Overview

From prestigious brands with renowned trade marks to individuals, start-ups, scale-ups and SMEs, we help our clients to harness and protect the value of their brands and intellectual property rights globally.

Our experienced and highly acclaimed team of intellectual property portfolio protection specialists, including UK and Irish qualified lawyers, UK and European trade mark attorneys, Irish trade mark agents, and Chartered trade mark paralegals, offers a dynamic intellectual property service.

A number of our team have worked in-house, providing a unique understanding of our clients’ needs and the value of our clients’ brands and IP. Our approach is truly collaborative, providing agile, innovative and bespoke services tailored to each client, to provide the most pragmatic, commercial advice to protect their global assets.

As an integral part of the wider intellectual property team, we are able to support clients across the full life-cycle of their intellectual property. We have expertise across all aspects of intellectual property portfolio protection, from creation to clearance, protection, management, enforcement and exploitation of intellectual property rights.

Areas of focus

Our intellectual property portfolio protection team is dedicated to helping identify and protect your intellectual property rights and advising you on how to maximise their value to your business.

  • Global strategic advice on intellectual property protection.
  • Performing clearance searches to screen new brands for use and registration worldwide.
  • Registration of trade marks and designs in the UK, Ireland, EU and internationally, including dealing with objections from local Offices.
  • Portfolio management including managing global IP portfolios.
  • Intellectual property disputes, such as trade mark opposition and cancellation proceedings at the UK, Irish and EU Intellectual Property Offices and at all stages of appeal, as well as negotiating commercial settlements.
  • Conducting portfolio audits and intellectual property ‘health checks’ to help businesses identify and manage their assets.
  • Conducting IP due diligence exercises.
  • Trade mark, company name and domain name watching services.

We also regularly write and publish updates and articles on key intellectual property issues that may be of interest to many businesses. We are the sole UK contributor to World Trademark Review Weekly and we have our own newsletter, Concept, that is sent out to subscribers on a quarterly basis. If you are interested in receiving Concept, please go to our subscriptions form.

Experience

Providing IP portfolio management and brand protection services to, amongst others, the following major brands: the BBC (and its commercial subsidiary BBC Studios), Discovery, Inc., Starbucks, Victoria’s Secret, Bath & Body Works, Tesla, Yeo Valley, Truefitt & Hill, FirstGroup and The Carbon Trust.  Representing clients across a diverse range of sectors and providing strategic advice that is tailored to each of our individual clients’ needs and commercial demands.

As well as acting for established brands, we also proudly work with start-ups, scale-ups and SMEs. For example, recently providing clearance and brand protection advice to an English vineyard, a vertical farming start-up, and a tech start-up, among others.

Advising on global brand protection and enforcement strategies, working with our clients to devise agile strategies that suit their particular commercial needs and budgets. For example:


  • Advising a well-known British artist in relation to an international trade mark clearance and filing strategy and on copyright issues in respect of one of his most reputed works and brands 

  • Advising a British textile designer on an international brand protection strategy to support its collaboration with a world-renowned sports fashion brand

Handling complex disputes before the IP registries. For example, acting on a series of complex UK and EU trade mark opposition and cancellation proceedings for a leading US life-science and genetic sequencing company. Separately, acting in proceedings for clients before the EU Board of Appeal and the EU General Court.

Meet the team
Jeremy Dickerson

Jeremy Dickerson Partner

  • Head of International 
  • Head of Intellectual Property, Media and Sport
  • Defamation and Reputation Management
Helen Scott-Lawler

Helen Scott-Lawler Partner

  • Head of Food and Drink
  • Commercial
  • Intellectual Property and Media
Emily Roberts

Emily Roberts Partner

  • Intellectual Property and Media
  • Intellectual Property Disputes
  • Intellectual Property Portfolio Protection

What others say...

Professional and accurate, the team are responsive and clearly highly knowledgeable in their field.
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Key contact

Jeremy Dickerson

Jeremy Dickerson Partner

  • Head of International 
  • Head of Intellectual Property, Media and Sport
  • Defamation and Reputation Management

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