Howard Kennedy LLP

IP & Commercial

Colin Sawdy is an intellectual property solicitor specialising in trade marks, copyright and designs. He is a partner and heads Howard Kennedy's Trade Marks practice.

Colin's practice focuses on international trade mark and design clearance, prosecution and portfolio management. He manages the filing and defence of opposition, revocation and invalidity actions, as well as, negotiates settlements and coexistence agreements. Colin regularly enforces clients' rights by way of dispute resolution and coordinating litigation in the UK and abroad. He is experienced in anti-counterfeiting matters and advises on, as well as, drafts intellectual property commercial agreements.

Colin assists clients with copyright and domain name matters, ranging from securing the protection of such rights through to their commercialisation and enforcement against infringing third parties.

He routinely advises clients in both written and spoken Japanese on a wide range of intellectual property matters, and regularly gives presentations in Japanese at industry events. He speaks, reads and writes Japanese fluently, having majored in Japanese language and culture as an undergraduate at university. He lived in Japan for over four years.

As a dual-qualified UK solicitor and US attorney at law, Colin provides strategic advice to clients seeking to protect intellectual property rights internationally. He is licensed to practise in the state of Illinois, having worked in the IP departments of international law firms in Chicago for a number of years.

Colin advises clients across a wide range of industries including computer games, financial services, technology, entertainment, media, character merchandising, cosmetics, fashion, art, sport, consumer electronics, household products, online retail, leisure and pharmaceuticals.