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Michael Szlesinger

Michael SzlesingerAssociate

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I am an Associate in the Dispute Resolution team, specialising in Intellectual Property and Media Disputes.

I am a solicitor advocate and primarily a contentious lawyer, but also work on advisory and commercial matters. I advise clients across a variety of industries including advertising, marketing, social media, technology, communications, media and entertainment.

I act for clients at all stages of the litigation process on UK and cross-border disputes including alternative dispute resolution, initial proceedings (with particular experience before the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court and High Court) and appeals.

  • Intellectual Property: advising on the protection, exploitation and enforcement of all intellectual property and related rights including patents, designs, trade marks, passing off, copyright and confidential information. This includes brand enforcement in relation to counterfeit and lookalike goods, domain name and ownership disputes, and anti-piracy matters.
  • Portfolio Management: working with in-house trade mark attorneys on trade mark registrations, filing strategies, and opposition and invalidity actions before the UKIPO and EUIPO.
  • Media and Reputation: advising individuals and companies on media and reputation matters, including defamation, privacy, data protection, breach of confidence and harassment.
  • Music Disputes: advising record labels and publishers on disputes involving copyright infringement, recording rights, publishing rights, royalties and unjust enrichment. I am also a DJ and producer with first-hand experience in the music industry.

Notable disputes that I have been involved in include:

  • David Walliams v FremantleMedia – acting for the producer of Britain’s Got Talent in defending and successfully settling a data protection and misuse of private information claim brought by a comedian and former judge on the show.
  • GovData v Indeed – acting for a job listings and reviews website in successfully defending an application for a Norwich Pharmacal order to disclose the identity of authors of reviews on its website.
  • Fay Evans v John Lewis Plc and adam&eveDDB – acting for the department store chain and advertising agency in successfully defending at trial a copyright infringement claim brought by an author in relation to John Lewis’ 2019 Christmas campaign.
  • Kerri Chandler v Champion Records & Anor – acting for a record label and publisher in defending and successfully settling a copyright infringement and breach of contract claim brought by a well-known DJ and producer.
  • Future of Work v CandidateX – acting for a tech startup in defending and successfully settling a copyright infringement and breach of contract claim brought by a developer in relation to copyright vested in code.
  • Fit Kitchen & Ors v HIIT Kitchen & Ors – acting for a restaurant chain in defending and successfully settling a trade mark infringement and passing off claim brought by a rival restaurant chain.
  • Voltage Holdings, LLC v Numerous – acting for a film rightsholder against numerous defendants on a sophisticated copyright enforcement programme in relation to peer-to-peer streaming.

I am a member of Lewis Silkin’s French Desk, and Media & Entertainment and Regulatory Advice sector focus groups. I am also a member of BLACA and IPSoc. Having grown up in Switzerland, I am fluent in French and proficient in German.

To date, my published work includes:

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