Global law firm Clyde & Co has today announced the joining of Chris Williams as a partner in its London Intellectual Property (IP) team.

Chris joins from Blake Morgan and specialises in soft IP disputes including trade mark infringement actions and design, confidentiality and copyright disputes.

Chris frequently challenges and defends UK, European and international trade marks within the relevant forums as well as conducting cases in the Chancery Division of the High Court concerning computer software ownership disputes. He has acted for a wide range of clients including one the UK's largest independent organic food brands, a leading airline, a substantial e-commerce platform, several banks and an income generating arm of a government department in a range of IP and IT issues.

Chris will complement the expertise of Partner Ralph Cox, who specialises in hard IP disputes and is one of the UK's leading patent litigation lawyers. Chris will also work closely with the firm's wider corporate and commercial teams to provide IP advice to large, SME and start-up businesses.

Ralph Cox comments: "Chris rapidly established himself as an IP lawyer of note with a loyal client following at his previous firm, and I am very pleased to welcome him into the Clyde & Co team. Even in these challenging times, as clients deal with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on their businesses, protecting their intellectual property remains important to them. Chris's "soft" IP skills will give us therefore a more rounded offering for servicing our clients' needs and forms an important step in the growth of our IP team to meet client demands."

Chris Williams comments: "The scale of the global platform available at Clyde & Co was a huge incentive to join, as the needs of my clients are increasingly international in scope. I have also admired the work of Ralph and his team and I'm looking forward to finally joining forces with them here."

Clyde & Co's specialist IP team advises on the full range of contentious and non-contentious IP related matters, assisting clients with the protection, enforcement and exploitation of patents, trade marks, copyrights, designs, know-how and trade secrets and around the world with directory-recognised teams in the Middle East, the UK and China.