Charles Courtenay

Overview

I am a Partner in Michelmores’ Commercial & Regulatory Disputes team, focusing on intellectual property and other complex disputes, with particular emphasis on cross-border, technology, and finance matters.

I am dual qualified as an English barrister and a California attorney. I have litigated and advised in many major IP matters (including patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secret cases), along with a number of important contract disputes in software and other technology and finance industries. I have taken key matters to trial and arbitration both in England and the United States, winning a number of important and valuable decisions.

Before joining Michelmores, I led the European Intellectual Property Disputes team at Latham & Watkins, London, and spent time in-house at JP Morgan. Previously, I worked for eight years with Latham in Los Angeles, litigating for a number of the world’s leading technology firms.

I am also the 19th Earl of Devon, and in 2018, I was elected to the House of Lords as a Crossbench Hereditary Peer, where I champion the interests of Devon and speak on Technology, Heritage, Agriculture, and the Environment. I am a member of the Intellectual Property All Party Parliamentary Group as well as the AI APPG. I chair conferences on technology and AI-related matters for the Westminster Forum and am also a board member of the British American Parliamentary Group. My legislative work is unrelated to my legal practice.

Independent of my role at Michelmores, I am also the owner and steward of the Powderham Estate, near Exeter. Powderham is a mixed estate combining arable, pasture, forestry, and foreshore, and is centred on the ancient Courtenay family home of Powderham Castle.

Recent experience

Representing an international technology company in electronic payments in bringing patent litigation against a competitor in the UK and the US simultaneously. At the same time and for the same client, we are bringing an international patent licensing dispute before the LCIA

Representing a leading south-west drinks provider with licensing and bottling dispute with suppliers

Assisting in the formation and representation of the UK’s wedding venue industry group during the COVID-19 pandemic, in the face of commercial and regulatory claims arising out of the cancellation and/or postponement of event

Defending a world-leading American consumer electronics and software company in major licensing and trade secrets dispute with its UK graphics technology supplier

Securing a complete defense of a leading international live music promotions and ticketing company in a near-$1-billion-dollar breach of contract arbitration relating to ticketing software, conducted before the ICC in London