England - London • TMT (technology, media and telecoms)

Carpmaels & Ransford LLP

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Covering the full spectrum of IP rights, Carpmaels & Ransford LLP’s ‘highly intelligent’ and ’collaborative’ team is particularly noted for its expertise in advising healthcare innovators on EPO opposition defence and strategic prosecution. Heading the dispute resolution team is David Wilson, who is well-versed in the pharma and telecoms sectors, while Jake Marshall, who leads the IP transactions team, possesses numerous capabilities, from handling IP licensing deals to complex IP-heavy commercial arrangements. Ian Kirby has considerable experience in technology-related litigation. Camilla Balleny focuses on multi-jurisdictional patent litigation and life sciences-related advisory work. Jennifer Antcliff has successfully represented clients in leading life sciences cases in all courts up to, and including, the Supreme Court.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • 'Very practical approach, client focused, collaborative.'

  • ‘Camilla Balleny - strong litigation and coordination across the EU. Collaborative and client focused.’

  • ‘Great IP expertise in Europe.’

  • ‘Highly intelligent and strategic thinkers.’

  • ‘Very approachable and expert teams in the life sciences area. Very focused on what is in the clients' best interest.’

  • ‘Carpmaels is a very well-balanced mixed firm with strong litigators and patent attorneys. That strength and balance allowed them to seamlessly handle UK litigation, coordinate global litigation, and handle multiple EPO opposition proceedings and appeals - despite the different skill set required for each.’

  • ‘Ian Kirby did a great job managing a large team and clearly communicating strategy.’

  • ‘Strategic thinkers, commercially savvy and strong litigation experience. Ian Kirby stands out in all three of these qualities.'

Key clients

  • Johnson & Johnson group
  • Bristol Myers Squibb (formerly Celgene)
  • FibroGen, Inc.
  • AMO Development, LLC (part of the Johnson & Johnson group)
  • Janssen-Cilag Limited (part of the Johnson & Johnson group)
  • Janssen Pharmaceutica (part of the Johnson & Johnson group)
  • Janssen Oncology (part of the Johnson & Johnson group)
  • Ethicon, Inc. (part of the Johnson & Johnson group)
  • The LYCRA Company
  • Olympus Corporation
  • Novartis
  • Takeda
  • Stichting Hubrecht Organoid Technology (HUB)

Work highlights

  • Achieving an important victory for FibroGen (FibroGen Inc. v Akebia Therapeutics Inc. and Others), in which the Court of Appeal found that FibroGen’s patents were valid on the ground of sufficiency, a decision with wider legal relevance. Akebia has since sought permission to appeal to the Supreme Court, which was granted on 3 October 2022.
  • Acting for Janssen Pharmaceutica (part of the Johnson & Johnson group) in the SPC and dosage regimen patent defence relating to blockbuster product XEPLION.
  • Advising on a patent licensing and master services agreement for FabricNano to safeguard the foundation of their technology and provide the contractual framework for commercialising that technology.

Lawyers

Next Generation Partners

Jennifer Antcliff

Jennifer Antcliff

Carpmaels & Ransford LLP

Jenny is a partner in the firm’s Dispute Resolution team, ranked as a Next Generation Partner by Legal 500 (2022) and an Up and Coming Partner by Chambers & Partners (2022). Her patent litigation expertise focusses on biotechnology and pharmaceutical products, including blockbuster small molecule drugs, therapeutic antibodies and orphan medicines. According to Legal 500 (2022), Jenny is “one of the best patent litigators in London”. Jenny has litigated before the UK Patents Court, the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court, most notably the Eli Lilly v Human Genome Sciences cases, and the Warner-Lambert v Actavis (“pregabalin”) litigation. Jenny has since represented FibroGen against Akebia in a further significant and successful appeal to test the boundaries of UK law on sufficiency (Impact Case of the Year, MIP 2022). Jenny also specialises in complex SPC litigation and associated regulatory advice, many cases involving references to the CJEU or EFTA Court, including C-493/12 Eli Lilly v Human Genome Sciences, E-16/14 Pharmaq v Intervet, C-577/13 Actavis v Boehringer Ingelheim, C-443/17 AbraxisBioscience and, most recently, Teva v Janssen Pharmaceutica (Xeplion®). Jenny was awarded SPC Litigator of the Year at the LMG Life Sciences Awards (EMEA) in 2023 and 2022. As a “highly skilled patent litigator with an extensive knowledge of the pharmaceutical industry" (Chambers & Partners, 2022) Jenny increasingly assists her clients in this sector with cross-border patent and SPC litigation matters, working closely with the business and external advisers to align launch or enforcement strategies across Europe. Jenny joined Carpmaels & Ransford from her role as IP Litigation Counsel at Actavis/Allergan, where she handled high-profile patent cases such as Actavis v ICOS (tadalafil) and the LYRICA® (pregabalin) litigation – the first case before the UK Courts in which infringement of a second medical use patent was put in issue. Actavis successfully resisted an interim injunction and any findings of infringement at trial. Jenny trained and qualified at a magic circle firm after obtaining а first class honours degree in biochemistry from Imperial College, London, and а doctorate in molecular and structural biology from the University of Oxford.

Practice head

The lawyer(s) leading their teams.

David Wilson, Jake Marshall

Other key lawyers

Ian Kirby, Camilla Balleny, Craig Lumb