Allen & Overy

Firm overview:

“Sophisticated” Allen & Overy is instructed by world-famous, highly valuable brands Coca-Cola and Warner Bros, and is “a pleasure to deal with”, says a peer. Known in the market for its contentious trademark practice, the UK Magic Circle firm handles one-of-a-kind litigation and has pitched and won mandates for enviable, industry-leading clients. 

Recent highlights include advising Coinbase in the billion-pound cryptocurrency and passing off matter concerning the true identity of Satoshi Nakamoto, the inventor of Bitcoin. For other high-profile clients, the firm handles court proceedings involving multiple jurisdictions and lengthy trials in the UK Court of Appeal and Supreme Court. 

In addition to litigation, the practice manages more than 15,000 trademark records and advises high-value brands on trademark filing, portfolio management and opposition matters in the UK and EU. In October 2023, Allen & Overy announced its upcoming merger with US firm Shearman & Sterling, which will take the firm up to 4,000 lawyers across 29 countries.

Team overview:

Allen & Overy currently has an IP team of 200 across Europe, the US and Asia. In the UK, 50 IP lawyers are based in London and Belfast. 

Partner David Stone is an “excellent practitioner” and “an absolute legend”, say peers. Solicitor-advocate, part-time deputy high court judge and ex in-house lawyer for Coca-Cola, he has an impressive litigation history for the firm’s biggest clients. Stone advises Coinbase in the Bitcoin matter alongside partner, Neville Cordell. 

Cordell is a litigator with experience up to the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court and he handles the full range of IP matters, from patents and trademarks to passing off and domain name matters. 

Lawyers are “very impressed by Mohamed Sacranie”, associate and litigator—“he’s one to watch for the future.” Sacranie focuses on cryptocurrency, and acts in some of the first IP-related crypto claims in the UK, including assisting Stone and Cordell in the Coinbase matter.

Key matters:

• Allen & Overy won a competitive pitch process to represent Coinbase, the largest US Bitcoin exchange platform, in the highly valuable and unusual passing off matter against Craig Wright. Wright claims that he is Satoshi Nakamoto, the inventor of the Bitcoin cryptocurrency, and brought actions of ‘extensive passing off’ in the UK against parties using the ‘Bitcoin’ name.
• Wright claims that the only version of the digital asset that is true to the original Bitcoin is ‘Bitcoin Satoshi Vision’ or BSV, and the use of the term elsewhere breaches his IP rights and causes confusion to users about the authenticity of the currency. Wright also states the claim is worth hundreds of billions of pounds.
• Of the three IP cases involved in the ongoing matter, A&O is instructed for two. In the proceedings so far, the client has succeeded in obtaining security for costs from Wright, and in an application for a stay of the proceedings.

Clients:

Coca-Cola, Coinbase, Samsung, Warner Bros