The leading IP Firm in UK - IP Firm in United Kingdom

Keltie LLP

1 London Bridge, London SE1 9BA, United Kingdom

Firm's Overview

Keltie LLP is an established firm consisting of patent and trademark attorneys, specialising in IP law and management. Headquartered in London, with offices in Cirencester, Cambridge and Galway (Ireland), we are a firm with a unique personality and renowned for excellence, earned by putting talented, energetic and principled people at its heart. With our office in Ireland, Keltie will continue to represent clients directly before the EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), regardless of the outcome of Brexit. Our clients benefit from an extraordinarily experienced and multifaceted group of IP experts. Our team includes patent, trademark and design attorneys working on every technology and in all commercial fields. We are consistently ranked among the leading UK firms for both patents and trademarks, with many of our attorneys receiving individual rankings and accolades.

Trademarks

Our trademark team, comprising nine fee earners and 12 support staff, is led by partners Rosemary Cardas, Alistair Gay, Manuela Macchi and Ben Britter. Among the leading brand protection experts in Europe, the group comprises multilingual European and UK trademark attorneys with backgrounds in law and business. Our expertise extends through the full trademark lifecycle, including searching and filing, portfolio management, opposition, enforcement and appeal proceedings. Our trademark attorneys represent a wide range of clients from start-ups to multinationals, including well-known brands from the fashion, entertainment, sports, food and beverage, energy, financial, insurance and tourism sectors. The team has gone from strength to strength, seeing us ranked in Tier 1 of this year’s WTR 1000 rankings. Director Azhar Sadique undertakes regular speaking engagements on the circuit, with Mr Sadique sitting on the International Trademark Association (INTA) Trademark Administrators Committee, as well as being co-chair of the INTA Special Programmes Committee.

Online brand protection

Headed by Director Nick Bowie, Keltie’s online brand protection practice is thriving. Our trademark attorneys coordinate the registration and renewal of domain names, often in conjunction with trademark protection. We regularly conduct investigations and domain name acquisitions on behalf of clients and have an excellent track record in domain name complaint proceedings before the World Intellectual Property Organisation, Nominet, the Alternative Dispute Resolution Forum and other alternative dispute resolution providers. The team has extensive experience in monitoring the use of brands across the Internet and identifying unauthorised use. We identify the most efficient route to the best outcome, including domain name recovery, social media takedown applications, online marketplace and auction takedown applications, merchant account suspension and cancellation, registrar and internet service provider complaints and working with law enforcement and trading standards.

Patents

Our patent group comprises attorneys with world-class professional experience built on experience as engineers and scientists in industry and research. The group covers every technical field, including automotive, aerospace, bioscience and medical technologies, chemistry and material science, environmental technologies, software, information technology, telecommunications, physics and electromechanical engineering. European and UK-qualified, our patent attorneys spend much of their time handling our flourishing practice before the European Patent Office. They appear frequently in opposition and appeal proceedings and enjoy a remarkable rate of success in contentious matters.

Representing clients before the EUIPO after Brexit

Following the United Kingdom’s decision to leave the European Union, much has been made about the future relationship between UK and EU IP rights. Patents will generally be unaffected but there are still questions around the effect of Brexit on European trademarks and designs, as well as uncertainty over the ability of some UK-based firms to represent clients directly before the EUIPO. However, Keltie has removed the uncertainty of representation before the EUIPO for its clients and associates. Opening our office in Ireland not only secures our place in the remaining EU territory, but also services a growing base of Irish clients, given our new capabilities to handle Irish IP matters. Keltie has and always will view itself as a European firm; our connection to Europe is in our DNA through our diverse workforce, many of whom have European backgrounds and are multi or bilingual, speaking various European and global languages. We look forward to continuing to represent our clients in all European IP matters over the coming years.