Biography: Trademarks

With more than 30 years' experience in trademarks and brand protection, John advises clients on the selection, acquisition, exploitation and enforcement of trademark rights throughout the world. He has been involved in more than 1500 contested trademark cases at the second level of appeal or higher in more than 80 countries around the world and has litigated cases in more than 50 countries worldwide.

His clients include individuals through to multinational companies and he manages brand protection programmes for large global brands. John has lectured on trademarks and affiliated rights for many organisations and on virtually every continent. He conceived and executed a plan to restore trademark protection to the RITZ trademark which enabled the Ritz Paris hotel to implement a successful licensing programme. Being bilingual in English and French, with a social proficiency in German and Spanish, he has further enhanced his ability to assist clients in doing business in different countries.

John and his team have been recognised by the leading legal and intellectual property directories for more than 15 years. He is the author of many articles on trademarks and branding issues such as: Companies, Costs and Creating Value – Making Your Intellectual Property Work for You; International Trade Mark Portfolio Management: Maximising the return on your investment; The Community Trade Mark: from Experiment to Necessity; The Man from Alicante – Interview of Alexander von Mühlendahl; Time to focus on watching strategies; Surprising Facts about EU Expansion for Brand Owners; Beauty Transformed to Ugliness: Co-Existence Agreements in Modern Trade Mark Practice; The Surprising Power of European Design Protection: The Enhancement for all IP Portfolios; Design Right Protection in the UK, Europe, Middle East & Africa; Dilution and Famous Marks for Advanced Trademarks Practitioners; European and International Trademarks – Strategy in a Changing Landscape; Trademarks: The Importance of Evidence and Other Burning Issues Forum; and UGC on a Global Stage: Europe.

John is the co-author of Trade Marks Trade Names And Unfair Competition: World Law And Practice as well as Domain Names: Global Law And Practice. These treatises have both won plaudits as being the 'go to' source for the profession. He is currently featured as a leading lawyer in the UK Legal 500 and the UK Chambers listings as well as being highly recommended by the established Who's Who Legal directory, who cite him to be "world famous".