This week on MIP: Canadian firms to merge | AI wars latest

IPH to acquire Canadian IP firm Bereskin & Parr

Australia-based listed company IPH, which owns several IP businesses across the globe, acquired Canadian IP firm Bereskin & Parr, it was announced on Thursday, August 22.

IPH will now combine Bereskin & Parr with Smart & Biggar. IPH acquired Smart & Biggar, also based in Canada, in 2022.

To read the full article, click here.

Skadden and Kirkland advise on $36bn Mars deal

Earlier this week, we reported that intellectual property and transactions partners at major US firms Kirkland & Ellis and Skadden are advising on confectionery company Mars’s near-$40 billion acquisition of food brand Kellanova.

Mars announced on August 14 that it had agreed to acquire Kellanova, which specialises in snacking, cereal, noodles, and plant-based foods, for $35.9 billion ($83.50 per share). The deal is being pushed through by a host of corporate, tax, M&A, and IP lawyers at the firms.

To read the full article, click here.

IP and tech investments drive CMS growth

CMS reported global revenue of €1.9 billion ($2.1 billion) for 2023, a year-on-year growth rate of 5%.

Though the corporate practice led the revenue growth, other high-growth areas were dispute resolution, which includes IP, as well as real estate and construction. Meanwhile, revenue for the UK arm of the business was £734.7 million in 2023, marking a 7% year-on-year growth from 2022 (£686 million).

To read the full article click here.

Other articles published on Managing IP this week include:

Remember the metaverse? practitioners discuss its rise and fall

‘No-one likes this’: Brazilian firms grapple with patent guidelines

Five minutes with… Daphne Lainson, Smart & Biggar

Behind the case: How Covington & Burling helped overturn $107m jury verdict

UPC jurisdiction does not extend to Ireland

Breaking bad news: lawyers react to India’s TM fiasco

Debevoise & Plimpton’s San Francisco investment lures litigator

Weekly take: Ex-law firm partner’s suspension reignites age-old problem

Elsewhere in IP

Counterfeit fight

INTA announced on Monday, August 19, that it had partnered with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to help combat trademark scams, fraud, and counterfeits. The collaboration provides consumers with a streamlined process to report suspicious activities to the FTC. Victims of trademark scams or those who unknowingly purchased counterfeit products can now access the FTC's reporting system and submit reports directly through INTA and its Unreal Campaign.

Non-competes latest

Sticking with the FTC, a judge at the District Court for the Northern District of Texas prevented the agency’s controversial ban on non-competes from going into effect on Tuesday, August 20. Judge Ada Brown said the FTC had exceeded its statutory authority when it made the rule.

AI wars

Artificial intelligence-related disputes continue to pile up. This week, AI company Anthropic was targeted in a class-action lawsuit filed by three authors who say it misused their books and hundreds of thousands of others to train its chatbot, Claude. The complaint was filed on Monday, August 19, at the District Court for the Northern District of California.

Qantm deal

Qantm announced on Monday, August 19, that its acquisition by Adamantem Capital has been completed. The deal follows a successful shareholder vote on July 31 in which 99.94% of the votes cast were in favour of the buyout. The completion was confirmed in an announcement on the Australian Securities Exchange.

Rouse expansion

Rouse has continued its recent expansion drive, this time by announcing a merger with Aera, a Denmark-headquartered IP consultancy firm. In an announcement on LinkedIn on Wednesday, August 21, Rouse said Aera would add capability in patents, particularly in the high-growth sectors of life sciences and AI software. Last week, Rouse revealed it had acquired Swedish IP consultancy Konsert Strategy & IP.

Partner promotions

Marks & Clerk has promoted six of its lawyers to partner, the firm announced on Tuesday, August 20. The new partners, which span offices from Manchester to Hong Kong, are: Susan Bradley, Gregory Carty-Hornsby, Jacqueline Chu, James Cleeve, Tat Wai Kwok, and Hernán Ríos.

That's it for today, see you again next week.