Our national patent rankings were first revealed earlier this month in the summer edition of the Managing IP magazine. They follow the national trademark and general intellectual property rankings, which were published in the spring edition of the magazine. Read our June update (here) to learn about all the rankings and our publication timeline for this year.
To view all the 2020 rankings we have published so far, please use the regional dropdown menu above or use the search bar to see if a firm or individual is currently ranked.
Practice areas and jurisdictions
Our research analysts evaluated and ranked firms for their patent filing/prosecution and contentious work. The national patent rankings this year cover more than 50 jurisdictions. For the United States, we also have patent rankings for states such as California and New York and three special national rankings (ITC litigation, Life Sciences IP and PTAB litigation).
Below are some of the jurisdictions:
AMERICAS
ASIA-PACIFIC
EUROPE
New rankings introduced
Apart from ranking changes, including new firms added, a big development is the introduction of two ranking tables for patent contentious work in Germany: patent contentious (law firms) and patent contentious (patent & trademark attorney firms).
The patent contentious (law firms) table is dedicated to traditional law firms and IP boutiques that do not have a significant patent prosecution practice, whereas the patent contentious (patent & trademark attorney firms) table is for those firms ranked for patent prosecution work that also deal with patent infringement and nullity proceedings. Many of the firms ranked under the patent contentious (patent & trademark attorney firms) table also employ lawyers. As always, we will seek further feedback on these new tables for Germany and also explore if we can do the same for jurisdictions such as the United Kingdom and France.
What to expect next
We still have more rankings and research content for the IP STARS 2020 edition to publish (see our timetable below), and therefore we will continue with our research. Any research information not used for this year’s edition will be considered during the research for the 2021 edition.
First, please note that our independent editorials under the 'Review' tab are from the 2019 edition of IP STARS. We will start updating the editorials in July.
July: Corporate IP Stars list, firm rankings for copyright, and our independent editorials on firms
September 1: Launch of the 2021 edition research
October 31: Submission deadline for the research forms for the 2021 edition
November: Rising Stars list 2020
December: Firm rankings for IP transactions work
Please note that the above timetable is subject to change.
Follow our announcements
We will publish an announcement on our news page after uploading new rankings or content to this website. Please follow our official announcement. Sign up to receive our monthly newsletter (here) or keep an eye on our news page and social media channels (Twitter and LinkedIn) for updates. Our marketing/business development team will contact all ranked firms and individuals.
About IP STARS
IP STARS is the leading specialist guide to IP law firms and practitioners worldwide. Managing IP published its first legal directory in 1994 and rebranded it in 2013 as IP STARS. The research for the guide covers a variety of IP practice areas and more than 70 jurisdictions, making it the most comprehensive and widely respected rankings publication in the IP industry. Our rankings are based on a weighted evaluation of information from different sources, including work data submitted by firms, independent research findings, and market feedback.
Methodology
The research for these rankings was conducted rigorously and impartially by our team of researchers in London, New York and Hong Kong. Each year we request information from thousands of firms, IP practitioners and their clients through interviews, email and online surveys. Before compiling the rankings, our research analysts also conducted their own independent research, including an analysis of publicly available information (such as court or IP office data) and existing data we hold on firms.
The aspects assessed for the firm rankings include expertise, workload, market reputation/record, outcomes achieved for clients, and unique strengths in a given practice area. 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.
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. However, in smaller jurisdictions we evaluated and ranked firms for their IP practice as a whole.
The prosecution ranking takes account of pre and post-registration work including office proceedings and portfolio management advice, whereas the contentious ranking covers all patent-related disputes. Where appropriate, some firms have been ranked for both practice areas.
These rankings are based primarily on information available at the time our market feedback research was completed (January 2020). Except for firm name changes, any subsequent developments or information that could influence our rankings will be considered during the research for the 2021 edition of IP STARS, which starts in September 2020.
For the avoidance of doubt, the ranking tables do not suggest or indicate that the expertise or services of the listed firms are limited to the practice area in question, and Managing IP does not recommend or endorse any particular firm for IP work. No firm can pay to be included or to influence the results, and there is no fee to pay to participate in our research. The Managing IP awards and IP STARS rankings are not influenced by any commercial relationship, including advertising, with Managing IP or IP STARS. Participation in our research does not guarantee ranking. IP STARS rankings are subject to change each year. Read more about our research here.
If you have any feedback or questions about IP STARS, please contact our research editor, Kingsley Egbuonu.