia, where he gained the degree of M.Phil. He was called to the bar from Lincoln's Inn in 1979.

In 1975, Bloch married firstly Caroline S. Williams, in Wandsworth. They had two daughters, Susannah and Claudia Bloch.

Bloch first joined the One Essex Court Chambers, and was appointed a Queen's Counsel in 1998.

In September 2000, Bloch moved from One Essex Court to Wilberforce Chambers. In 2013 he resigned from there to join Blackstone Chambers, which was reported as a significant boost for Blackstone, filling a gap in commercial and arbitration law left by the departure of Thomas Beazley QC.

In 2008, Bloch acted for Lucasfilm in its dispute with the British engineer Andrew Ainsworth of Shepperton Design Studios over the rights to the stormtrooper helmets as used in Star Wars. In 2011 this case arrived in the Supreme Court as Lucasfilm Ltd v Ainsworth, in which Bloch and Jonathan Sumption QC represented Lucasfilm. The Court decided that the Star Wars Stormtrooper helmet was not a sculpture for the purposes of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

In 2013, Bloch was leading counsel for Nestlé in its battle with Cadburys over the purple colour of its "Dairy Milk" bar wrappers.

In 2016, Bloch represented Simon Le Bon, Duran Duran, and other defendants in the High Court case of Gloucester Place Music Ltd v Simon Le Bon & Others, which resulted in a judgement by Mr Justice Arnold likely to have significant implications in the recorded music industry.