Recommended by peers and clients for its quality, tradition and volume of work, Dannemann Siemsen Bigler & Ipanema Moreira continues its reign as the sole occupant of Tier one in every category this year. One competitor described the firm, which was founded in 1900, as being "so big it's like a country". The firm employs 148 attorneys in five offices across Brazil. Despite the size of the practice, market feedback has consistently testified to the high calibre of work, and Dannemann has been elected Managing IP's Brazilian IP Firm of the Year every year since 1997. Several customers of firms in other countries volunteered positive feedback about their experiences with Dannemann.
The firm has offices in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Brasília and associates in all Latin American, Asian and European countries. It also works through associates in the US and Canada. "It is big, but it still has quality and I think it is the best firm here," admitted one rival. Another said: "It's a very resourceful firm. For all work in trade marks and patents I would choose them."
In 2010, practitioners from Dannemann submitted comments on pre-draft bills regarding internet law and the new Brazilian Copyright Act. The practice is also well known for its nationwide IP enforcement programme, which deals with issues such as border actions and criminal seizures. The team includes in-house investigators and is headed by partner José Henrique Werner, who was elected a member of the Conselho Nacional de Combate à Pirataria (National Council against Piracy) and was one of the counsels representing the Brazilian Association of Intellectual Property (ABPI).
The firm also has a strong reputation in entertainment and copyright law and counts several major Hollywood movie and television studios amongst its clients. In recent years, it has expanded its practice in areas such as franchising, domain names and software registration, unfair competition and the licensing of industrial property rights and trade names.