CMS

Firm overview:

CMS combines litigation with one of the largest patent attorney practices within a full-service law firm in Europe, and has been integrating its patent services for some time. Clients appreciate having a single point of contact at the firm for prosecution, regulatory, and litigious matters. Over the past year, the team has continued to represent big-ticket clients across technology and the life sciences, including Microsoft, Sanofi and AstraZeneca. Increasingly, biotech companies are taking advantage of the firm’s multidisciplinary offering.

Known for its expertise in international patent matters, advisory work is a core strength of CMS, particularly in relation to due diligence for fundraising and corporate deals and the interlap between patents and market exclusivity rights. Expertise within the team extends to cutting-edge technology, from quantum computing chips to the patentability of artificial neural networks.

With widely-reported cases for household name brands on its docket, CMS’s patent litigation team is well positioned to compete in the “big leagues” of the market for pharma, telecommunications and medical device clients. The firm has increased its focus on collaboration with its CMS European offices, drawing on expertise in all the major Unified Patent Court (UPC) locations.

Team overview:

CMS’s UK patent team is predominantly based in London, with additional team members in Sheffield, Glasgow and Edinburgh. The firm opened a representative office in Silicon Valley in spring 2024 which acts as a US hub for its clients, and the team regularly collaborates with colleagues across Europe on cross-border mandates.

Robert Stephen heads up the patent attorney practice, and is also co-chair of the firm’s Life Sciences practice. With a background in biochemistry and molecular genetics, Stephen advises on strategic patent portfolio management and is active before the European Patent Office, having handled over 60 oppositions and appeals.

An industry peer recommends partner Rachel Free for high quality prosecution work. Free is a UK and European patent attorney, and a UPC representative, with an MSc in artificial intelligence and a DPhil in vision science.

Mark Shillito leads the patent litigation team and has over three decades of assisting clients such as Apple, BSkyB and Vodafone to manage risk, commercialise assets and resolve complex and high-value disputes.

Partner Caitlin Heard, who has successfully represented clients in numerous international disputes, is a “fantastic litigator” according to industry peers. In 2024 she represented longstanding client Microsoft in substantial High Court patent litigation in the UK which was settled a few weeks before trial following a three-year campaign. She also represented Sainsbury’s in defending an allegation of infringement of a plant variety right.

Other go-to attorneys at the firm include partner Jane Evenson, who has an extensive EPO opposition practice and focuses on the biotech and pharmaceutical fields.

Key matters:

• Patent prosecution—Microsoft

Microsoft is one of the top patent filers in the world, investing $29 billion in R&D on a worldwide basis in its fiscal year 2024. The CMS patent team, which integrates patent prosecution experts with litigators, is entrusted to protect those investments in Europe; handling in excess of 2,000 live patent applications, and prosecution work with high-value, business critical stakes.

The range of technology areas involved is wide and complex including quantum computing, telecommunications, generative AI and machine learning, augmented reality, cloud and data centre technologies, AI accelerators, security technology and more. The patent team also handles the European patent portfolios for a number of recent acquisitions, including Lumenisity.

Partners Rachel Free and Helen Wallis lead the CMS team for the work.

• Patent portfolio strategy and management—Skin Analytics

The team has advised on patent portfolio building and strategy, including invention harvesting, for scale-up client Skin Analytics. The company helps more people survive skin cancer by deploying autonomous AI for dermatology in the NHS. Its technology involves advanced AI software applications, computer vision, machine learning, optics, and more.

One of the client’s products, DERM, is the world’s first autonomous skin cancer detection system approved for clinical decisions in Europe.

Leading the work are partner Rachel Free and European patent attorney Graeme Roddick.

• Defence of patent infringement claim—Microsoft

CMS has been retained by Microsoft to defend a claim of patent infringement in the UK High Court. This relates to an allegation that certain server architectures deployed at the client’s UK datacentres infringe the claims of the patent. The patentee sought an injunction over the Microsoft Azure datacentres, and the case formed part of a global dispute with patent infringement proceedings in the US.

The matter settled in March 2025. CMS’s team on the case included partner Caitlin Heard, senior associate Fionnuala Rice, associates Jack Rigelsford and Oliver Roberts, and patent attorneys Graeme Roddick and Lewis Yule.

• Alleged infringement of plant breeders’ right—Sainsbury’s

Sainsbury’s instructed CMS to defend it in proceedings related to the alleged infringement of a plant breeders’ right (PBR) owned by Nador Cott Protection. The claim was brought in the High Court (Patents Court) under the Shorter Trials Scheme.

The claim, part of a wider global dispute, relates to the alleged import, stocking and sale of Tang Gold / Tango mandarins in the UK by Sainsbury’s. Nador Cott claimed that the fruits were an essentially derived variety of its Nadercott mandarins and infringed its PBR.

Claims relating to plant breeders’ rights are uncommon in the UK. The matter settled recently; trial was scheduled for February 2024.

CMS’s team included partner Caitlin Heard, senior associate Fionnuala Rice, and associates Jack Rigelsford and Omri Shirion.

• Intervention in UK Supreme Court case—CIPA and IP Federation

CMS is acting for the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys (CIPA) and IP Federation on an invention into the Supreme Court case Emotional Perception v Comptroller. The case, which addresses the patentability of artificial neural networks, will impact how the UK approaches patenting in the AI space.

The Supreme Court will hear the case in July 2025. CMS’s team includes partner Caitlin Heard, senior associate David Poutney and associate Omri Shirion.

Clients:

Estar Medical, HydraWell, Mayborn (Tommee Tippee) Microsoft, Sainsbury’s, Stockmeier