Darren Meale
General Experience
Darren has a wide range of experience in intellectual property litigation and advice and has acted for clients at all levels from the UK Intellectual Property Office up to the UK Supreme Court. He primarily advises clients on trade mark, copyright and design issues across a number of sectors including media, technology and luxury goods. He has particular expertise and interest in the protection of famous trade marks and in digital rights issues, including the way in which the internet and new digital technologies interact with and potentially infringe intellectual property rights.
Darren also sits as a Deputy District Judge, pursuant to which he hears a variety of civil law disputes in the English County Court. He was named as only one of two “Rising Stars” in Trade Marks in the UK by Expert Guides 2014.
Expand all- Recent Work
- advising Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation on the protection of a number of household name brands including The Simpsons
- advising a leading online music streaming service in relation to the English court’s jurisdiction to force ISPs to block websites accused of infringing copyright
- advising Group Lotus in their high-profile trade mark infringement and passing off dispute with 1Malaysia Racing concerning each party’s entitlement to use the iconic Lotus brand in Formula 1
- acting on behalf of leading industrial packaging manufacturer Schütz in a rare set of appeals to the UK Supreme Court in patent infringement proceedings.
- Background
Darren graduated from University College London with a First Class LLB in Laws. He qualified as a solicitor with Herbert Smith Freehills and also spent time working in the IP group at Dentons. He has a Diploma in Intellectual Property Law and Practice from the University of Bristol.
Darren is also a Solicitor-Advocate and has acted as junior counsel in the UK IPO and the High Court. He is a member of the INTA Internet Committee; widely published on current intellectual property issues; and is a regular contributor to and peer reviewer for the Journal of Intellectual Property Law and Practice as well as other IP publications. For the first half of 2014 he was a guest blogger for the leading IP blog, the IPKat.