The massive growth in intellectual property issues has lead to a corresponding growth in IP litigation, but for California lawyer Joseph Re he’s the man who has stood up for the little guy, securing over $400 million in damages for patent infringement cases this year.

A partner in the Orange County IP firm Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear, Re was a a recipient of the prestigious California Lawyer lawyers of the Year (CLAY) Awards, appearing in the magazine’s March 2005 issue. Certainly Re’s judgments have had a significant effect not just for his clients, but for patent and IP law issues for years to come.

Re has represented small companies against major firms such as Tyco International Ltd., Hewlett-Packard Co. and Logitech Inc., a $265 million settlement, plus $65 million in advanced royalty payments, for Masimo Corp. in a patent infringement suit against a Tyco unit, after having obtained a jury award of $134.5 million.

Any lawyer who has been profiled under the headline ‘Is this the most influencial man in Britain?’ (‘Sunday Telegraph’, 12 March 2000) has to have at least some influence in the UK legal landscape and Michael Beloff has.

As a sports, public law and commercial law advocate and lecturer, Beloff has held significant judicial, tribunal and arbitral posts, as well as having served as president of Oxford University’s Trinity College. He has been recognized as a formidable legal opponent in many areas, not the least being the substantial niche he has carved as one of the country’s leading sports lawyers – if not the single dominant sports lawyer in Britain.

He has appeared in international courts and arbitrations and chaired various commissions and committees, including acting as Ethics Commissioner for the 2012 Olympic Games in London.