Carpmaels & Ransford LLP

Managing Partner: Richard Jackson
Number of Partners: 21
Associates: 59
Other fee-earners: 39

Contacts
Chemistry: Susan Kirsch
Dispute Resolution: Ian Kirby
Engineering & Tech: Gary Small
Life Sciences: Hugh Goodfellow
Trade Marks & Design: Jonathan Day
Transactions: Jake Marshall

THE FIRM: Carpmaels & Ransford is renowned as a leader in the European IP market, with a rich 200-year heritage in the patent profession blended with a modern reputation for innovation in the IP industry as a whole. The firm is an expert in all aspects of intellectual property — including drafting, filing and prosecuting patent and trademark applications, drafting and negotiating licence agreements and other commercial IP agreements, advising on the transfer of property rights, assisting clients with patent restoration matters and conducting enforcement and revocation litigation before the UK courts and IP offices, the Court of Justice of the European Union.

Carpmaels & Ransford covers all aspects of IP law and a broad range of technical disciplines, with specialist teams in engineering and technology, chemistry and pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, supplementary protection certificates and information communications technology and standards. It serves blue-chip clients across the globe, including Johnson & Johnson, Celgene, Novartis, Invista, Ionis Pharmaceuticals, LG, Mars, Micron, Gilead, Gates, DuPont Teijin, Raytheon, Regeneron and Allergan.

In recent years, Carpmaels & Ransford has successfully developed its IP dispute resolution and IP transactions practices. The IP dispute resolution team now comprises four solicitor partners, five patent attorney partners who have significant litigation experience, and a team of solicitors, barristers and patent attorney litigators. In addition to representing clients at all levels of the European Patent Office (EPO), the team is adept at conducting enforcement litigation and revocation actions before the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) and patent, copyright, trade mark and other IP litigation in the English courts and the Court of Justice of the European Union, often advising in cases where parallel or related litigation is ongoing in courts across Europe or in the United States.

Working across all of the firm’s technology areas and practice groups, the IP transactions team forms a key part of the firm’s integrated IP offering. As well as advising on the acquisition and licensing of IP rights, and other IP focussed agreements (e.g. development and collaboration agreements), the team manages multi-jurisdictional patent/trade mark assignment recordal projects, provides specialist advice on the transfer of priority rights and assists clients with the restoration of registered IP rights around the world.

Strategic IP management advice is a strength of the firm. The growth of its practice in IP dispute resolution and IP transactions has deepened its full capability in the management of clients’ intellectual property from inception to commercialisation, enforcement litigation and defence in Europe, and both mirrors and complements the firm’s position as Europe’s leading IP prosecution and opposition practice.