Phil specialises in IP/media litigation and regulation. His focuses on litigation in the music, publishing, broadcast and advertising sectors and on acting for brand owners, with clients such as De Beers, PRS for Music and Yahoo. He provides the full range of contentious IP/media law advice, handling complex trade mark and copyright infringement litigation and advising on disputes with the UK media regulators (the ASA, IPSO and Ofcom). He takes a holistic approach to brand protection, drawing (in addition to trade mark law) on extensive expertise in reputation management strategies and advertising law.

Cases of particular note include:JW Spear & Mattel v Zynga (obtaining a Court of Appeal victory for Mattel in relation to the iconic Scrabble brand);Metropolitan International v Google (one of the leading cases on search engine liability for defamatory content); andMeltwater, the PRCA and the UK Media Monitoring Association v the Newspaper Licensing Agency (the Copyright Tribunal dispute which set the model for the licensing of online news content).

Phil heads Bird & Bird’s International Media Sector, and is the Contributing Editor of the International Comparative Legal Guide to Copyright.