John Milligan

Senior Associate, Mason Hayes & Curran LLP

John Milligan is a Senior Associate Solicitor in the Intellectual Property Law team at Mason Hayes & Curran LLP.

John has extensive experience in advising on all aspects of both contentious and non-contentious intellectual property matters, including trade mark protection, passing off, design rights, copyright, patent infringement and revocation and database rights. In particular, John is an expert on trade mark strategies and brand protection issues and manages international trade mark portfolios for a wide range of multinational businesses in the food and beverage, financial services and technology sectors. He has acted in some of the most high profile Commercial Court cases in Ireland in recent years involving trade mark, copyright and design rights infringement. He also has practical experience of other means of dispute resolution including mediations, expert determinations and arbitrations.

John also specialises in intellectual property commercialisation and in identifying and advising on intellectual property issues in commercial transactions including mergers and acquisitions and the onshoring of valuable intellectual property rights into Ireland.

John publishes articles widely in various journals with a focus on intellectual property protection and enforcement and he is a tutor on Intellectual Property Law at the Law Society of Ireland.

In addition, he is an Irish registered trade mark agent and a European Trade Marks and Designs Attorney and deals with trade mark and design filing and prosecution actions. He is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin and the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Contributed to

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Ireland—Interim injunctions—Irish court guidelines

Practice Notes

This Practice Note outlines the key principles employed by the Irish courts when deciding whether to grant interim injunctions. It explores the relevant criteria, originally established in Campus Oil Ltd v Minister for Industry and Energy (No 2) and refined in MerckSharpe & Dohme v Clonmel Healthcare by the Irish Supreme Court.

Ireland - Dispute Resolution

Ireland—Cease and desist letter—IP infringement

Precedents

This Precedent is a short form cease and desist letter, to be sent as a first step in a dispute relating to the infringement of IP rights.It is broadly drafted so that it can be used in relation to the infringement of any of the key IP rights, although it is likely to be most suitable for a scenario involving an infringement of trade mark rights and/or copyright.It is intended to be used in circumstances where the right holder hopes to resolve the matter swiftly, without recourse to further action.TerminologyMany practitioners use the terms ‘letter of claim’, ‘letter before action’ and ‘cease and desist letter’ interchangeably.However, the terms ‘letter of claim’ and ‘letter before action’ are more commonly used in the UK, and are usually used to refer to a letter which formally puts an alleged infringer on notice that court proceedings may be brought against them, and where such a letter is drafted in accordance with the UK CPR requirements. Such letters will often include a full

Ireland - Dispute Resolution