Leaders Directory
WIPR Leaders is a one-stop guide to the leading IP practitioners in the world. The handbook lists over 2,500 lawyers across patent, trademark, and copyright practices. Following an extensive nomination period, our research team vetted the nominated lawyers for suitability by exploring their work. This meant looking at practice history, industry expertise and notable cases, as well as any additional activities, such as writing and teaching responsibilities, which have allowed the lawyers to shape and influence other and future IP practitioners.
Featured Leaders
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Partner Rob Rodrigues manages high-stakes business and intellectual property disputes in Brazil. He assists FORTUNE 500 companies and startups in matters requiring complex technical ability with strategic approach. Rob is managing patent portfolios of the largest life sciences and telecommunications companies in the planet. His understanding of the Brazilian market makes him a “go-to” lawyer when dealing with enforcement measures. Rob is an experienced attorney and acts as lead counsel in several preliminary injunction proceedings and patent trials. In addition, Rob assists clients with the largest transactions involving IP assets. His litigation-oriented mindset adds value when managing cross border risks. His clients praise his technical skills, his ability to perform under pressure and his outstanding leadership in the local community. He has also published articles in technology law journals around the world and is currently an editor of the Kluwer Patent Blog. Licks Attorneys
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Partner Henry Gabathuler is a partner in the Patent and Litigation Practice Group at Leason Ellis, where he counsels clients ranging from start-ups to Fortune 100 companies on all aspects of patent prosecution, litigation, and intellectual property portfolio development and licensing. Henry is a registered patent attorney and has extensive experience securing patent protection in the U.S. and worldwide. He also handles patent, trademark, copyright, antitrust and general business litigation matters, at both the district court and appellate court levels and often in a leading role. He counsels clients in a variety of industries including computer hardware and software, oil and gas, consumer electronics, telecommunications and medical technologies. Leason Ellis LLP
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Partner/Attorney at Law/Trademark Agent As a partner and director of the international trademark department of Unitalen Attorneys at Law, Lei (Ray) Zhao has accumulated extensive practical experience in trademark prosecution and IP enforcement.
Zhao works as a legal consultant providing IP services for many listed companies, famous domestic companies, public figures and multinational clients in litigation and non-litigation cases regarding patents, trademarks, unfair competition, trade secrets, domain names and network infringements.
He also counsels clients on IP strategy and IP infringement issues. Unitalen Attorneys At Law
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Partner and Patent Attorney In his activity as patent attorney, Jan works in the fields of materials science and basic industry (metallurgy, metal processing, ceramics, glass, building materials, plastics processing, industrial furnace design),as well as the technical sector in General and inorganic chemistry. In legal matters Jan has a special interest in contract law, in particular licensing and legal purchase agreements. He also has extensive dealings in opposition, nullity and infringement proceedings.
As a German Patent attorney and as well as a European Patent Trade mark and Design Attorney of course another field of interest is trade mark and design/model law.
Jan has many years of experience in the field of industrial property protection (since 1996). He completed his training in a patent and legal attorneys’ office, in the German Patent and Trade mark Office and at the German Federal Patent Court. Afterwards Jan worked in a Munich attorneys’ office before becoming a co-founder of a Munich patent and legal attorneys’ office in 2002.
In 2013 Jan became founding Partner of Patronus IP in Munich. From March 1 he's Partner at HGF Europe LLP.
Prior to training as a patent attorney, Jan studied Material Sciences at the Technical University of Clausthal. In the course of the studies he gained experience in the glass industry, the cement and construction materials industry, and the refractory industry. HGF
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Chief International Marketing & Development Officer, Vice President Vice President, Licensing & Litigation Management
Chief International Development and Marketing Officer
Purplevine IP Group
China Purplevine IP Group
Women In IP
Partner Ashley has been practicing Chinese IP law since 2005 and was admitted to the PRC Bar in 2008. She is regularly involved in both contentious and non-contentious IP matters, specialising in trademark, copyright, domain name, Internet law and anti-unfair competition matters. Ashley has extensive experience before the China Trademark Office and the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board. Her client base includes international corporations from a wide range of industries. Ashley handles intellectual property transactions and licensing, as well as regulatory matters that affect a brand owner’s business operations in mainland China. She provides advice on domain name disputes, IP strategy and IPR enforcement with regards to online take-downs, AIC raid actions and litigation in China. AWA Asia Ltd
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Partner Simon Bradbury is a partner at Appleyard Lees, focusing on patents in the life sciences and biotechnology sectors. His broad expertise includes artificial intelligence and machine learning in drug discovery, medical devices, and microbiology. He has advised clients in matters relating to oppositions, appeals, infringement, revocations, and invalidity actions. His clients include large multinationals as well as startup companies. Appleyard Lees
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Partner Christian W. Appelt focuses on the counselling of SMEs in Germany and Europe in all aspects of intellectual property, especially patents and utility models, and on representing and advising large, internationally active companies, especially from Japan, China and the US. He has been a member of the Board of the German chapter of LES since 2010, acting as President from 2018 to 2020, and now being member of the Advisory Board of LES Germany. He represents his clients at the German patent authorities and courts, as well as at the European Patent Office (EPO) and at the UPC. Boehmert & Boehmert
Women In IP
Managing partner Laura Collada has more than 30 years’ experience in IP and is a managing partner at Dumont, where she has worked since 2000. She has taught copyright and industrial property law at various universities in Mexico City. She also worked as a director of the sub-office for the prevention of unfair competition at the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property.
Collada focuses her practice in the areas of fashion, media and telecommunications. She has written for World IP Review and is a member of INTA, Marques, AIPPI and ECTA. Dumont Bergman Bider & Co
Total results: 2400
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Partner Fabio Giacopello is senior partner at HFG Law & Intellectual Property. He’s been widely recognized as one of the most valuable intellectual property practitioners in China.
Fabio has substantive experience in trademark portfolio management, trademark disputes and litigations and enforcement, anti-counterfeiting, technology transfer, patent and trade secret litigations, arbitrations, commercial and corporate transactions.
Among others recognitions, Fabio has been nominated “Recommended lawyer” by Legal500, “Winner of Client Choice Award – Trademarks (China)” by ILO, “IP Star” by Managing Intellectual Property, “Notable practitioner” by Chamber and Partners, “Leading practitioner” by WIPR, “Expert in the trademark category” by Asia IP. HFG Law & Intellectual Property
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Director and Co-Founder As Director & Co-Founder of Effectual Services, one of the India's fastest-growing patent and trademark consulting firm. Dr Amit manages and supervises different practice groups at the firm and leads a team of 250+ professionals involved in patent/ trademark strategies, IP assets monetization, patent litigation and technology scouting. He has been providing IP asset management, technology research and strategy solutions to Fortune 500 companies in diverse technical domains.
Dr Amit has 18 years of international legal experience across IP services. He has worked with global companies ranging from multinational corporations, universities, start-ups and others. He has advised them on the development of their IP portfolios, acquisition of assets, patent licensing and patent portfolio management. He has also counselled on issues pertaining to M&A's, valuation of intellectual property, licensing and assessment of technological breakthroughs. Dr Amit has provided support to the R&D teams of multinational corporations in competitor intelligence, technology scouting and advisory/consulting. He has managed a number of open innovation programmes to identify potential partners and develop strategic alliances in different technical streams. Effectual Services & Global Legal Association
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Director of Southeast Asia and Senior Trademark Attorney Dan is the Director of Southeast Asia and Senior Trademark Attorney specializing in trademark law, representing major global brand owners and SMEs in contentious and non-contentious trademark matters across Southeast Asia. Dan is the only trademark lawyer in Southeast Asia with the unique combination of 20+ years of in-house trademark experience in senior roles along with expertise in leading major law firm trademark/IP teams. Dan was International Trademark Counsel for THE COCA-COLA COMPANY and Senior Trademark Counsel for SONY CORPORATION. Dan clients include many of the world’s most famous brands. S&O IP
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Partner | Trade Mark Attorney Ms. Griffiths is a partner and trademark attorney with more than 15 years’ experience in litigation practices. Her practice is focused on all forms of intellectual property with a keen interest in copyright and, in particular, software, publishing and the creative industries. She has knowledge and experience in all types of enforcement matters in various African territories and has also advised clients on legislative amendments and Regulatory matters.
She has been involved in the representation of, and has acted for, prominent local and international clients across many different industries including fashion, information technology, food and beverage, and retail Adams & Adams
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Partner Guan Huat is a litigator with over 30 years of experience, with a focus on intellectual property litigation. He commenced his legal career with the Attorney-General's Chambers in 1987. He is a member of the Panels of Conciliators and Arbitrators of the International Centre for Settlement of Disputes (ICSID). In 2008, he acted as counsel for a former Chief Justice in hearings conducted by a Royal Commission of Inquiry set up by the Malaysian government. He has also appeared as an expert witness on Malaysian law in several matters, including arbitration proceedings, in the United States and in Singapore. SKRINE
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Partner Julia Gwilt has worked in the patent profession for over 20 years, managing the patent portfolios of clients in both the UK and overseas. Her mathematics background is a natural fit to her work on software-implemented inventions, including bioinformatics and communication networks. She enjoys close working relationships with both her UK based and international clients, to help them develop and implement their worldwide IP strategy. Gwilt has extensive experience of European opposition proceedings. In recent years, she has managed over 70 oppositions to European patents, most in the field of electronic program guides. Appleyard Lees
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Founding Partner Eduardo Hallak is one of the founding partners at Licks Attorneys and one of our leaders at the Sao Paulo office. For more than a decade, he has been working as a litigator before state and federal courts in Brazil in several complex disputes and leading cases involving Patent law, competition, and regulatory compliance, most of them pursuing the interests of clients in the area of life sciences. He also has extensive practice in trademark litigation as well as technology transfer contracts, working together with multinational clients to establish strong brand protection and licensing programs in the country. Mr. Hallak also currently teaches IP litigation in the Post-Graduation course at the prestigious Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUCRJ), has taught Civil Procedure at the at the Brazilian Association of IP Agents (ABAPI), and is often invited to lecture on procedural and strategic aspects of IP litigation, in addition to being a member of the Special Commission on Mediation of the Rio de Janeiro Chapter of the Brazilian Bar Association (OABRJ) and the Enforcement Committee of INTA. Licks Attorneys