We are delighted to announce that the 2018 rankings of the leading firms for patent work in over 50 jurisdictions are now available on this website. This is the second set of results from the research for the 2018 edition of IP STARS. The trade mark rankings were published in February.

IP STARS is not a directory of all firms offering IP services and therefore many firms and individuals, including those that participated in the research, have not been listed. Firms are listed if all the available research information indicate they have the appropriate expertise and on the whole offer high quality services to IP owners. Our research methodology and rankings are summarised below.

Congratulations to all the firms listed this year.


What's available on ipstars.com

For the US, we have the national practice firm rankings (which are under the tab 'Americas'), but the 2018 state rankings and rankings for ITC litigation and life sciences work will be published in our dedicated US IP STARS Handbook in May and thereafter online. 

We also have firm rankings (except for copyright) for the rest of the world. The copyright rankings will be revealed on managingip.com in April. The copyright rankings and IP stars list published in the 2017 edition of IP STARS will remain on this website until we publish the 2018 version. We will make an announcement when the latest listings are published. We have placed a notice on all the country pages. 

Our independent firm editorials to supplement all the 2018 firm rankings and IP stars list will be published in the handbooks. Read more about this below. 

Click on the region of interest above to view all the available 2018 firm rankings for each jurisdiction. 

New this year

As you will find, the ranking position of some firms have changed and there are firms that have been removed or listed for the first time. We also changed the tier system in a few jurisdictions to reflect the size of the market.

We now have filters on the IP stars page to help users filter the individuals listed by practice areas. Click on the individual's name to see the star's full profile. The practice area data displayed come from surveys completed by the individual and/or our independent research findings.

The individuals listed can contact us to update their data but, for the integrity of our research and website usability, there may be restrictions on what we can display. We only allow current stars to publish advanced profiles to supplement what we have published. See an example here.

The 2018 stars, including the Top 250 Women in IP, will be announced in May.

What to expect in the coming months 

In the April issue, Managing IP will reveal the 2018 firm rankings for copyright and related rights work. These will be made available later in April on this website. Read the 2018 publication schedule here.

Three IP STARS Handbooks will be published this year: the US edition and Global Trade Mark/Copyright Handbooks in May, and the Global Patent Handbook in July. The handbooks will feature all the 2018 stars (including the Top 250 Women in IP and Corporate Stars) and the latest editorial commentary on ranked firms and individuals.

IP STARS Handbooks are widely distributed and copies can be found at IP industry events we attend such as the INTA Annual Meeting.

Rankings and practice areas explained

Firms are ranked alphabetically in tiers or as highly recommended or recommended. The total number of firms listed varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. For most jurisdictions the rankings are split into prosecution and contentious work, whereas in smaller jurisdictions we evaluated and ranked firms for their IP practice as a whole.

The patent prosecution ranking takes account of any pre- and post-grant work including office proceedings, while the patent contentious ranking covers patent-related disputes in or outside court. Where appropriate, some firms have been ranked for both practice areas. In the US we assess all proceedings at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board and International Trade Commission to come up with the PTAB and ITC litigation rankings respectively.

More information about IP STARS, including FAQs, can be found here.

Research methodology

IP STARS rankings are based on extensive research carried out over a six-month period, starting from September each year. Our team of research analysts in London, New York and Hong Kong seek work information from firms and their clients through interviews, emails and online surveys.

Researchers also review publicly available information as well as existing data we hold on firms. The attributes assessed include the strength of the firm's IP team, workload and sectors covered, outcomes achieved for clients and track record. Judgements about which firms to include in the rankings, and which tier and practice area they should be in, take account of all this information. This makes IP STARS the most comprehensive and authoritative survey of the IP legal market yet published.

The research is conducted rigorously and impartially. No firm can pay to be included or to influence the results, and there is no fee to pay to participate in our research. For the avoidance of doubt, Managing IP does not recommend or endorse any particular firm for IP work. IP STARS rankings are not influenced by any other related-research programmes such as the Managing IP awards.

The 2018 rankings are based on information available when the research was concluded in January 2018. Except for name changes, any subsequent developments in any of the listed firms will be considered during the research for the 2019 edition of IP STARS, which starts in September this year.

The rankings are subject to change each year. Read more about our methodology here.
 

Contact us

Please contact our business development team if you need our latest logos. The contact details of the business development team can be found here. 

We welcome and encourage feedback on IP STARS so if you have any or general enquiries please contact research@managingip.com.