All of the Partners & People of AA Thornton are joining forces with Venner Shipley

From 1 December 2024, all of the Partners and People of AA Thornton IP LLP are joining Venner Shipley LLP to carry on business together under the name Venner Shipley. For no purposes should Venner Shipley LLP be considered a successor practice to AA Thornton IP LLP or its predecessor practices, including for the purposes of insurance or the IPReg Rules of Conduct relating to insurance. AA Thornton IP LLP will no longer carry on business from 1 December 2024 but in accordance with IPREG requirements it will continue to have insurance in place.

Services

At AA Thornton, we provide a comprehensive service offering to help you protect your Intellectual Property and maximise your assets. By combining the expertise of patent and trade mark attorneys, as well as solicitors within a single firm, we can offer you a customised comprehensive service.

International

Our clients range from multinational corporations, to SMEs, to individual inventors, across a broad spectrum of industries. Our client base is centred in the UK but covers many other parts of the globe, notably Europe, North America, India and the Far East. We also work for overseas attorneys and professional advisers, representing their clients’ Intellectual Property interests in the UK, Germany and Europe.

Latest News


AA Thornton joins forces with Venner Shipley

AA Thornton and Venner Shipley are excited to announce that the AA Thornton partners and people will be joining Venner Shipley from 1 December. The combined firm, with a headcount totalling 230 people, will operate under the Venner Shipley name. Aiming to help clients navigate complex legal challenges and safeguard innovation, this combination brings together… Read more »


Sky v Skykick: Supreme Court Upholds Bad Faith Finding Against Sky

This morning, the Supreme Court handed down its long awaited judgment in the case of Sky v Skykick [2024] UKSC 36 (a copy of the full judgment can be found here). We will be producing a detailed note on the full judgment (which runs to an impressive 145 pages) shortly. However, we set out a… Read more »


Ian Gill Recognised as Band 1 UK Trade Mark Attorney by Chambers and Partners 2024

We’re delighted to announce that our Partner, Ian Gill, has been recognised as one of the small number of Band 1 UK Trade Mark Attorneys for 2024 by Chambers and Partners. Chambers and Partners is a leading legal directory that provides prestigious rankings for law firms and individual lawyers worldwide. Their annual rankings are based… Read more »


Latest Insights


Big Mac Scaled Back

This article was first published in the November 2024 issue of CITMA Review, the journal of the Chartered Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys (CITMA). For more information on CITMA, please visit citma.org.uk   On 5th June 2024, the EU’s General Court (GC) issued its judgment in the appeal brought by Supermac’s (Holdings) Ltd against the… Read more »


Black History Month: Spotlight on Pioneering Black Inventors

Black History Month is celebrated in the UK each October. It provides a chance for everyone to share, celebrate and better understand the achievements of black people both within the UK and around the world. Each year, a different theme is announced to focus attention on a particular issue, and this year’s theme is “Reclaiming… Read more »


Trademarking in the Metaverse and NFTs – Are toys equivalent to virtual goods?

Are toys which accurately replicate real products equivalent to virtual goods? If so, what do cases about replica toys teach us about how the Courts will assess infringement and the similarity of goods vs their virtual equivalent? In our latest article in this series, we build on the decision of the EU IPO in Opposition… Read more »