Locke Lord Strengthens Leading Intellectual Property Practice in UK and EU, Adding Partner Dominic Farnsworth With Giovanni Visintini and Neale Christy in London and Bart Lieben in Brussels

(LONDON and BRUSSELS) 18 January 2022 – Locke Lord has bolstered its robust Intellectual Property Department in the UK and EU with the additions of Dominic Farnsworth as Partner, Giovanni Visintini as Senior Counsel and Neale Christy as Counsel in the Firm’s London office and Bart Lieben as a Consultant in the Brussels office. The experienced and well-rounded group expands the Firm’s already strong trade mark and advertising presence in the region, bringing extensive capabilities across intellectual property matters.

“We are pleased to welcome Dominic, Giovanni, Neale and Bart, all of whom are great additions that further strengthen Locke Lord’s leading team of intellectual property and trade mark talent,” said Alan Clement, Chair of Locke Lord’s Intellectual Property Department. “The group brings mature judgment and a wealth of experience to our clients in the region, along with the capacity to work cross-border with our team in the United States in a variety of key sectors.”

Farnsworth joins from Lewis Silkin, where he led the intellectual property group. Jointly qualified both as a solicitor and trade mark attorney, his practice focuses on the management of global IP portfolios, IP-rich contracts, brand disputes and rights management. He is well respected in the brand protection, creative industry and sports sectors. Farnsworth has advised many of the world’s leading advertising agencies and brand owners on IP issues, including clearing advertising campaigns both in the UK and overseas from a legal and regulatory perspective, advising on agency/client agreements, talent contracts, brand partnerships, sponsorships and creating/acquiring creative content such as film and music.

“Locke Lord has an exciting vision for expanding its strong European intellectual property presence, which maps my own desire to help grow a cutting-edge, innovative practice,” Farnsworth said. “This is a firm ready to fulfil its potential.”

Visintini, qualified in both the UK and Italy, is both a solicitor and a trade mark attorney with a broad spectrum of experience across a range of business sectors. He has worked at specialist IP firms and in senior in-house roles including Diageo and more recently, 14 years at BP. His practice is focused on helping clients plan, manage, protect and enforce their domestic and global brands and wider intellectual property rights, including breaking new ground with the protection and registration of colour marks.

Christy, previously a trade mark attorney at leading South African IP firm Adams and Adams, has deep international experience in trade mark prosecution and litigation, with an emphasis on trade mark oppositions, cancelations, infringement and passing-off disputes, domain name and advertising complaints and copyright infringement matters as well as the preparation of IP-rich contracts. He has extensive experience taking the lead in respect of contentious and non-contentious IP matters throughout Africa, the Middle East, EU, UK, United States and Australasia.

Lieben, previously a partner at Deloitte Legal and senior legal counsel at PricewaterhouseCoopers, has more than 25 years of experience in the sector. He supports engagement with entrepreneurs seeking protection of intellectual property rights, including trade mark, patent and copyright, together with a focus on digitisation, data protection on matters such as GDPR and commercial and M&A activity. Lieben has also been appointed before as an expert to the European Commission and the European Patent Office and an advisor to the United Nations’ Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia.

Locke Lord’s Intellectual Property Practice Group in London and Brussels comprises solicitors and other professionals who are committed to the care and nurturing of client brands, creative property and inventions. The team helps plan and execute protection strategies for brand names on a worldwide basis based on knowledge developed over many years, including conceiving, planning and executing filing and protection programmes for trade marks, domains, brands, logos, trade identifiers, designs as well as copyrighted works and inventions. Locke Lord takes on the challenges others shy away from with deep knowledge and experience in virtually every corner of the world.

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About Locke Lord LLP
Locke Lord is a full-service law firm with global reach and 20 offices designed to meet clients’ needs in the United States and around the world. The Firm has a history that spans more than 130 years and is a leader in the middle market arena. Locke Lord focuses on providing the highest levels of commitment, quality and service to clients across its five Key Sectors: Energy and Infrastructure; Finance and Financial Services; Insurance and Reinsurance; Pharmaceutical; and Private Equity. In addition, the Firm advises clients across a broad spectrum of other industries, including fund formation, venture capital, health care, public finance, real estate, technology, cybersecurity and white collar, while providing a wealth of experience through its complex litigation, intellectual property, tax, regulatory and transactional teams.