Cordelia Payne

Cordelia Payne

Consultant Partner

Intellectual Property Team

Talk to Our Intellectual Property Team

Cordelia Payne is a Consultant and leads the Intellectual Property Team at Acuity Law.

She began her career at London media and entertainment firm, Harbottle & Lewis LLP, in 2005 where she trained and practised for 7 years. During that time, she worked for many high profile clients including LucasFilm Limited in its high-profile Star Wars copyright infringement case for 4 years from its inception through to success at the Supreme Court (Lucasfilm Ltd & Ors v Ainsworth & Anor [2011] UKSC 39).  She held  in-house legal counsel roles for IP rich clients such as Virgin Atlantic Airways, Argus Media and the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG). These roles taught her to apply her legal acumen within the commercial needs of her clients; something that she continues and strives to do with all of her clients.

In October 2015, she joined Maple & Black Law as its first and only IP lawyer. Over the following years, she built the IP practice single handedly until the firm merged with Acuity Law in 2018.  She remains based in London working from Acuity’s London office in Soho.

Cordelia has extensive expertise advising on a wide range of both contentious and non-contentious IP matters.  She helps clients protect and monetise their IP assets whether that is devising the most cost effective and competitive global brand protection strategies, helping clients to exploit their rights or prosecuting infringers either through Tribunal proceedings at the UK and EU Intellectual Property Offices or working with our Dispute Resolution Team in bringing or defending intellectual property rights actions through the Courts.

Cordelia has a hands-on approach and advises individual and business clients of all sizes from a range of sectors both in the UK and cross border. The majority of her clients tend to be from the media and, entertainment, sports and creative industries, with a particular focus on those concerned with fashion, design, health and fitness and sport.

Cordelia’s extensive experience, tenacity and personability, not to mention her ability to achieve the very best for her clients, is recognised in her loyal client following.

*Cordelia Payne is a Consultant at Acuity Law working on a self-employed basis*

 

Expertise
  • UK, EU and international trade mark filings and prosecutions
  • Brand protection strategy
  • Commercial contracts with an IP focus
  • Licences and assignments of intellectual property rights
  • Intellectual property disputes at the UKIPO, EUIPO, IPEC and High Court
  • Domain name registration and disputes

Work Highlights

Advising a high-profile alcohol brand in bringing a passing off claim against a competitor. The work extended to Court proceedings and included an application for an injunction in the High Court. As a result, theThe case resulted in settlement at the stage of disclosure.
Regularly advising a well known homewares client in relation to intellectual property matters including successfully various design right infringement claims made by other high profile designers.
Achieving financial settlement for an up and coming fashion brand in a design right dispute against a major PLC.
Acting for an international chemical distribution company based in Dubai, in relation to its rapidly increasing brand portfolio. Work for has included successfully prosecuting and defending a number of trade mark oppositions at the EUIPO including a long running dispute with an international oil business.
Working with and sSuccessfully defending a complaint filed at ICANN against a peer-to-peer Bitcoin and Altcoin trading platform. for the transfer of a domain name.
Advising a high-profile chain of fitness studios on international brand protection strategy. Following a large number of trade mark filings in the UK, EU, Australia and other territories. The work included negotiating co-existence agreements in Spain and the US, making appeals to the EUIPO and preparing a strategy to prevent a multimillion dollar US company with a similar brand from entering the UK market.
Working with an alcoholic spirits brand on their international brand growth strategy.

Accolades

Cordelia is listed as Recommended by the Legal 500 for their work in Intellectual Property

Legal 500

The Intellectual Property Team is ranked Tier 2 in the Legal 500

Legal 500

Testimonials

Cordelia Payne has provided excellent commercial advice. Her advice is tailored to our business and has provided true value. Responsive, friendly and professional.

Cordelia was great – quick, responsive, knowledgeable and professional – I very much hope to work with her again.

Cordelia is an extremely tenacious, thorough and personable lawyer. Her level of expertise showed at all times and we were always clear of every option available to us. We will certainly work with Cordelia again in the future.

Cordelia did an amazing job. Our case was hard to win, but Cordelia did a splendid job drafting a legal response. In the end the panel decided in our favour. We won the case.