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Awards

Managing IP EMEA Awards 2025

February 2025

The shortlist for the 20th annual Managing IP EMEA Awards 2025 has been announced, and it is a record-breaking year for HGF’s European team with an incredible 23 nominations! This achievement follows another year of significant growth for the firm, including our recent private equity investment, and highlights the dedication and expertise of our team across Europe in delivering excellence to our clients.

The categories we are shortlisted for are:

Europe
  • Patent Disputes (Patent & Trademark Attorney Firms)
  • Patent Prosecution
  • EPO Proceedings Firm of the Year
  • Trademark (Patent & Trademark Attorney Firms)
Benelux
  • Trademark (Patent & Trademark Attorney Firms)
  • Patent (Patent & Trademark Attorney Firms)
United Kingdom (England)
  • Patent Disputes (Patent & Trademark Attorney Firms)
  • Trademark Disputes (Patent & Trademark Attorney Firms)
  • Patent Prosecution
  • Trademark Prosecution (Patent & Trademark Attorney Firms)
  • IPEC Firm of the Year
  • UPC Firm of the Year
  • Patent Practitioner of the Year (Patent & Trademark Attorney Firms) – Rachel Fetches
  • Rising Star of the Year (Patent & Trademark Attorney Firms) – Christie Batty
Ireland
  • Patent Prosecution
  • Trade Mark Prosecution
  • Practitioner of the Year (Patent & Trademark Attorney Firms) – Craig Thomson
  • Rising Star of the Year – Sean McDonagh
Netherlands
  • Trade Mark Prosecution
  • Practitioner of the Year (Patent & Trademark Attorneys) – Alexander Hagan
United Kingdom (Scotland)
  • Prosecution
  • Practitioner of the Year – Gary Wilson
  • Rising Star of the Year – Caroline Pigott

For the full shortlist, click the button below.

Latest updates

Event - 26th September 2025

INTA’s 2025 Trademark Administrators and Practitioners (TMAP) Meeting

Adjoa Anim, Trade Mark Director at HGF, will be a featured speaker at the 2025 Trademark Administrators and Practitioners (TMAP) Meeting, taking place September 28–30, 2025, in Berlin, Germany. Adjoa …

Event details
Event - 23rd September 2025

Upcoming Webinar: Strategies for engaging with the EPO and JPO to get the Examiner on your side

Date: 20th October 2025 Time: 4.30 PM EDT | 1.30 PM PDT HGF and SHIGA are hosting an exclusive webinar exploring effective strategies for engaging with patent examiners at the European Patent …

Event details

Fashionably IP Podcast – Episodes 41-50 – exploring hot topics in the world of fashion and intellectual property

Episodes 41-50 of the Fashionably IP Podcast where we will be looking at important hot topics in the world of fashion and intellectual property. We will be focusing on key …

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Agritech Thymes: A review of protection for gene edited plants

As we head into a new season, it’s a good time to revisit the current status of protection for Essentially Derived Varieties (EDVs) and plants derived from New Genomic Techniques …

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Avoiding Legal Pitfalls: The Notting Hill Bag Company's Costly Mistake

[2025] EWHC 1793 (IPEC) – Natasha Courtenay-Smith and Notting Hill Bag Company Limited v The Notting Hill Shopping Bag Company Limited, Nangialai Takanai, The Notting Hill Shopper Bag Ltd, Ehsanullah …

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Event - 12th September 2025

Wolters Kluwer Breakfast Panel on AI & IP at AIPPI

Sofie McPherson, Patent Director at HGF, will be moderating a special breakfast panel session hosted by Wolters Kluwer at the AIPPI World Congress in Yokohama on 15 September 2025. Session …

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T1465/23 – No Narrowing by Description—EPO Board Terminates Inventive Step Analysis for Arbitrary Modifications Citing G1/24 and G1/19

“The potential patentability of a specific narrow embodiment…cannot render a claim allowable which, due to its breadth, encompasses a multitude of other, non-inventive embodiments” – r. 3.5. Background EP3113515 was …

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Wrestling with G1/24 – How should the claims be interpreted in view of the description?

In G1/24, the Enlarged Board of Appeal (EBA) codified how claims should be interpreted for assessing patentability: in consultation with the description. However, the decision was light on how, in …

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