Barker Brettell is one of the United Kingdom’s largest IP providers – with 25 partners, 60 other fee earners and a large team of professional support staff specialising in IP portfolio strategy and management, clearance, prosecution, oppositions, cancellations and enforcement.
With head offices in Birmingham, the United Kingdom’s manufacturing heartland, the firm specialises in the automotive, aerospace, cosmetics, university, medical and food and drink sectors and advises clients across the world on patents, trademarks, copyright, designs and related matters, such as online infringement issues, domain names, company names and customs issues.
It also has in-house renewals and records teams, offering clients an efficient and reliable service with individual attention provided by experienced staff members. As a result, Barker Brettell is consistently praised for its proactive and pragmatic approach to client work.
The firm has seen exceptional growth in demand over the past year from its national and international clients, and several employees have received awards for their expertise and professionalism.
Trademark specialists
Barker Brettell has one of the largest trademark teams in the United Kingdom. Its client portfolio includes FTSE 100 companies such as Compass Group, Severn Trent and Wolseley; several FTSE 250 businesses, including Marston’s and National Express; and other leading brands, such as Grenade, Match and Autoglym.
Several members of the trademark team are sector specialists with extensive experience in the medical, food and drink, higher education and automotive sectors.
The firm’s attorneys have a wealth of knowledge in registering trademarks in the United Kingdom and Europe, acting directly before the UK Intellectual Property Office, the EU Intellectual Property Office and the World Intellectual Property Organisation. In addition, they have a wealth of experience protecting brands globally through a global network of trademark specialists selected for their cost-effective, high-quality client service.
The team advises clients on all manner of trademark matters, including IP strategy; the searching, filing and prosecution of applications; oppositions; cancellations; enforcement programmes; the negotiation of settlement agreements; renewals; assignments and licensing; domain name issues; internet takedown actions; customs and excise actions; due diligence exercises; portfolio management; and counterfeiting issues.
Patents
Barker Brettell has a large UK client base and features annually in the top five firms of UK patent attorneys based on the number of UK patents filed for applicants. It also files approximately 600 European patents every year across a wide range of sectors. Due to the large volume of UK-originating patents that the firm files overseas, especially in the United States, its attorneys are well placed to compare and contrast US and European Patent Office (EPO) patent protection. This enables Barker Brettell to add value when advising US patent attorneys, as the team understands what US attorneys find useful, enabling them to focus confidentially on the differences and maximise efficiency.
The firm’s patent services include secondments to internal patent departments, pre-filing advice and patentability searches, the drafting of applications for new inventions, the filing and prosecution of patent applications, advice on contentious issues, EPO opposition work, freedom-to-operate opinions, landscape searching, transactional work relating to licensing and IP-related due diligence.
Designs and copyright
Barker Brettell stands out as having a specialist team of design rights experts which advises clients, including global corporations and small and medium enterprises, on design-related matters. With much interplay between designs and other IP rights, the team consists of both trademark and patent attorneys who together provide robust and cost-effective strategies for design protection.
The firm’s attorneys have extensive expertise in working with and overlapping IP rights that exist in the United Kingdom and internationally. This global experience enables the firm to give tailored and commercially-focused advice on registered designs, unregistered design rights and copyright, as well as on infringement and enforcement issues relating to these rights.