United Kingdom (England)

Firm overview

Marks & Clerk is one of the UK’s largest, and longest established, intellectual property firms. Our expert teams of patent and trade mark attorneys and lawyers are wired directly into the UK’s innovation economies via our offices in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen. Alongside our presence in the UK, we also have offices in nine international locations covering the EU, Canada and Asia, meaning we can tap into local expertise, globally. 

Our team provides a full-service IP offering, from the initial filing of IP, through to litigation and commercial exploitation. Having seen the benefits that our clients derive from our full-service model, a number of patent attorney firms have since sought to follow a similar approach by adding solicitors to their teams. However, our well-established and highly regarded litigation and commercial transactions practices continue to set us apart from other firms.

We are experts not only in intellectual property law, but also in the science and technology that underpins our clients’ businesses. Our ability to draw upon this specialist technical expertise, not just in the context of patent prosecution but also in the context of litigation and commercial transactions, enables us to provide clients with a level of service and reach unmatched by other firms.

Firm overview

Areas of specialism
EIP is a leading IP law firm advising on high-value and complex patent matters. Our multidisciplinary team combines patent attorneys, litigators and commercial IP lawyers. EIP is located in key strategic markets – Germany, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The benefit of combining attorneys and litigators is well illustrated by EIP’s successful representation of clients in high-stakes patent litigation before the UK High Court, the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court, and before the German district and federal courts.

Aside from the more mainstream drafting and prosecution practices, EIP’s patent attorneys work closely with the litigation team in the United Kingdom and Germany, providing additional technical expertise on large-scale international patent litigation matters. We also have a dedicated, experienced and technically skilled team supporting clients before the new Unified Patent Court (UPC). EIP brings together highly recognised litigation lawyers and European patent attorneys that are experienced in English and German across all technical fields and since the UPC opened its doors also has experience from a number of cases before different venues of the new court.

EIP is increasingly involved in advisory and strategic project work in relation to the enforcement of patent rights, including portfolio analyses, infringement and validity analyses and claim charting, as well as strategic IP advice such as due diligence related to acquisitions and joint ventures. Team members often counsel clients on strategic patent portfolio management and development matters, and EIP has been retained to assist in developing high-level IP strategies for some of the world’s largest companies. Recently, after strategic hire, the team can also advise on China related matters.

To complement the high-value patent advice we already provide to our clients, we give commercial advice on the exploitation and use of IP rights and ancillary issues arising in relation to data protection and rights of privacy.

EIP has represented clients in hundreds of oppositions before the EPO over the past two decades and represent clients in person at hearings at the EPO in Munich, The Hague and Berlin, as well as via videoconference hearings.

The firm’s integrated team of patent attorneys, litigators and paralegals can act in national court litigation alongside EPO opposition proceedings for a seamless, consistent and effective service.

Clients
EIP has a diverse international client base, advising blue-chip companies through to small and mid-sized enterprises. Clients include Nokia, VISA, Airbus, AP Moller-Maersk, Pulpex, Sonos, Broadcom and Optis.

Clients choose EIP for its commercial outlook, in-house experience, honest opinions and pioneering approach to dealing with patents. Our attorneys and lawyers have considerable technical knowledge in the areas of high tech, advanced engineering, chemistry, life sciences, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, medical technology and energy.

Firm overview
EIP was established in 2000 and has rapidly grown to be a leading IP firm with 36 partners and more than 180 staff practising from its four UK offices in Bath, Cardiff, Leeds and London, its German office in Düsseldorf, its Sweden office in Stockholm and its US office in Denver, Colorado.

In 2024 EIP was named “European Patent Disputes Firm of the Year” at Managing Intellectual Property EMEA awards for the third time. EIP is a Legal 500, Chambers & Partners, IAM Patent 1000, IP Stars and JUVE-recommended firm, as well as being one of four firms achieving gold rankings all six categories in the Financial Times' Europe's Leading Patent Law Firms award list: Biotechnology, Food & Healthcare, Chemistry & Pharmacy, Electrical Engineering & Physics, IT & Software, Materials & Nanotechnology, and Mechanical Engineering.

Notable cases
EIP has built an enviable reputation in patent litigation and has won the following high-profile cases for clients:

• EIP secured a landmark victory in the UK Supreme Court for its clients Unwired Planet and Conversant Wireless, in Unwired Planet v Huawei and Conversant Wireless v Huawei & ZTE – the most eagerly anticipated telecoms cases in years. The Supreme Court’s combined ruling defines the licensing of patented technology considered essential to the international standards for previous and future generations of wireless telecommunications technology.
• EIP secured a significant victory for client Conversant Wireless in Germany. EIP successfully asserted a standard essential patent (SEP) for Conversant against Stuttgart carmaker Daimler in a dispute that will have repercussions across the sector.
• EIP obtained a victory in the Düsseldorf District Court for its client Conversant Wireless in two patent infringement decisions against Huawei and ZTE. The court affirmed infringement of two 3G-related SEPs by Huawei and ZTE products. Subject to enforcement, the ruling awarded, among other things, an injunction against both companies, confirming a previous but non-accepted licence offer by Conversant as fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory.

Firm overview

Firm overview

Gill Jennings & Every LLP (GJE) is a leading firm of European patent and trade mark attorneys which combines a relentless focus on high-quality IP services with an innovative approach to providing strategic and consulting advice to clients and investors. We act throughout the EU – and will continue to do so through both our London and Munich offices.

Our world-wide corporate and foreign attorney clients value the efficiency of the service we provide in acquiring and maintaining their and their clients’ IP rights as effectively as possible. We ensure the right combination of quality advice, fast processes, and technology to give clients the right support for their needs. Our ability to manage large portfolios and keep clients informed of their IP rights is highly regarded, whether using our own technology such as our well-regarded Client Portal, or updating our clients’ databases directly. Our own service standards and processes combine with individual Service Level Agreements to ensure we provide the types and levels of services our clients expect.

We are widely recognised for our commercial acumen and regularly work with leading corporate lawyers and accountants in handling strategic IP issues, and have developed new IP services designed to ‘future proof’ our client businesses. Marketed as ConsultIP™, those services put IP at the centre of business strategy rather than in its traditional place as an ancillary concern. Through ConsultIP™, we provide a full range of support for patent, trade mark and designs portfolios, including an objective review of the value of those portfolios, to help clients exploit their investment, and attract further funding for their ventures.

Our strong reputation in Oppositions, whether defending our clients’ rights or attacking our opponents’ claims, is built on a record of wins which is second to none. Since conception, GJE’s opposition’s group have handled over 1300 oppositions (close to 450 defending, and 850 attacking). The firm’s opposition practice has significantly increased over the last 5 years through handling over 400 oppositions in this time period. Our expertise is spread across the firm with over 70 new oppositions being taken on in 2021.

Our client bank includes global corporations, foreign attorneys, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), early-stage/spin-out companies, universities, and individual inventors.

Our attorneys offer a broad range of technology-agnostic skills, in addition to our core specialist expertise in engineering, physics, IT/software, electronics, life sciences, medical technologies and chemistry.