Sigurjónsson & Thor was established in 1950. The firm comprises partners Valborg Kjartansdóttir and Magnús Haukur Magnússon, and associate Magnús Hrafn Magnússon.
Partners
Ms Kjartansdóttir graduated as a lawyer from the University of Iceland in June 1984. She joined Sigurjónsson & Thor in 1985 and became a partner in January 1989. She is a member of the International Federation of Intellectual Property Attorneys (FICPI), the International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property, the European Communities Trademark Association, the International Trademark Association and the Icelandic Bar Association, and an overseas member of the Institute of Trademark Attorneys and the Licensing Executives Society. She served on the board of the Association of Icelandic Trademark and Patent Agents as treasurer (1989-1999 and March 2001-2002) and as chairman (2002-2007). Ms Kjartansdóttir is a European patent attorney and has frequently commented on changes in Icelandic IP law and regulations. She has lectured on trademark law at the University of Iceland.
Magnús Haukur Magnússon graduated from the University of Iceland in June 1984 and has practised as a lawyer since 1985. He joined Sigurjónsson & Thor as a partner in 1997. He is a member of the FICPI and the Icelandic Bar Association, and became a Supreme Court attorney in November 1996. Mr Magnússon is a European patent attorney and a member of the Association of Icelandic Trademark and Patent Agents, and has served on the association’s board since 2007. He also served on the Board of Appeal in Competition Matters (1999-2000).
Magnús Hrafn Magnússon is a Supreme Court attorney and joined the firm in the beginning of 2016. He has broad experience in handling cases before Icelandic courts at district and appellate level. In prior positions he has provided legal services to a wide selection of companies, ranging from small businesses to companies listed on the Icelandic Stock Exchange. He also has experience in cross-border transactions and the drafting of commercial contracts in Icelandic and English. He was a lecturer in contract and IP law at the University of Iceland (2009-2012), lecturer for the mandatory licensing course for stock brokers since 2010 and has been a supervising lecturer in corporate law at the University of Reykjavik since 2012. His specialisations are company law, intellectual property, unfair competition and contract law.
Specialist areas
The firm specialises in intellectual property and unfair competition, and provides IP protection services including representation before the Patent Office, the Board of Appeal, other authorities and the courts. Legal advice and representation before the authorities and the courts in all areas of industrial property law (including patents) and unfair competition law are an important part of the firm’s services. A high percentage of our clients are foreign companies seeking IP assistance in Iceland. Our clients come from all business sectors, including pharmaceuticals, food and beverages, finance and fashion. The firm also cooperates with law firms in other countries and represents both domestic and international clients from Europe, the United States and Asia. The firm also represents clients from Iceland – both companies and individuals.
The firm’s staff includes professionals with extensive experience of trademark work who provide services from the very first stages of legal advice, including trademark searches, opinions, advice regarding protection strategies and defences against breach of trademark rights. The firm continues to offer legal advice in relation to the filing and prosecution of patent applications, but the main part of its practice relates to trademarks and unfair competition.
Our work
Examples of previous work include various cases before the district court and the Supreme Court, and before the Board of Appeal for trademark matters. The firm has been successfully involved in cases before the Board of Appeal – for example, an important case for a famous foreign company where registration of a trademark was rejected by the Patent Office and the rejection was overturned by the Board of Appeal.