Ireland

Firm overview

Pinsent Masons' international IP team comprises over 80 IP specialists globally, delivering award-winning, multi-disciplinary expertise through a range of technical backgrounds (some to PhD) and experience drawn from industry.  

At the heart of our practice are long term relationships with many world leading businesses across a range of industry sectors, including: life sciences, technology, energy, financial services, sport, retail and leisure. With a shared passion for innovation, and belief that diversity of thought results in better solutions for business, together we harness IP law to drive positive change, access new markets and disrupt the status quo. 

Our IP advisory team advises on rights and commercialisation strategies, cutting edge collaborations and IP rich cross-border transactions that redefine the commercial landscape. More than just applying lawyers to solve legal problems, we deploy a range of professional disciplines, enabled by process and technology and informed by data. Not only does this empower us to develop solutions and ensure successful outcomes for our clients, it enables us to do so more efficiently and cost effectively.

Our peerless IP disputes team deploys litigation as a strategic tool to help businesses achieve their business goals, rather than simply navigating risk.  Working as a seamless extension of in-house legal and management teams, we're focussed on positive outcomes, whether that is achieving market access for a new product or service, or retaining competitive advantage against those ready to challenge them. 

We have a reputation for taking on the most difficult cases and winning them, often making new law in the process. We regularly act in the highest profile IP litigations before the EPO and EUIPO as well as the national courts and registries. Our success rate is second to none.

Recent IP awards include:

• Xarelto litigations was named an ‘Impact Case of the Year’ at LMG Life Sciences Awards EMEA 2024
• Impact Case of the Year - Sandoz and Teva vs Britsol-Myers Squibb (Managing IP Awards 2024)
• EMEA Patent Litigation Firm of the Year: Pharmaceuticals (LMG Life Sciences Awards EMEA 2023)
• UK Firm of the Year (LMG Life Sciences Awards EMEA 2023)
• Impact Case of the Year – Fingolimod (LMG Life Sciences Awards EMEA 2023)
• Impact Case of the Year – Flynn Pharma (LMG Life Sciences Awards EMEA 2023)
• Impact Case of the Year – Neurim Pharmaceuticals, MIP Awards 2023
• Winner UK (England & Wales) Contentious Patent Law Firm of the Year (Managing IP Awards 2020)
• Winner Impact Case of the Year - Actavis v ICOS (tadalafil) (Managing IP Awards 2020)
• Shortlisted European Contentious Patents Firm of the Year (Managing IP Awards 2020)
• Shortlisted UK Practitioner of the Year - Charlotte Weekes (Managing IP Awards 2020)
• Shortlisted UK (Scotland) IP Transactions (Managing IP Awards 2020)
• Shortlisted UK (Scotland) Contentious Patents (Managing IP Awards 2020)
• Shortlisted TMT Team of the Year (Legal Business Awards 2020)
• Winner Legal Strategy of the Year (Global Generics & Biosimilars Awards 2019)
• Winner Impact Case of the Year Award (Managing IP Awards 2019)
• Winner TMT and Life Sciences Team of the Year (British Legal Awards 2019)
• Shortlisted TMT Team of the Year (Legal Business Awards 2019)
• Winner Patent Litigation Firm of the Year (Corporate International Magazine's Award 2019)
• Winner International Global Business Award 2019
• Winner IP or IT team of the Year (Lawyer Awards 2018)
• Winner Client Choice Award for Patent Litigation (Clare Tunstall) 2018
• Winner TMT Team of the Year (British Legal Awards 2017)

Firm overview

Over the last century we’ve been lucky enough to have played a part in protecting some of the world’s most ground-breaking inventions and high profile brands. You can trust us to know IP law inside out, to be curious, and to connect the dots to reach solutions others don’t.

We will provide you with a team, rich in real-world experience, comprising experts who have worked at the forefront of pioneering technologies. A substantial number of our lawyers hold qualifications in scientific or technical fields, meaning we are often called upon for our specialist knowledge and insight on large international mandates. We are respected for our creative and original solutions.

We offer both litigation and transactional support in relation to all IP rights, from small innovative projects to the largest, most complex and ground-breaking transactions and disputes.

Our approach has always been centred on client service, collaborating and innovating with our clients to create bespoke solutions that make their lives easier. This includes: our 'twobirds Pattern' product, a proprietary, in-house patent valuation and analysis tool, that allows us to landscape, analyse, and value patent portfolios in an automated and sophisticated way; and our innovative and dynamic Brand Protection Reporting Portal, which uses dynamic charts that give clients an up-to-date overview of their risk profile at any given time.

Talk to us to find out how our tools, experience and our genuine passion for IP can help you devise a strategy that will help to maintain your competitive edge, whilst protecting and optimising your IP in the best way possible.

Internationally Bird & Bird has over 400 IP lawyers, attorneys and legal professionals across our 29 offices, many of whom have known each other and worked together for years, meaning we're all on the same page and offer consistency and quality that runs through all levels of seniority. We are therefore ideally placed to devise and coordinate multi-jurisdictional litigation strategies and,in the future, to represent clients before the Unified Patent Court.

Office Locations: Australia, Belgium, China, Czech Republic & Slovakia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates and United States of America

Firm overview

We are a London headquartered, international, full-service law firm that consistently delivers high-quality outcomes for our clients globally.

We have been advising clients for 250 years, and today we support over 5000 of the world's most respected organisations. We help them in over 50 areas of business law, across more than 100 countries. And while the opportunities and challenges they bring us vary, we solve each in a uniquely AG way.

Our clients enjoy working with us, we deliver a high-quality experience across everything we do, and we are known for award-winning innovation – all of which we harness to bring impact to clients.

Firm overview

FRKelly, as the largest Intellectual Property firm in Ireland, specialises in filing, prosecution and opposition work before the EPO and the EUIPO. With over 90 years of experience, FRKelly is widely acknowledged as one of the top pre-eminent Intellectual Property law firms in Ireland and Europe.

FRKelly has offices in Ireland (Dublin and Cork) and the United Kingdom, employing 70 people, of which 30 are Intellectual Property practitioners.

The firm combines a reputable heritage with a pioneering vision and understands the value of innovation to an economy, representing many start-ups, entrepreneurs and research institutions, including Irish, UK and US universities.

While popular among domestic entities, the firm’s long-standing legacy has garnered an established international network, with more than half of its clients availing of its expertise from abroad, particularly prestigious US multinationals.

FRKelly has a strong affinity with a broad spectrum of sectors from life sciences, cleantech and medical devices to software, ICT and engineering.

Our Life Sciences Patents practice consists of 8 attorneys, including 6 Ph. D. qualified, and is led by Dr. Maura O’Connell, current Managing Partner. With over 20 years of experience, Maura specialises in oral hearings, oppositions and appeals, before the European Patent Office.

The ICT and Engineering Patents practice comprises 11 qualified patent attorneys, of which 2 are chartered engineers and 2 chartered physicists and is lead by David Brophy who also specializes in Design Law.

FRKelly have an extensive Trade Mark practice. Our Trade Mark Attorneys possess considerable  experience and an in-depth knowledge and understanding on all aspects of trade mark protection, with a particular focus on areas such as Food & Drinks, Entertainment, Marketing, Exports, and FCMG.

Shane Smith and Niamh Hall, two of our Trade Mark partners have also co-authored the book “Intellectual Property Law in Ireland (Dec 2016, 4th Edition)” which was nominated as law book of the year 2017.

We combine established expertise with a personalised approach to provide you with practical and effective legal advice, tailored to the needs of your business.