Year of call: 1999

Described in the directories as “enormously bright and diligent, with a keen focus on client demands”, “a knowledgeable and deeply impressive adviser on the full spectrum of IP disputes” and “widely considered to be one of the rising stars of the IP Bar”, Mark has been nominated for the Chambers and Partners IP/IT Junior of the Year in both 2014 and 2015. He practices in all areas of intellectual property law, with particularly strong expertise in major patent litigation where he is described as a “sector leading” litigator. He has considerable experience in appearing as the sole advocate both at first instance and in the Court of Appeal, as well as in the EPO.

Mark has an outstanding reputation in the patents field, having acted in many of the leading cases. Recent pharmaceutical and biotech cases include FKB v. AbbVie (‘Arrow declarations’, adalimumab), Teva v. Boehringer (inhaled tiotropium), Novartis v. Focus (rivastigmine patches), Hospira v. Genentech (Herceptin), Teva v. Leo (calcipotriol/betamethasone), Resolution Chemicals v H. Lundbeck (escitalopram/res judicata), Teva v Merck (efavirenz/quia timet actions), Eli Lilly v HGS (Neutrokine-α), Regeneron Pharmaceuticals v Genentech (VEGF Trap-EYE®/Lucentis®), Ranbaxy v AstraZeneca (Swiss-form claims/esomeprazole), and Convatec v Smith & Nephew (Durafiber® wound care products). Mark has represented Nokia in the Interdigital, IPCom and HTC litigations, and Unwired Planet against Google, Samsung and Huawei, as well as working with a number of other high profile telecoms and licensing companies on both standards essential and non-essential patents. He has also appeared in both high tech and mechanical patent actions, including appearing alone in the leading Court of Appeal case on indirect infringement of Grimme Landmaschinenfabrik GmbH & Co. KG v Derek Scott

Other areas of practice include media and entertainment, where Mark has represented broadcasters, record companies, picture libraries and well-known personalities in copyright and privacy claims, as well as having experience in musical copyright actions concerning substantial hits. His media clients include Northern & Shell, the Premier League Football Association, the Ian Fleming Estate, the BBC, ITV Network, Phonographic Performance, and various record companies and well known personalities.

Trade mark, passing off, copyright, design rights and complex copyright/breach of confidence actions (often involving commercial information such as client lists or technical software disputes), constitute other common areas of his practice. Mark also has experience in professional negligence cases concerning patent and IP professionals, the most recent being Kerr v Lawrence Shaw & Associates.