WIPR Leaders
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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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 After over 20 years as a Federal District Court Judge and an Appellate Judge in the Federal Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (sitting in Rio de Janeiro), Liliane Roriz joined Licks Attorneys as a partner in 2013 after her retirement and is one of our leaders at the Rio de Janeiro office. Before becoming a Federal Judge, she was also a Federal Attorney for the Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office. During her time as an Appellate Judge, Liliane Roriz chaired the Federal Magistracy School(EMARF) and the IP Specialized Second Panel of Appellate Judges, presiding the hearing of historic leading cases in Brazilian IP law, such as second medical use and pipeline patents, the role of the Brazilian FDA during the prior approval proceeding for pharmaceutical patents, trade dress, trademark dilution, and the applicability of the TRIPS agreement, as well as several highcomplexity IP trials related to a number of technology areas. Licks Attorneys
Women In IP
Partner Raka is a Partner at Galadari Advocates & Legal Consultant, where she plays a blended role of a commercial and employment lawyer and at the same time heads our Intellectual Property and Data Protection practice at Galadari Advocates & Legal Consultants. She brings a wealth of experience in high profile projects and transactions in IP Auditing, advisory roles for any IP or commercial IP issues (advertisement issues, consumer protection laws, review of product warranties, social media terms, product guidelines, privacy issues, data protection etc.), IP prosecution, brand clearance and opposition, anti-counterfeiting and all the related contentious issues. Raka also specializes in employment law matters, corporate and commercial. She regularly advises local and international entities on employment and immigration law and routinely provides advisory services on policies, procedures and contractual documentation. She also helps clients with business structuring and reorganization, including on high-profile appointments and contract termination strategies, redundancy, salary cut, transfer of employment and amendment to terms and conditions from both the ends of employers and employees, for local land and free zone companies. Galadari Advocates & Legal Consultants
Women In IP
Founder & Managing Partner Mahua Roy Chowdhury, is a pioneer in the field of IP and has propagated significance of IP Valuation, and monetisation at a time when there was not enough awareness or exponents of the same in India. She formed association of IT companies, worked with Crime branch and Police and Customs for IP awareness and for enforcement of IP, while conducting more than 500 raids with Police all over India. She has drafted and filed more than 800 patents for her clients in India.
She is recognized as Top Individual Lawyer, Leading Dispute Resolution Lawyer, Leading Lawyer in IP, Leading Women in IP, Best Managing Partner etc by several reputed organisations like Forbes, Legal 500, ALB, IBLJ, WTR, WIPR.
Mahua has authored several articles, published in reputed international journals. ROYZZ & Co
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Senior Partner Manish Saurastri is a Partner with Krishna & Saurastri Associates LLP. He has demonstrated credentials in all aspects of Intellectual Property law and enforcement, especially in Patents, Trade Marks and Copyrights litigations. He has been the preferred choice of numerous domestic and international clients to advise and handle their IP issues. In addition to Patents and Trade Marks prosecution, his prowess extends to providing counseling to clients on all aspects involving the  divestitures and joint ventures, anti-counterfeiting measures, transactions,  confidentiality, data protection and passing off, etc. Krishna & Saurastri Associates LLP
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Attorney at Law Germany Volker Schmitz-Fohrmann has worked at Boehmert & Boehmert since 1998. He has represented clients in the entertainment, computing, automobile and medical devices industries. He teaches at the Munich University of Applied Sciences. He is a member of INTA, APRAM and the German Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property. Schmitz-Fohrmann's notable cases include Heidelberger Bauchemie, Davidoff v Gofkid and a case regarding the requirements for obtaining 3-d trademark protection, which all took place at the Court of Justice of the European Union. Boehmert & Boehmert
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Partner Martin Schwimmer is a partner in the trademark and copyright practice group at Leason Ellis who litigates in US federal district and appellate courts, and in the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. Through his work, Schwimmer has been at the forefront of the forces that have transformed trademark law—including domain names, blogging, search engines, ecommerce, and social media. Schwimmer is on the Amicus committee of INTA, working on cutting-edge appellate cases. Schwimmer is best known as the publisher of The Trademark Blog, a blog devoted to trademark and copyright law, as well as a Twitter microblog (@trademarkblog). Leason Ellis LLP
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Partner Karin Segall represents clients of varied sizes in a wide range of industries through the life cycle of their trademark and copyright needs, from adoption and registration to portfolio management, enforcement, licensing and disputes—with an emphasis on practical guidance, conflict avoidance and resolution. Segall has been an adjunct professor at Pace Law School for 10 years, where she teaches both Trademark Procedure, a course she designed herself, and Copyright Law. She is also a regular contributor of articles to World Trademark Review. Leason Ellis LLP