United Kingdom (England)

Firm overview

Built on solid foundations dating back to 1891, today Barker Brettell is a modern and vibrant intellectual property (IP) practice, the cornerstone of which continues to be patents, trade marks and designs and copyright and, ultimately, putting IP on its clients’ board room agenda through IP strategy and management, and additional services such as IP audits and valuations.

The firm’s clients benefit from over 60 attorneys and trainee attorneys with a variety of academic backgrounds, as well as a large and highly regarded support network of paralegals and administrators.  It’s UK practice, based in Birmingham and Southampton, is also supported by a team of attorneys in Sweden, which means the firm can offer a seamless and consistent service for clients in Europe and, in respect of trade marks, before the EUIPO.

Barker Brettell’s UK-based and international client portfolio spans independent inventors, start-ups, SMEs, universities, university tech transfer and spin-out organisations and other research institutions and government agencies as well as large, multi-national, global corporations.

When it comes to patents, Barker Brettell operates and has strength and depth in all of the major (and EPO recognised) technical fields (including Biotechnology, Computer implemented technology, Electronics & Semiconductors, Engineering & Manufacturing, Fintech, Life Sciences & Chemistry, Medical devices, Pharmaceuticals and Physics & Materials) and practice-wide, the firm overlays its technical expertise with a sector-focused approach that spans the Aerospace, Automotive, Computing & Software, Cosmetics, Energy, Food & Drink, Medical and Universities sectors.

Types of work undertaken:

Patents: Our patent team continues to acquire and support the procurement and management of over 1,700 new patent applications annually, with particular experience in managing intricate patent portfolios. One service that helps us stand out in the IP market is our ‘IP Valuation’ package: designed for clients considering M&A, investment, or floatation; optimizing tax-efficiency, or calculating royalties.

The firm's patent specialisms include pre-filing advice and patentability searches, invention mining and the drafting of applications for new inventions, the filing and prosecution of patent applications, advice on contentious issues, EPO opposition work, freedom-to-operate opinions, landscape searching, transactional work relating to licensing and IP-related due diligence and recently added IP valuations and audits.

The firm has a strong secondment program seconding patent attorneys to internal in-house patent departments.

Trade marks: We routinely handle filing and prosecuting of 2,700 trade marks annually, which we are confident exceeds many of our competitors. We tailor filing and enforcement strategies for clients, handling oppositions, revocations, cancellations, cease and desist letters, internet takedowns, company name and domain name complaints and customs actions. We are also experts in the negotiation of settlements.

From advising to enforcement, our trade mark practitioners have extensive experience in all trade mark aspects. Our team acts directly before the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) and the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO); we continually rank among the top filers of UK trade marks (and formerly EU trade marks, until this work transferred to our Sweden office).

The firm's trade mark specialisms include IP strategy, the searching, filing and prosecution of applications, oppositions, cancellations, enforcement programmes, the negotiation of settlement agreements, renewals, assignments and licensing, domain name issues, internet takedown actions, customs and excise actions, due diligence exercises, portfolio management and counterfeiting issues.

Designs & Copyright:  Designs continues to be a real specialism within Barker Brettell's practice, and the firm is routinely ranked as one of the highest filers of UK and EU designs of any UK firm.  With much interplay between designs and other IP rights, its designs team comprises patent and trade mark attorneys who provide robust and cost-effective strategies for design protection. Over the years the firm has built a strong reputation for designs advice and strategy.

In addition to its core services, the firm has a strong oppositions and appeals record and offers additional services including IP audits and IP valuations.

Firm overview

Stobbs advises and acts for clients across the whole life cycle of its IP, working closely with a wide variety of IP-intensive companies, spanning various industries, from brand strategy and development of filing programmes to protection and exploitation of those rights. Work includes IP commercial, dispute resolution (both pre-action and formal litigation), brand strategy, advisory, anti-counterfeiting, online brand enforcement, and portfolio management.

Firm overview

Venner Shipley is a prominent full-service European intellectual property firm, uniquely with a leading team of patent attorneys, trade mark attorneys, solicitors and barristers, providing a complete IP service to clients.

Our clients value the strategic and multi-disciplinary approach we take to supporting their business goals, and we have experts in many rapidly developing technical fields: our managing partner led the European Court of Appeal G1/19 case on computer-implemented simulations and our life sciences team has been an integral part of numerous vaccine research and development projects, notably including Imperial College’s self-amplifying RNA vaccine.

Our multi-disciplinary team deals with a hugely diverse and constantly evolving range of intellectual property issues in multiple jurisdictions with specialist teams in Life Sciences, materials, software and AI as well as engineering expertise from heavy mechanical to electronics. The component parts of Venner Shipley combine to give our clients the creative and innovative solutions to their commercial needs they require and expect us to tirelessly deliver.

We have a wealth of experience advising on the life cycle of IPR from clearance and filing strategies worldwide, through to drafting, filing and prosecution, along with transactional work and defensive and offensive contentious work, with oppositions and other contentious work being a strength across the full range of IPR, from patents and trade marks to designs, copyright and soft IP. Our legal team has particular expertise in data protection, ownership and dispute resolution and our whole team works together to provide the strategic and analytic advice that our clients rely on to make their IP work harder for, and add value to, their businesses and give them a competitive edge.

With multiple offices in the UK and EU, we work with clients in a huge range of industry sectors, from major international corporations, to universities and SMEs, and we play a key role in nurturing of innovation and growth. We have a truly flexible approach to the service we provide, putting client priorities at the front and centre of what we do. This has resulted in long term relationships and a vast resource of knowledge of our clients’ businesses and priorities, with many clients having been with us for decades.

Firm overview

Gunnercooke's IP team handle litigation, IP portfolio management, and IP licensing. We act across sectors including fashion, technology, manufacturing and retail. We have experience of extremely technical cases involving close competitors and former distributors. We also work on counterfeiting initiatives. We also help clients manage global rights and secure trade mark protection across the world. We are known for our expertise in relation to registered and unregistered designs, helping clients secure Community and UK designs and managing international filings. The team are also known for our utilisation of the invalidity system, and our detailed knowledge of the different types of unregistered design, which we can leverage to secure substantial settlements for our clients both alone and in tandem with our international colleagues.