Intellectual property disputes

Intellectual property (IP) can be an important asset for any business. IP includes intangible assets such as patents, trade marks, design rights, copyright, confidential information and database rights. However, to maximise the value of IP, businesses should take steps to enforce and uphold their IP rights.

IP disputes are handled by our team of specialist IP litigators, many of whom have acted in a number of ground-breaking and landmark cases including some of the biggest and more difficult cases in recent years which have resulted in new law.

Our service

We have long term experience in all forms of dispute resolution, from litigation in Courts, international arbitration to mediation. We have extensive experience of advising on a whole range of IP disputes, ranging from all aspects of multinational patent litigation and the unauthorised use of confidential information by former employees to enforcing, and defending the validity of registered trade marks, design rights and copyrights. We aim to resolve disputes in a cost and time effective approach. We regularly use innovative fee structures and avenues of alternative dispute resolution.

We regularly advise clients in developing and implementing international patent litigation strategies. We provide early advice on infringement risk and validity assessments of registered IP rights.

We will advise and educate you on strategies to avoid disputes escalating where possible and seek, where in your interest to resolve disputes as quickly and inexpensively as possible by whatever means available including, where appropriate, alternative dispute resolution methods. However, when necessary, we have the experience and ability to conduct the most complex cases through the courts and other tribunals.

Our experience

We conduct a diverse range of cases before the national courts of Belgium, France, Germany and the UK, the EU Tribunals (both the General Court and the Court of Justice of the European Union) and national and supranational patent and trademark offices such as the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (OHIM) and the European Patent Office (EPO). We also manage IP disputes in many other jurisdictions on behalf of our clients.

Examples of recent cases on which we have advised include:

• Obtaining judgment for our client in a misuse of trade secrets claim. This litigation has also spawned a number of parallel actions, including patent issues, around the world including in Denmark, France, India, Vietnam and Switzerland with which we are involved.
• Representing a client in a WIPO arbitration on a patent infringement case.
• Defending our client in a trade mark infringement action brought by a well-known cosmetics company. This case involved issues that were referred to the European Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling.
• Defending a validity attack on our client's Community design right registration for a well-known shoe design and working with our client to enforce that right throughout the world.
• Representing a publishing house in unfair competition actions against excessive title merchandising of public service TV networks.
• Representing a large US photo archive in an action against their exclusive European agent for breach of contract and subsequent clearing of agency structure in Europe.
• Invalidating a patent on a sensor.
• Defending a large pharmaceutical company in patent infringement and validity proceedings on a biotech patent resulting in the invalidation of the plaintiff's patent.