Biography
Tom is a Consultant in the Commercial Team.
Tom has vast experience relating to:
- Intellectual property and the identification, protection, enforcement and exploitation of trade marks, patents, designs and copyright.
- Contracts relating to supply, manufacture, distribution and agency both on a domestic and international basis.
- Data protection issues.
Before joining Ashfords he was Head of Intellectual Property at Bond Pearce and has considerable experience of the retail and food sectors as well as media, entertainment and hospitality.
He has regularly featured in Chambers and the Legal 500 as a "leader in the field". He has been described as "outstanding" and "knows the law backwards". When dealing with IP disputes, Tom has been noted for "knowing when to fight and when to settle".
Relevant experience
- Leading football club: Working with the club in relation to its replica kit and related merchandise contracts and "TV arc" animated advertising contract. The contract involved reconciling the competing interests of the club's various commercial partners including its short sponsor (a leading retail multiple) and the demands of the TV-arc advertising provider.
- Food manufacturer: Working with a leading household name South West food manufacturer on contracts with a global brand and UK celebrity brand regarding the manufacture and supply of products under licence.
- Advising on a TV production contracts for household name clients regarding a “fly-on-the-wall” documentary series produced for the BBC.
- Data protection:
- Advising a leading supplier of data transfer services to medical institutions on a global basis in relation to its contractual and privacy/data protection arrangements.
- Advising a high profile celebrity in relation to a sensitive subject access request regarding a well-known business venture.
- Advising a US company in relation to the contractual arrangements in the UK so as to ensure compliance with data protection requirements. The business offers a platform on which universities, students and prospective employers are able to exchange information, post job vacancy advertisements and facilitate student employment while creating an anonymised knowledge data bank.
