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
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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
Women In IP
European Patent Attorney, CEO AWA Denmark, AWA group vice president Sidsel Hauge is a European patent attorney, chief executive officer of AWA Denmark and vice president of the AWA Group. She manages AWA’s Copenhagen office, advising clients engaged in the chemical and chemical engineering fields. Hauge assists clients with patent procurement including drafting and prosecution, and regularly provides litigation support in complex infringement cases. Hauge is an active participator in the IP community and is co-chair of American Intellectual Property Law Association’s women in IP international sub-committee. Hauge is also part of AWA’s trainee programme for future IP leaders, holding seminars for the trainees and regularly acting as a mentor. Expertise: patents, chemicals, pharmaceutical, life sciences, biotech, biotechnology. AWA Denmark
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Trademark attorney, LLM After obtaining her LL.M degree and finishing her practical training in the United States, Wenpei joined Chofn in 2013. Although she left Chofn for two years due to relocation, she came back to Chofn in 2018.
With over 8 years of experience in this industry, Wenpei has in-depth and diverse knowledge and practice experience in all aspects of trademark and copyright prosecution and enforcement. Wenpei’s work focuses on trademark search, opposition, appeal against rejection, invalidation, etc. Besides trademark matters, Wenpei also provides services in respect of domain names and customs. She is able to provide exceptional professional service to clients.
She has served many clients such as BBC, Thann, Okamoto, etc. Chofn Intellectual Property
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Partner | Trade Mark Attorney Dale Healy is a partner and trademark attorney at Adams & Adams.
He advises clients on all aspects of trade mark and copyright enforcement, representing many high-profile South African and global corporations in their contentious trademark and copyright matters on the African continent. His experience includes the preparation of written advice, cease and desist letters and pleadings for High Court and Tribunal matters; urgent and routine High Court motions for interim or final injunctions; and ex-parte motions for the preservation of evidence (Anton Piller motions).
He also runs software compliance programmes for several clients. Adams & Adams
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Partner Chris is a dual-qualified solicitor and chartered trade mark attorney, experienced in contentious and non-contentious intellectual property (IP) matters, including trade marks, designs, copyright and patents.
Working closely with a range of businesses, from blue-chip multinationals to SMEs, Chris provides tailored strategic and commercial advice to help IP-conscious businesses better protect and police their IP rights.
Chris has capitalised on his experience and commercial know-how to build and establish the firm’s highly-respected disputes team, and has acted for and advised clients in the High Court, the IPEC, and the UK and European trade mark registries. Chris is also experienced in formal mediation.
Acting for clients across a spectrum of sectors, Chris specialises in fashion, sports, consumer goods, technology, food and beverage, and manufacturing sectors. He frequently works with clients to establish and maintain successful global anti-counterfeiting campaigns, both on and offline. Appleyard Lees
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Partner & Trademark Attorney Tingxi Huo is a trademark attorney and a partner of Chofn IP. He passed the Trademark Attorney Bar in 1998 and joined Chofn IP as a managing partner in 2010. Huo edited and translated The Classification of Similar Goods and Services for Registration of Trademarks in the People's Republic of China, which has become a must-have reference manual for trademark professionals in the IP industry. He has published articles and made many presentations on the Chinese trademark law and practice on different international occasions. He has been listed in WIPR Leaders, WTR 1000, and Asian IP Experts for consecutive years. Chofn Intellectual Property
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Partner Robert Isackson is an accomplished, front-line IP litigator, counselor, and advisor fluent in all aspects of patents, trade secrets, trademarks, copyrights and designs. Focusing on patent, trade secret and technology disputes in trial court, his work includes appellate litigation, strategic review and counseling, opinions, transactions and IP due diligence. With nine trials, Isackson also has been trial team lead in over 60 district court cases filed in more than 20 states. He drives matters toward solving client problems. He is currently president of the New York Intellectual Property Law Association and serves as pro bono partner for the firm. Leason Ellis LLP