The 2017 patent and trade mark firm rankings are now available here on ipstars.com. The copyright rankings will be published on April 3. Please use the navigation bar to view the published rankings under each region. There have been important developments on IP Stars and more to expect this year.

What’s new this year

The first thing you would notice is that we have cut down our rankings to four tiers. This means, regrettably, that some firms have not made the rankings this year. Secondly, we have added these new countries: Bulgaria, Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia.

Another enhancement is that we now have separate trade mark prosecution ranking tables for law firms and trade mark agencies in the UK. The law firms listed have demonstrated that they already have and/or are building a credible trade mark prosecution practice. In patents, some firms have moved up the rankings (e.g. Allen & Overy is now a Tier 1 firm for patent litigation in the UK) or have been included for the first time (e.g. LLR ranked in France for patent prosecution work). 

Lastly, our website development team will soon begin work to introduce a filter function for the IP Stars pages on this website. This enhancement will, for the first time, allow users to see the IP practice areas and industry sector specialties of the Patent and Trade Mark Stars, all of which are already published in the Handbooks. 

Still to be published

The 2017 firm rankings for copyright will be published on April 3. The 2017 firm ranking editorials to accompany the new rankings and the 2017 Stars will be published in May (for Trade marks and Copyright) and July (for Patents). For the US, the 2017 Stars, firm rankings and editorials will be published in May. Until then, all the firm ranking editorials and Stars list published in the 2016 edition of the IP Stars Handbook will remain on this website. We have placed a notice on the country and state pages.

Please keep an eye on our news page for announcements concerning any publication on this website.

The Handbooks

All the 2017 rankings, firm ranking editorial, Stars lists and more will be published in IP Stars Global Handbooks in May (for Trade mark and Copyright) and July (for Patent). The US edition of IP Stars Handbook will be published in May. The Handbooks will be made available to Managing IP subscribers and at conferences and events we attend this year, for example INTA Annual Meeting. If you have any enquiries about the Handbooks please get in touch with the contacts listed below.
 

Rankings explained

Firms are ranked alphabetically in tiers, as highly recommended, or recommended. The total number of firms listed, as well as the number of tiers, varies by jurisdiction. For some smaller countries we assess the overall IP practice instead of dividing the rankings into practice areas. In the larger, major countries for IP we have separate rankings for prosecution and contentious work.

Many firms have not been ranked because IP Stars is not simply a directory of all firms or organisations providing IP services in a given jurisdiction. A firm can only be ranked if all available research information including recommendation from competitors suggest inclusion.

For more detail on what research analysts take into account for the patent rankings click here, and for trade marks is 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 obtain information from firms and their clients through interviews, emails and online surveys. Research analysts also conduct desk research for publicly available information as well as a review of existing data we already hold on firms.

Among the attributes assessed are: strength of the firm’s IP team, workload, outcomes achieved for clients and track record. The research is conducted rigorously and impartially, and there is no cost to participate. Firms cannot vote or pay for their own inclusion, nor can they solicit votes from associates. 

The 2017 rankings and the accompanying firm ranking editorial are based on the information available when the research was concluded this year. Any subsequent developments such as firm name changes will be reflected in this year’s Handbooks or, where appropriate, in real time on this website.

More information about IP Stars, including methodology, FAQs, research and publishing schedule, can be found here.

Enquiries welcome

We always welcome feedback on our publication. If you have any enquiries or feedback please send an email to the researcher for your jurisdiction (please copy in research@managingip.com). Research contacts can be found here.

If you need our latest firm ranking logos please contact the relevant person in our business development team listed below or visit us at booth #411 at LMA Annual Conference in Las Vegas. 

 

AMERICAS
Canada & Latin America
Alissa Rozen

Telephone: +1 212 224 3673

Fax: +1 212 224 3101

Email: arozen@euromoneyny.com

United States
Michael Bijesse

Telephone: +1 212 224 3480

Fax: +1 212 224 3101

Email: michael.bijesse@euromoneyny.com


EUROPE, THE MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
Nick Heath - EMEA and India

Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7779 8692

Fax: +44 (0) 20 7779 8344

Email: nheath@managingip.com

ASIA
Matthew Siu - Asia (excluding India)

Telephone: +852 2842 6937

Fax: +852 2842 7076

Email: matthew.siu@euromoneyasia.com