Powell Gilbert

Firm overview:

“They are extremely capable,” says a UK industry peer, who is among those that rate Powell Gilbert as a top-flight practice. Established in 2007 as a litigation-focused IP boutique, the firm has retained its startup culture and flourished into a powerhouse for contentious patent matters.

For clients needing help with pan-European litigation strategies, the firm has a strong lineup of experts with scientific and technical academic backgrounds. They are “highly recommendable, in particular in the field of medical devices”, says a contact who works with the team, with another appreciating that they are “sensitive to the commercial issues important to the client beyond the legal questions”. Other sector specialisms include life sciences, biopharma, tech (including SEP / FRAND) and consumer products.

Litigation is the firm’s key domain, and it handles many of the leading cases before the UK and European courts, with a particularly distinguished practice before the Unified Patent Court (UPC). Powell Gilbert opened a European office in Dublin in 2023 as the base for its UPC activities and has since acted for claimants including Ocado and Edwards Lifesciences and defendants such as ASUS before the new forum.

The team has acted for other leading companies in complex matters in the last year or so including BioNTech, Tesla, ZTE, Samsung Bioepis and Saint-Gobain.

Team overview:

The firm’s 15 partners operate out of offices in London and Dublin.

Questions have been raised within the industry over whether co-founder Tim Powell’s departure in October 2024 to join Morgan Lewis leaves the firm with a succession issue. Commenting at the time the move was made public, fellow co-founder Penny Gilbert said that Powell “leaves us in good shape and will always be a friend of the firm”. Undoubtedly, the team boasts some highly experienced partners and talented junior lawyers and peers comment that it is, for now, “still a top tier firm”.

Gilbert, a life sciences specialist, represents clients before all levels of the UK patent courts as well as advising on European patent litigation strategic and co-ordinating cross-border disputes. She has a degree in biochemistry and a doctorate in molecular biology.

Current talent at the firm includes partner Tess Waldron, a qualified doctor who uses her medical background when advising life sciences clients.

Partners Bethan Hopewell and Joel Coles are “commercially focused and provide excellent strategic counsel and advice”, says a peer. Hopewell’s practice focuses on complex IP disputes; she has been involved in two cases that have reached the Supreme Court, and co-ordinated multi-jurisdictional patent disputes.

Coles is an experienced patent litigator who has worked on a number of recent leading cases in the life sciences field, and has a PhD in biochemistry.

Other notable members of the team include partners Siddharth Kusumaker and Bryce Matthewson who are described as “highly recommendable” due to their “legal and technical expertise”. As well as acting in some of the most high-profile patent cases to come before the UK courts in recent years, Kusumaker is involved in UPC actions.

Matthewson, who became a partner in 2024, has a technical background in chemistry and takes on the role of co-ordinating counsel for a broad range of pan-European patent litigation matters. He has notably acted for Biogen and Edwards Lifesciences in this role, as well as representing those clients in the UK courts.

Key matters:

• Multiple patent litigations—BioNTech

Powell Gilbert has been representing BioNTech in UK infringement and revocation proceedings concerning patents held by Moderna in a widely-reported dispute over COVID-19 mRNA vaccine technology.

UK trials in those proceedings took place in 2024, with parallel proceedings ongoing in Ireland (currently stayed), Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium (stayed) and the US.

In a separate matter, the team is representing BioNTech in relation to claims of patent infringement made by CureVac, which sought damages for the sales of BioNTech and Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccines in the UK.

Powell Gilbert is also advising the client in relation to UPC infringement proceedings commenced by Promosome in relation to a European patent in the Munich Local Division—one of the first blockbuster biotech disputes in the UPC, and the first time the venue has been used in the so-called COVID vaccine wars.

Leading the team for Powell Gilbert are partners Penny Gilbert, Joel Coles, Tess Waldron and Peter FitzPatrick.

• Pan-European patent litigation—Edwards Lifesciences

Powell Gilbert represents Edwards Lifesciences in patent litigation with Meril Life Sciences over medical devices / transcatheter heart valves. The complex dispute is one of the largest in Europe, spanning over 15 countries and the UPC, and includes multiple components.

Siddharth Kusumaker and Bryce Matthewson are the lead partners.

• UPC proceedings—ASUSTek Computer

The team represents ASUS in four sets of proceedings before the UPC, all brought by Ericsson against ASUS.

The dispute before the Lisbon Local Division was the first preliminary injunction (PI) action to be heard in that division and the first PI proceeding in the high-tech space. The hearing took place in September 2024 and Powell Gilbert successfully defeated the PI request, protecting ASUS from an injunction covering a large number of its European products. Proceedings on the merits have been commenced by Ericsson.

Lead lawyers for the matter are partners Alex Wilson, Ari Laakkonen, Tom Oliver, Pete Damerell and Rajvinder Jagdev.

• FRAND / 5G patent litigation—Tesla v InterDigital & Avanci

Tesla is asking the English court to declare that the rates being sought in the Avanci 5G Licensing Program (of which InterDigital is a member) are not FRAND and to determine the terms that would be FRAND. In addition, Tesla is challenging the validity and essentiality of three InterDigital patents declared to the 5G standard.

Powell Gilbert’s team representing Tesla is led by partners Bethan Hopewell, Pete Damerell and Rajvinder Jagdev.

Clients:

AIM Sport, ASUS, Bhagat Textile Engineers, Biogen, BioNTech, City Glass and Glazing, DSM, Edwards Lifesciences, Garrett Motion, Glenmark, IDnow, Philip Morris International, NadorCott, Ocado, Saint Gobain, Samsung Bioepis, Tesla, ZTE