John Olsen

John Olsen has more than 30 years' experience in intellectual property law and, in particular, trade mark law. With 25 of those years practicing in Europe, John advises clients on selection, acquisition, exploitation and enforcement of trade mark rights throughout the world. His hands-on approach is unique in helping clients to understand the inter-relationship of IP rights worldwide and to ensure that their trade mark enjoys as much exclusivity as possible. John advises individuals through to multinational companies.

Being creative and developing strategies to assist clients in proceeding through the plethora of international laws and regulations in securing their trade mark rights is essential in John’s practice. That can mean creative thinking in guiding an application through the registration process or negotiating terms of co-existence. John understands that whatever the case, the trade mark practitioner must work closely with a client and understand their business in order to find the best way forward when making difficult decisions.

John has lectured on intellectual property topics for many organizations and in many countries on virtually every continent. John is bi-lingual in English-French, and he speaks social German and Spanish, facilitating his ability to assist clients in doing business in different countries.

John has been recognised as a leading IP lawyer for many years. Most recently, in 2021, John was recognised by World Trademark Review's WTR 1000 as a UK Luminary. WTR 1000 focuses exclusively on trade mark practices and practitioners, and is viewed by many as the definitive "go-to” resource for those seeking world-class legal trade mark practitioners.

John's experience includes the following:

• Managed the programme to reclaim rights to the trade mark RITZ acting on behalf of the owners of the Ritz Paris Hotel, he designed and then implemented a programme to acquire rights in the RITZ trade mark utilising litigation where necessary. Acting against companies with registrations and use of the RITZ trade mark, his programme of repatriation of rights enabled the Ritz Paris Hotel to roll out a licensing programme
• Led the team clearing the name DIAGEO as the new name of the entity created by the merger of Grand Metropolitan plc and The Distillers Group. The searches involved every country in the world. The goal was to clear the name for use and registration in every country in the world and prevent third parties from registering or using in advance of the official launch. As a result of the plan, the selection and launch were carried out flawlessly