Geoff Hussey
Partner
Geoff Hussey heads the litigation team. Geoff’s main practice areas are IP litigation and Commercial IP. His experience as a Partner and Solicitor includes acting for a broad range of clients in many sectors including life sciences, electronics, telecoms, chemicals, aviation, food & beverages and financial services.
“Geoff Hussey simplifies everything and makes managing litigation easy for in-house counsel. A strategic, pragmatic and commercially minded lawyer, he knows how to read adversaries and when to apply leverage. Straightforward and easy to work with.”
Legal 500 Client Testimonial
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“It is always reassuring to know that we have AA Thornton standing by to advise us all on IP and trade mark matters. Geoff Hussey and his team of lawyers and attorneys always provide us with first class advice and guidance. We would like to thank Sarah Neil for her great work on the recent sale of our European price comparison businesses to ZPG.”
Dan Caunt, General Counsel and Group Company Secretary of Admiral Group Plc
"Following the arrival of IP litigator Geoff Hussey, who joined from Bird & Bird LLP, the team is increasingly handling high-stakes contentious patent cases."
‘Not having Geoff Hussey on the other side of a dispute helps me sleep at night.‘Legal 500
"Geoff Hussey is a go-to man for all issues on IP. He puts the intellectual into intellectual property."
"Geoff Hussey simplifies everything and makes managing litigation easy for in-house counsel. A strategic, pragmatic and commercially minded lawyer, he knows how to read adversaries and when to apply leverage. Straightforward and easy to work with."Legal 500
“The team at AA Thornton, led by Geoff Hussey, has provided us with superb assistance in both brand portfolio management and brand enforcement. We feel we have particularly benefited from the way in which AA Thornton operate a combined team of trade mark attorneys and solicitors so that there is an aligned consistent strategy between the two disciplines. This has been of particular assistance on a number of occasions, particularly in relation to group re-structures involving IP, filing programs and litigation strategy with parallel related proceedings in the courts and the intellectual property offices.”
Dan Caunt, General Counsel and Group Company Secretary of Admiral Group Plc
“The combination of patent litigators and patent attorneys at AA Thornton (led by Geoff Hussey and Nikesh Patel respectively) provided us with huge benefits in defending our position in a cross-border dispute. We were ultimately able to secure a commercially successful global solution to a tricky dispute that involved litigation in Germany and the UK by a close alignment between the arguments that were run in the national courts and the innovative strategies that were implemented at the UKIPO. I have seen the benefits of this combination of skills first hand"
Christian Reinders, Head of Intellectual Property Rights and Innovation Management of Dräxlmaier Group
- Litigation across the full IP spectrum
- Licences and disputes
- IP Due Diligence & Freedom to Operate
- IP Strategy & Audits
- IP Transactions, Ownership & Licensing
- IT & Communications
- Medical Devices
- Pharmaceuticals
Patents
- Cambridge Quantum Computing v River Lane (quantum chemistry)
- Adolf Nissen v Horizont (road traffic warning signs)
- Dr Reddy’s & Sandoz v Napp (buprenorphine patch)
- ConvaTec v Smith & Nephew (silverised gel-forming wound dressings)
- Menicon v Coopervision (contact lenses)
- LG v Sony (blu-ray, DVD and TV)
- Nokia v IPCom (mobile phones)
- GE Healthcare v PerkinElmer (scintillation proximity assays)
- Nikken v Pioneer (drill chucks)
Trade Marks & Passing Off
- Virgin Enterprises Limited v Heineken (non-alcoholic beer)
- Admiral Group Plc v Admiral Markets/Admirals (financial services)
- Virgin Enterprises v Virginic (cosmetics)
- Radley v Poundworld (bags)
- easyGroup v easyJet (airline brand licence)
- EMI v BSkyB: NOW TV (TV service)
- ScanSafe v MessageLabs (internet scanning software)
Designs
- Betafence/Guardir v Zaun (high security fence posts)
- Poul Chang v Bailcast (cv boot tool)
- PMS international v Spin Master (children’s toy)
Copyright
- Navitaire v easyJet (airline booking system)
- The International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (AIPPI)
- Geoff joined Field Fisher Waterhouse in 2003, where he trained and qualified into their IP department as a solicitor in 2005
- Geoff joined Bird & Bird’s IP department in 2007
- Geoff joined AA Thornton as a Partner in May 2016
- BSc Human Genetics, Nottingham University
- Post-graduate Diploma in Law and LPC, Nottingham Law School
- Diploma in Intellectual Property Law and Practice, University of Bristol
- Solicitor in England & Wales
- Recommended in Legal 500 UK
- Named as a Thomson Reuters Stand-out Lawyer 2024
- Recognised as ‘Notable Practitioner’ in IP Star by Managing IP 2024
