DLA Piper

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Editorial coverage

DLA Piper Weiss-Tessbach has a two-partner team in Alexander Cizek and Sabine Fehringer with the former heading the practice. The firm represented some large brands in the clothing, IT and motor industries in anti-counterfeiting and brand protection work last year. Many of the cases used the knowledge and experience of DLA Piper's other CEE offices, aiding the Austrian side on European trade mark and copyright law.

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Italy

DLA Piper has offices in Milan and Rome. The IP practice is led by location head Giangiacomo Olivi, practice head Roberto Valenti (both partners) and associate Alessandro Ferrari. In 2010 Valenti was appointed chairman of the life sciences working group of the American Chamber of Commerce in Italy. The practice has been going through a restructuring process over the past year and grew in number with the hire of four new IP lawyers at associate level from rivals including Trevisan & Cuonzo, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Hogan Lovells. A number of new clients have also started to instruct the firm.

In 2010, Valenti and Ferrari advised Rainbow Magic (HIT Entertainment, which distributes cartoons like Thomas the Tank Engine and Pingu) in negotiations for co-existence agreements with Rainbow publishers for CTM Rainbow Magic and local trade mark Rainbow MagicLand. Valenti and associate Elena Martini also advised Vodafone in a software copyright case and were active representing Taghleef Italy in a multi-jurisdictional case against Treofan.

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United Kingdom

"They understand commercial drivers as well as the legal side," says a client of the "first-class" lawyers at commercial full-service firm DLA Piper. "They help clients to do business where other lawyers sometimes hinder." The firm offers solid IP advice to clients, particularly in copyright and trade mark litigation and sports work. Philippa Montgomerie is working with Aircraft Medical in a patent litigation case about an infringement allegation, while John McKinlay and Callum Sinclair advised client Glasgow 2014 on trade mark protection strategies and enforcement actions. Demonstrating the team's interaction with cutting-edge work, it advises Roslin and Pfizer on their research grade, which has substantial implications on the progression of stem cell therapies and products in the UK.

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Netherlands - Benelux

DLA Piper was one of the most widely recognised "up and coming" IP practices in the market last year and consequently moves up a Tier in the trade mark contentious table. Led by Niels Mulder the firm has represented global brands such as Nike, TomTom and Visor.

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