The UK’s new consumer law regime

<p>Paul is a Partner in the intellectual property department – and co-head of the <a href="/expertise/litigation-dispute-resolution/brands-designs-copyright/">trade mark, designs and copyright</a> group – specialising in advertising and marketing law and brand protection matters generally. He joined Bristows in 2009.</p> <p>Though his experience covers the full range of intellectual property issues (both contentious and non-contentious), Paul’s work focuses on advertising regulation, content licensing, and trade mark and copyright infringement. His experience includes advising on: global IP protection, multi-platform advertising clearance, social media campaigns, global brand restructuring, passing off disputes, brand launches, and the preparation and defence of ASA, PhonepayPlus, Trading Standards and CMA investigations.</p> <p>Paul’s wide range of clients includes major brand owners, car manufacturers, retailers, airlines, financial service providers and media companies.</p> <p>Paul regularly speaks on brand protection and advertising law matters and has been widely published, including in the leading advertising industry guide – Ad Law – published by the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising. He was recently appointed as the UK editor of INTA’s Trade Dress portal.</p>

<p>Richard heads our <a href="/expertise/transactions/commercial-ip-transactions/">Commercial & IP transactions</a> group and co-heads the firm’s <a href="/expertise/sectors/life-sciences/">life sciences</a> sector group.</p> <p>His practice focuses on commercial transactions and advisory work that usually involve the development, exploitation and protection of IP rights at their core, across a range of sectors. These sectors include life sciences; media, entertainment and sport; consumer products, and retail.</p> <p>With coming up 30 years’ experience, Richard’s work has included advising and negotiating licensing, distribution, manufacturing and supply arrangements, as well as commercial contracts in his focus sectors, and advising on the related commercial and IP aspects of corporate deals. Much of Richard’s work involves cross-border and global projects.</p> <p>Richard has a scientific background and has also worked on secondment with in-house legal teams, both as an associate and as a partner.</p>

<p>With over 25 years’ experience, Robert really enjoys helping clients resolve competition law and consumer investigations, disputes, merger control and UK national security issues.</p> <p>Robert has advised on multiple sectors, such as sports and construction, but is particularly recognised for his expertise in life sciences, technology and consumer products. He has advised on numerous competition law litigation cases from both a defendant and claimant perspective with a focus on abuse of dominance and the interplay between competition law and IP.</p> <p>Robert has advised on both EU and UK merger control and has an outstanding track record in terms of securing approval from regulators in difficult cases including securing approval of a monopoly in the Defence sector.</p> <p>He has attended numerous “dawn raids” by both the European Commission and the CMA in multiple sectors including pharmaceuticals, medical devices, construction, recruitment services and chemicals.</p> <p>Some of Robert’s work highlights include:</p> <ul> <li>Acting for Sun Pharma on its appeal to the Court of Justice for the European Union on “pay for delay” agreements and the defence of a Department of Health damages standalone and follow on claim relating to citalopram.</li> <li>Representing a construction company in relation to one of the first European Commission investigations into non-poaching arrangements.</li> <li>Acting for Teva in its defence of a Department of Health damages standalone and follow on claim relating to perindopril.</li> <li>Successfully defended a claim against a medical device manufacturer for abuse of a dominant position.</li> <li>Representing Sandoz in its follow on damages claim in relation to Gaviscon and a product hopping abuse.</li> <li>Secured approval of a monopoly merger in the Defence sector using the “Exiting Firm” exemption.</li> <li>Secured merger control approval from the CMA for the sale of Pfizer’s compounding business to Baxter International.</li> <li>Submitted the first ever successful appeal to the Competition Appeals Tribunal under the Competition Act 1998 overturning an adverse OFT Decision.</li> <li>Advised Ricoh on its successful defence of a £49m claim defining the application of competition law to non-compete restrictions.</li> <li>CMA/EC merger control: Acquisition of talkSPORT by News Corp for £220.3m (included media plurality).</li> <li>Submitted the first ever successful leniency application to the OFT under the Competition Law Act 1998.</li> </ul> <p>Robert spent a year on secondment with Reckitt Benckiser where he advised on competition law.</p> <p>Robert is a member of the Competition Law Association, ABA, and the Law Society Competition Section.</p>

<p>Francion has significant experience of competition litigation, including cases involving a cross-over with IP law. She has over 10 years’ experience of acting in FRAND cases for the likes of Samsung, Philips and Panasonic, with a particular focus on the competition law and economic valuation aspects of those cases.</p> <p>Francion also frequently advises on merger control and interactions with the CMA including investigations, market studies and third party RFIs. She has a particular interest in the new digital markets competition regime (under the DMCC Act) which establishes new powers for the CMA to regulate big tech firms in the UK.</p> <p>Francion’s practice also involves advising clients on complex agreements and behavioural issues across all sectors. This includes issues arising from the cross-over with IP law for which many of her clients are in high technology sectors including tech and life sciences.</p> <p>Francion has a background in Mathematics and Competition Economics making her well placed to advise on complex competition law issues.</p> <p>Some of Francion’s recent experience includes:</p> <ul> <li>Acting for Panasonic in UK litigation seeking a FRAND licence.</li> <li>Acting for Philips in UK litigation seeking a FRAND licence.</li> <li>Advising Bestway on its acquisition of the UK pharmacy wholesale and retail business of Lexon, one of the fastest Phase 1 clearance decisions before the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).</li> <li>Leading on the competition law defence for a Japanese pharmaceutical company in an arbitration in connection with the development and subsequent commercialisation of a blockbuster monoclonal antibody therapeutic.</li> <li>Assisting an animal medicines manufacturer with the CMA’s market investigation into the veterinary sector.</li> <li>Working at the CMA (on secondment) to develop the new Vertical Agreements Block Exemption Order (VABEO).</li> </ul> <p>Francion has spent time on secondment at the CMA, Google and at the antitrust teams of two Chinese law firms. She is the resident lawyer for the British Brands Group’s competition law compliance training programme.</p>

<p>Tim trained with Bristows and qualified into the brands, designs and copyright group in 2014.</p> <p>He has worked on a range of both contentious and non-contentious matters and advises across the full spectrum of ‘soft’ IP rights, including trade marks, passing off, copyright and designs. He also advises brands and publishers on compliance with UK advertising regulations and domain name disputes.</p> <p>In addition to his experience in private practice, Tim has completed secondments with several multi-national companies including Diageo and McDonald’s, advising on brand protection, IP disputes and advertising law.</p> <p>Tim is a member of IPSoc and writes and speaks on his areas of interest, including for the Globe Law & Business publication “Brand Protection Online” and Bristows’ Brands Review of the Year.</p>

<p>Sean has been part of the Bristows team who have acted in some of the leading IP cases over the last decade. He has experience handling disputes from the pre-action stage, through trial and on to appeal. He has also acted in numerous interim applications as well as quantum proceedings.</p> <p>In recent years, he has acted for:</p> <ul> <li>Samsung (as co-counsel) in trade mark infringement proceedings brought by Swatch relating to the sale of watch face apps. The dispute reached the Court of Appeal in 2023 and the dispute has now reached a damages inquiry.</li> <li>Newmark (part of Cantor Fitzgerald) in passing off proceedings, brought by our client to ensure continued use of the name in the UK.  The proceedings were stayed shortly before the start of a 12-day trial.</li> <li>Vectura in passing off proceedings brought by GlaxoSmithKline concerning the shape and colour of an asthma inhaler.</li> <li>Fidelis in trade mark infringement proceedings brought by Fidelity.</li> <li>Blizzard in copyright infringement proceedings and a subsequent account of profits. Blizzard’s claim related to the sale of unauthorised ‘cheats’ and ‘bots’ for its multi-player online games including World of Warcraft.</li> <li>Thomas Pink in trade mark infringement proceedings brought against Victoria’s Secret in relation to the PINK brand.</li> </ul> <p>Sean also has extensive experience in the operation of enforcement programmes to protect trade marks, copyright and design rights, particularly in the fashion, jewellery and consumer goods sectors, having acted for household brands such as McDonald’s.</p> <p>Separately, Sean also advises both brands and publishers on compliance with advertising regulations, related disputes between competitors, and investigations by the UK’s advertising regulator, the ASA and enforcement action taken by the CMA in relation to consumer protection legislation. He has advised a number of high-profile brands on their response to ASA investigations.</p> <p>Sean writes and speaks on his areas of interest, including for Bristows’ Brands Review of the Year, Designs and Copyright Review of the Year, the Kluwer copyright blog and LexisNexis. He has contributed to publications including Brand Protection Online and International Advertising Law. Sean also speaks regularly at conferences including the annual White Paper trade mark law conference. He has also presented a number of webinars for MBL including on copyright and trade mark law, and the protection of image rights in the UK.</p>

<p>Elisa is an associate in the commercial technology and data protection team at Bristows and advises clients on all aspects related to data privacy and technology transactions.</p> <p>She has experience in drafting and negotiating a broad range of technology contracts covering software licensing, joint ventures, AdTech, artificial intelligence, telecoms and outsourcing. Through her work and in-house experience, Elisa has gained an in depth understanding of how global technology companies and software vendors operate and advises clients on cross-border digital transformation projects. For example, Elisa has assisted clients on the development and commercialisation of new technology platforms and the launch of new AI solutions in Europe. As part of this, Elisa also provides guidance on consumer law and e-commerce regulations.</p> <p>Elisa also advises large data rich companies on a range of data protection and privacy issues, with a particular focus on companies operating in the technology and life sciences sectors. Her work ranges from implementing broad compliance programmes to product specific advice on complex areas of data privacy laws. She has also gained experience in negotiating global data transfer agreements and has advised clients in responding to regulatory enforcement actions by data protection authorities.</p> <p>Elisa spent time on secondment in the legal department of Google DeepMind, where she provided product counselling and advised on the development and launch of multiple AI models, including high profile launches such as AlphaFold. She also completed a secondment at a multi-national software company, gaining extensive experience in negotiating SaaS agreements.</p>