Rory Clarke

Since joining Kirkland, Rory has worked on the following matters:

• MediaTek v Huawei — Representing world’s leading cellular chipset maker MediaTek in SEP/FRAND litigation against Huawei, including in relation to challenge to the jurisdiction of the English court brought by Huawei.
  
• Panasonic v Xiaomi — Represented Xiaomi, in an expedited FRAND rate setting action concerning Panasonic’s portfolio of 3G and 4G SEPs. The case involved numerous ground-breaking firsts including securing an undertaking from the licensor to be bound by the decision of the English Court and the award of an Interim Licence pending the determination of final FRAND terms by the court.
• InterDigital v Lenovo — Representing Lenovo in a five patent action before the English High Court, involving allegations of infringement of alleged standard essential patents (UMTS and LTE) and a request for a FRAND licensing determination. This UK litigation is part of a wider global dispute between the parties.
• Sisvel and Mitsubishi v Xiaomi (ranked in The Lawyer’s ‘Top 20 Cases to Watch’ for 2020) — Representing Xiaomi, in an infringement action concerning multiple patents belonging a patent pool and said to be essential to the LTE telecommunications standard. The case involves technical consideration of the validity, essentiality and infringement of the patents in suit, as well as determination of the appropriate FRAND licence for any patents found to be valid, essential and infringed.
• Philips v TCL — Representing TCL in proceedings concerning allegations of infringement of two patents previously deemed valid and essential to the UMTS standard by the English Court. The matter concerns issues of infringement and FRAND licensing, including the appropriate jurisdiction to determine any such licence.
• Providing strategic advice to an international mobile telecommunications company in relation to a multi-jurisdiction dispute concerning antenna technology for mobile devices.  

Prior to joining Kirkland, Rory worked on the following matters:

• Represented a British medical device manufacturer in a UK High Court action. Defended the patent invalidity action brought against the client, and successfully counterclaimed for infringement of the client’s patents, registered community designs and UK unregistered design rights.
• Represented a US innovator life science company in UK High Court proceedings concerning the validity and infringement of a polymorph patent protecting the active pharmaceutical ingredient of its blockbuster cancer drug.
• Represented a global pharmaceutical company in multi-jurisdiction enforcement of the patent portfolio protecting its key oncology product. This included advising on its litigation strategy in jurisdictions within and external to the EU, as well as its approach to settlement where appropriate.
• Represented an international pharmaceutical company in coordinating the pan-European enforcement of its patent portfolio protecting an innovative immunomodulatory drug.
• Represented a software designer in a dispute with his former business partners concerning the ownership of copyright in a bespoke computer program. Provided strategic advice and achieved a favourable pre-action resolution for the client.
• Represented a US company in High Court litigation concerning the infringement of its UK patents protecting one of the firm’s key orthodontic products. 

Carpmaels & Ransford LLP

• Associate (2017–2019)

British Army

• Commissioned Officer, Army Legal Services (2013–2017)
• Commissioned Officer, Royal Engineers (1999–2013)