Intellectual property

Alison is a partner in the Brodies commercial services practise specialising in intellectual property law and information technology. Alison has over 20 years of experience in advising on complex intellectual property, information technology, data and commercial matters. Alison's practice also covers a broad platform of commercial contracts, including trade mark and patent licensing, complex collaboration arrangements, general technology agreements and payment services. Alison works with clients in a variety of sectors including food and drink, manufacturing, green energy innovation and fintech both in the UK and overseas.

Iain advises clients in relation to a broad range of commercial disputes with an emphasis on IT, IP & telecoms, oil & gas, corporate and financial services disputes. He has represented clients in relation to various IT/IP related disputes including trade mark and patent infringement, outsourcing, domain name and IT supplier disputes.Iain has also acted for banks and financial services institutions in relation to high profile and high value professional negligence, misrepresentation, contractual and pensions disputes and has acted in a wide variety of corporate litigation including warranty claims, unfair prejudice petitions and related shareholder disputes.Iain is a Solicitor Advocate and his practice is primarily in the UK Courts. He is, however, an enthusiastic proponent of alternative dispute resolution, with recent experience of mediation, international arbitration (IT, Oil & Gas, international trade) and expert determination (both financial and technical).

Partner Jamie leads the firm’s intellectual property & technology (IP&T) team, as well as the life sciences group. He is a specialist in both intellectual property law and cybersecurity, accredited by the Law Society of Scotland, and a specialist in international trade marks, certified by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). His expertise includes trade marks & brand management (including anti-counterfeiting), patent law, pharmaceuticals and medical devices (including their regulatory regimes), aquaculture and marine technology, blockchain and decentralised network innovation, software, IT/ICT and the internet, and music, entertainment, sports and publishing. In addition, the European Commission has recognised Jamie as an expert in intellectual property under the Horizon programme, and previously under Framework Programmes FP5 to FP7. He has advised both the European Commission on commercialisation policy and the OECD on open access policy. He has also assisted extensively with the development of IP related legislation at both the Scottish and UK parliaments. Prior to joining the firm he was the in-house IP manager at a leading Scottish university.  He has also worked in-house for a major independent record label and an artist management company. Jamie has extensive experience of cross border work and foreign jurisdictions, particularly the US, Netherlands, India and China. He also coordinates the Netherlands country desk, part of Harper Macleod’s international offering. He contributes regularly to journals such as Sports Law and Taxation on international IP related matters. Jamie is rated as an expert in trade mark matters by World Trade Mark Review, which comments that he “is highly skilled and experienced within the trademarks field, and has an impressively broad practice”. Jamie is rated as an expert in trade mark matters by World Trade Mark Review, which comments that he “is highly skilled and experienced within the trademarks field, and has an impressively broad practice”. He was named as an IP Star by Managing IP magazine in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018.