This is no longer a niche practice. It is of vital importance for commercial clients in all fields of activity.

Our practice covers all aspects of IP law, including patents, copyright, designs and databases, trade marks and passing off, domain names, performing rights, collective licensing disputes, plant varieties and plant breeder rights.

Our client base ranges from blue-chip multinationals, through high technology specialist companies and into academic and research institutions.

Clients include AstraZeneca, Nokia and Vodafone.

Recent work:

• Roche in two major patent disputes, firstly for the revolutionary HIV-1/AIDS therapeutic Fuzeon and secondly relating to the blockbuster treatment for breast cancer, Herceptin
• Apple in the UK trade mark infringement action brought by Cisco in relation to the iPhone mark
• acting for various Hollywood Film Studios in actions to protect copyright in DVDs and prevent online file sharing
• successfully defending easyJet in complex and controversial copyright infringement proceedings brought by Navitaire in relation to easyJet’s airline booking system and database. This has become the leading English legal authority on copying of the “look and feel” of a computer program
• Fosters on key trade mark issues in relation to the £300 million sale of its European brands to Scottish & Newcastle
• securing a resounding victory for Cambridge Antibody Technology at first instance in the widely reported litigation against Abbott concerning the royalties payable on sales of HUMIRA – Abbott’s blockbuster treatment for rheumatoid arthritis, which was developed using CAT’s phage display technology

Read more about our intellectual property work on the Herbert Smith website.