We are delighted to announce that the 2018 rankings of the leading firms for trade mark work in over 80 jurisdictions are now available on ipstars.com.

IP STARS is not a directory of all firms offering IP services; therefore many firms, including those that participated in the research, are not 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 methodology is summarised below.

Congratulations to all the firms listed this year.


What's available on ipstars.com

Click on the region of interest above to view the available 2018 firm rankings for each jurisdiction. The national firm rankings for the US (which are under Americas) are published online before the state-by-state rankings and editorials, which are first published in the US IP STARS Handbook in May and online in June.

For the rest of the world, the firm rankings for patent and copyright, firm editorials and the IP stars published in the 2017 edition will remain on this website until we publish the 2018 version. We will make an announcement on our news page following each publication. We have also placed a notice on all the country pages. 

New this year

Apart from some firms moving between tiers or even included for the first time, we added new ranking categories such as a trade mark prosecution table for law firms in Denmark. We now have filters on the IP stars tab on most country pages and, where available, we added the practice area data supplied by the IP star. IP stars can contact us to update their data but there may be restrictions on what we can display. Click on the star's name to see the individual's full profile. 

We will make an announcement when new features are available.

What to expect in the coming months 

In the March issue, Managing IP will reveal the 2018 firm rankings for patent work, followed by those for copyright and related rights work in the April issue. These will be made available later on ipstars.com. See the announcement about the 2018 results publication schedule.

Three IP STARS Handbooks (including the US edition) will be published between May and July. The US edition will include the state rankings and other national rankings such as ITC litigation. The IP STARS Handbooks will also feature a list of the outstanding IP practitioners for 2018 (including Top 250 Women in IP and Corporate Stars) and the latest editorial commentary on ranked firms and individuals.

IP STARS Handbooks are made available to Managing IP subscribers and copies can be found at IP industry events we attend such as INTA Annual Meeting.

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 sought 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. Attributes assessed include the strength of the firm’s IP team, workload, 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. 

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. 

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

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 prosecution ranking takes account of any pre- and post-registration work including contentious office proceedings and portfolio management advice, while the contentious ranking covers trade mark-related disputes including anti-counterfeiting work. Where appropriate, some firms have been ranked for both practice areas.

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

Contact us

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

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