Members of Carpmaels & Ransford trade mark group deal with contentious proceedings before the UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) and the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) (OHIM), and litigation concerning infringement, revocation and passing off.
London is renowned for the quality of its legal services and law courts and as a forum for IP dispute resolution. IP claims – including patents, trade marks, designs, copyright, passing off and trade secrets – are all assigned to the Chancery Division (ChD) of the High Court in London, which is only minutes away from our office in the heart of the legal precinct. The ChD has two dedicated IP Courts which are conducted by specialist IP judges: (1) the Patents Court, to which is allocated patents, registered designs, semiconductor topography rights and plant variety rights and (2) the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court (IPEC) which deals with all forms of IP rights. London is also due to host the specialist section of the EU’s Unified Patent Court (UPC) dealing with chemical, pharmaceutical and life sciences patents, fields in which Carpmaels has an unrivalled reputation and technical expertise.
The Patents Court, as its name suggests, primarily deals with complex patent disputes and there is no limit on the damages and costs it may award. The IPEC, however, was conceived as a forum for small to medium size enterprises to cost-effectively litigate IP disputes. It can award damages to a maximum of £500,000 while costs are capped at a maximum of £50,000, and the IPEC is, therefore, a very attractive option for the majority of trade mark disputes.
Our trade mark litigators and advocates conduct litigation and represent clients in litigation before the IPEC.
They also handle appeals from decisions of the IPO (which go to either an Appointed Person or the ChD) and from OHIM to the General Court of the European Union and from there to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). For other kinds of IP issues, our lawyers can provide counselling and representation in IP proceedings before every court and tribunal.
We firmly believe that specialist advice and representation is indispensable for litigants who desire to have the best technical and legal practitioners on their side for reasonable cost.
