Stephanie is a solicitor in the firm’s Trade Mark and Litigation & Dispute Resolution groups. Stephanie advises clients on disputes, brand protection, IP strategy and enforcement. She regularly deals with, and advises on, intellectual property disputes covering trade mark infringement and passing off, and regularly handles oppositions before the UKIPO and EUIPO, as well as domain name disputes before WIPO and Nominet.

 

Stephanie is also experienced in advising on and drafting IP-related commercial contracts, such as assignments, licenses and non-disclosure agreements.

 

Prior to joining Maucher Jenkins, Stephanie trained and worked at a West End law firm where she specialised in general commercial and intellectual property litigation. She has managed County Court and High Court claims ranging from small claims to multi-track claims worth in excess of £3.5 million, from pre-action through to final hearing or settlement. Stephanie gained extensive experience of handling contractual disputes, including the construction of vague clauses in commercial contracts and worked with a range of organisations from SMEs to large corporations in the FMCG, fashion, leisure and entertainment sectors.

 

Stephanie has also worked with organisations such as Own It and PRS For Music advising on intellectual property matters.

 

Before choosing her legal specialism, Stephanie worked with an American law firm, based in both Arizona and Seattle, and co-authored a paper which was presented to the Arizona Bar Association reconciling the legal position on cancellation of debt income tax liability.

 

Stephanie is a member of the European Communities Trade Mark Association (ECTA).

 

Recent work includes:

 

IP Litigation

• FIL Ltd & Anor v Fidelis Underwriting Ltd & Ors [2018] EWHC 1097 (Pat)(11 May 2018): acting for Claimants in a trade mark infringement and passing off action in the High Court and Court of Appeal.

 

• Counselling and representing clients on retrieval of domain names from cybersquatters and securing orders against offending company names.

 

• Representing a highly acclaimed confectionary start up in a claim for passing off brought by a high end luxury chocolate manufacturer, based on the respective packaging of their chocolate bars.

 

• Representing well-known fashion brands in trademark, design and copyright disputes, including preventing garments made by a high end retailer from being infringed by an Italian competitor. 

  

General Litigation

• Acting on behalf of a high profile and market leading beverage company in relation to a contractual dispute.

 

• Successfully defended a leading brand in the transport sector in the UK in defamation proceedings brought by a competitor in the High Court.

 

• Responsible for a complex property repossession claim, worth in excess of £3.5 million. The case involved elements of company law and also international considerations. It required strategic use of the CPR due to litigants in person who did not comply with Court Orders and regularly made unrelated applications.

 

• Defending a well-known UK entrepreneur against a derivative action brought by shareholders of a former company. The matter involved strategic, effective and ultimately successful use of a Part 36 offer.

 

Please see our Recent Cases page for further cases handled by our Intellectual Property Litigation & Dispute Resolution Team.

 

Interests outside work:

 

In her spare time, Stephanie enjoys Adventure Travel - combining travelling with activities such as skiing, surfing and rafting. She also enjoys photography, reading, Formula 1 motorsport and teaching her young son how to swim.