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  • Home
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  • Roland Mallinson
Roland Mallinson
Roland Mallinson

Roland Mallinson

Partner

  • London UK
Contact Me Today
+44 20 7300 7081
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Featured award

Legal 500 UK 2024

Key Lawyer – Intellectual property: trade marks, copyright and design

Scroll to featured award

Roland is the head of our Brands practice in the UK and co-heads the international trade mark group. For over 30 years, he's advised major international brand and technology owners on their IP rights.

Clients describe Roland as a tactically smart, solutions-focused, and commercially-minded. He's responsible for protecting the name, logos, shapes, colours and packaging for numerous household name brands in a wide range of sectors. These include food and beverage, FMCG, fashion, luxury goods, tech, financial services, auto industry and travel.

Roland advises on the full range of contentious and non-contentious "soft" IP matters, including: trade mark, designs and copyright disputes and litigation, lookalikes, anti-counterfeiting, domain name and content infringements, trade mark clearance, prosecution, oppositions and strategic portfolio advice, comparative advertising, and all types of commercial transactions involving these rights.

He's led first instance and appeal cases in the English courts, the UKIPO, the EUIPO and CJEU and taken part in a number of successful mediations, and regularly coordinates crossborder IP litigation in the EU.

Outside of private practice, Roland sits on the Executive Board of MARQUES (the European brand owners' association), the Parallel Import Committee of INTA, the Law Society's IP Law Committee, the UKIPO's Marks & Designs Forum and the EUIPO's SQAP judicial quality audit panel. He is a facilitator on the Oxford University IP diploma course. 

Roland comments on IP related matters of national interest with media outlets including the BBC
.

Expertise

Services and Groups

Brands & advertising
Copyright & media law

Sectors

Technology, media & communications
Consumer & retail

Navigating the trade mark systems of Europe

If you’re looking to launch or expand into new territories or simply want to protect your business, it pays to understand the trade mark systems of Europe. This guide will help you navigate the process.

Read the full report
Real estate Redefined

Exploring the hybrid future of real estate

Learn more

CV

Since 2006 Partner, Taylor Wessing
2001 - 2006 Partner and Head of Trade Marks, Linklaters
2000 - 2001 Managing Associate, Linklater (Paris)
1998 - 2000 Managing Associate, Linklaters (London)
1994 - 1998 Associate, Linklaters
1992 -1994 Trainee solicitor, Linklaters
1995 Diploma, Intellectual Property Law, University of Bristol
1994 Admitted to the Bar, England and Wales
1992 Law Society Finals, College of Law, London
1991 Common Professional Examination, College of Law, London
1989 BSc Civil Engineering (First Class Hons), University of Edinburgh

Career

Since 2006 Partner, Taylor Wessing
2001 - 2006 Partner and Head of Trade Marks, Linklaters
2000 - 2001 Managing Associate, Linklater (Paris)
1998 - 2000 Managing Associate, Linklaters (London)
1994 - 1998 Associate, Linklaters
1992 -1994 Trainee solicitor, Linklaters

Education

1995 Diploma, Intellectual Property Law, University of Bristol
1994 Admitted to the Bar, England and Wales
1992 Law Society Finals, College of Law, London
1991 Common Professional Examination, College of Law, London
1989 BSc Civil Engineering (First Class Hons), University of Edinburgh

Publications

Brexit is coming, a brand owner's checklist, Lexology, October 2020

Major advance on Brexit and pan-EU intellectual property rights , Practical Law, March 2018

The Implications of Brexit for Trade Mark Proprietors and Trade Mark Practitioners, GRUR Newsletter, January 2018

Kit Kat Shape Mark: Has The EU General Court Pre-Judged The UK Court Of Appeal? Lexology, February 2017

Colour combinations: getting back to WYSIWYG, Managing IP, October 2016

Of Purple Haze and Scrabble Plays: appeal court says "no" to fuzzy trade mark descriptions, IPKat blog, 6 October 2013

Protection of design classics and iconic 3D shapes in English courts, Intellectual Property Magazine May, 2016

PLC Updated Practice Note - Intellectual property issues relating to employees and consultants, LexisPSL Practice Notes on (1) Trade mark litigation in the High Court, (2) Madrid International Trade Mark System, (3) Parallel Imports, (4) Overview of the Community Trade Mark System, and (5) Anti-Counterfeiting and Customs Procedures in the UK, June 2017

Intellectual property issues relating to employees and consultants, PLC Updated Practice Note

Trade mark litigation in the High Court, LexisPSL Practice Note

Madrid International Trade Mark System, LexisPSL Practice Note

Parallel Imports, LexisPSL, Practice Note

Overview of the Community Trade Mark System, LexisPSL Practice Note

Anti-Counterfeiting and Customs Procedures in the UK, LexisPSL Practice Note

Tablet teachings: learning points from the latest Apple v Samsung decisions, World Trademark Review, 1 March 2013

Distinguish IP myths from reality, Managing IP, August 2010

Taylor Wessing Global Intellectual Property Index, Editor

Memberships & Associations

Executive Committee and Governing Council of MARQUES
International Trade Mark Association
Intellectual Property Lawyers Organisation
International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property
Law Society's Intellectual Property Law Committee
Consultant on intellectual property matters at the Warner Textile Archive

Additional languages

English French

Awards

Legal 500 UK 2024

Featured

Key Lawyer – Intellectual property: trade marks, copyright and design

Managing Intellectual Property – IP Stars 2024

Trade mark star

Who's Who Legal 2024

Global Elite Thought Leader: IP – Trademarks; Recommended: IP – Copyright

Chambers and Partners UK 2023

Intellectual Property - Band 1: Roland Mallinson is called upon for his expertise in managing, developing and enforcing company trade mark portfolios. He is one of the most talented trade mark litigators in the UK market. "Roland Mallinson is excellent - very thoughtful, very clever and impressive." "Roland is great - he looks for practical solutions and runs a good team."

IP (trademarks, copyright and design (including trade secrets)) - Ranked: ‘I recommend both Roland Mallinson and Magdalena Borucka. Both have excellent legal knowledge and feel like part of the team.’

Intellectual Property: "Roland Mallinson has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the market."

Intellectual Property: trade marks, copyright and designs

IP - trademarks, copyright and design

Outstanding IP Practioner

Trade Marks Lawyer of the Year

Leading individual - Intellectual Property

Leading individual - Intellectual Property (Band 1): Roland Mallinson is called upon for his expertise in managing, developing and enforcing company trade mark portfolios. He is one of the most talented trade mark litigators in the UK market.

Recommended lawyer - Brand management

Trade mark star

Leading individual - Prosecution and strategy (Gold)

“Roland is a sensible, pragmatic litigator who will try to find a commercial response. An impressive person who is hard wired into all of the associations and pressure groups, he does a lot for the industry in general. He has a community-minded approach and is extremely visible.”

He is one of only two lawyers in the UK to be top ranked in all of the categories of Enforcement & Litigation, Prosecution & Strategy and Anti-Counterfeiting by World Trade Mark Review's WTR1000 directory of the world's leading trade mark lawyers (annually since 2011).

Leading individual - Enforcement and litigation (Gold): Versatile and incisive head of brand management Roland Mallinson is featured in three WTR 1000 tables this year. He is a hook for complex anti-counterfeiting, litigation and prosecution matters. “Roland is a sensible, pragmatic litigator who will try to find a commercial response. An impressive person who is hard wired into all of the associations and pressure groups, he does a lot for the industry in general. He has a community-minded approach and is extremely visible.”

Leading individual - Anti counterfeiting

Leading individual - Intellectual Property (Band 1): Roland Mallinson is one of the most respected contentious and commercial trade mark lawyers working in London today. A client describes him as "excellent, very user-friendly, knowledgeable and commercially focused."

Recommended lawyer - Brand management

Experience

Trade mark portfolio management

Managing the worldwide trade mark portfolio for a leading Scotch whisky and spirits company, including brand and advertising clearance, IP protection for new product development and handling enforcement and other brand-related disputes. 

Roland Mallinson

Roland's news & insights

View Roland's insights
Standing on painted Venn Diagrams
Click here to find out more
Brands & advertising

Why lookalike cases in the UK are not a lost cause despite Thatcher's Cider v Aldi

27 March 2024

by Roland Mallinson

Glass.Mapper.Sc.Fields.Image?.Alt
Brands & advertising

New EU law could limit distinctive packaging

Louise Popple, Elena Glengarry and Roland Mallinson look at the potential impact of the EU's proposed packaging legislation on 3D shape trade mark rights.

1 February 2024
In-depth analysis

by multiple authors

Click here to find out more
Glass.Mapper.Sc.Fields.Image?.Alt
UAE

Establishing new IP capability in MENA with our latest partner appointment in Dubai

6 July 2023

by Ronald Graham and Roland Mallinson

Click here to find out more
View Roland's insights

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