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Stuart Helmer
Of Counsel

Stuart Helmer

UK Head of Advertising and Marketing

Languages
  • English
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Stuart Helmer is Of Counsel in the Intellectual Property team and head of the CMS London advertising and marketing group. He has over 15 years’ experience of advising a wide range of businesses on advertising and marketing compliance and disputes and is individually ranked for Advertising and Marketing by Chambers. Clients describe him as ”bloody fantastic … really, really pragmatic and an absolute lifesaver”.

Stuart frequently advises on comparative advertising disputes, including in major High Court litigation in relation to allegedly misleading comparative advertising. He also frequently advises on making and responding to complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority, where he has particular experience of late-stage interventions to reverse or mitigate a draft decision against his client. He also has extensive experience of implementing and operating day-to-day advertising clearance programmes. 

Relevant experience

  • SharkNinja in High Court trade mark infringement proceedings against Dyson in relation to comparative advertising. 
  • Conducting SharkNinja’s UK advertising and packaging clearance programme.
  • A leading multinational consumer electronics business on reversing an adverse draft ASA adjudication, thus enabling a major international product launch to proceed as planned
  • A household name food delivery business on advertising compliance.
  • A multinational manufacturer of household paper products on curtailing misleading advertising claims by a competitor.
  • A leading international manufacturer of lighting, security and home cinema technology on curtailing the activities of a rogue trader presenting itself as an authorised distributor. 
  • Johnson & Johnson on advertising regulatory compliance across its vision care, surgical and consumer healthcare divisions.
  • A rare Association of British Healthcare Industries (“ABHI”) advertising panel complaint in relation to a medical device. 

Education

  • 2008 – Intellectual Property Diploma, Bristol University, Bristol.
  • 2003 – Distinction, Legal Practice Course, College of Law, London.
  • 2002 – Distinction (3rd in year), Postgraduate Diploma in Law, College of Law, London.

Stuart Helmer is Of Counsel in the Intellectual Property team. He has over 15 years’ experience of advising clients of all sizes, from startups to major multinationals, on complex intellectual property transactions, IP dispute resolution, including in the High Court and the Court of Appeal, advertising and marketing disputes and compliance, and consumer law. He is joint head of the CMS London advertising and marketing group.

Stuart’s transactional experience includes advising on the IP aspects of major M&A transactions, joint development agreements, university spin-outs, and complex licensing, manufacturing and supply arrangements, especially in the lifesciences sector. His disputes practice focuses on trade mark disputes, especially in relation to comparative advertising, where he has advised some of the UK’s biggest brands on protecting their brands from misleading advertising. In advertising and marketing, he advises some of the world’s biggest brand-owners on regulatory compliance and curtailing misleading advertising by competitors. 

Relevant experience

  • Almirall SA on the transfer of its respiratory franchise to AstraZeneca for an initial consideration of USD 875m on completion and up to USD 1.22bn in development, launch and sales related milestone payments.
  • PGT Healthcare LLP in relation to a collaboration with Swisse Wellness Group Pty Limited in relation to vitamin, mineral and food supplement products across certain territories.
  • Shareholders of Fabula AI, a machine learning startup that identifies fake news, on the IP aspects of the sale of the company to Twitter.
  • SharkNinja in High Court trade mark infringement proceedings against Dyson in relation to comparative advertising. 
  • The US Polo Association on curtailing the sale and distribution of counterfeit and grey market apparel in the UK.
  • A leading multinational consumer electronics business on reversing an adverse draft ASA adjudication, thus enabling a major international product launch to proceed as planned
  • A household name food delivery business on advertising compliance.
  • A multinational manufacturer of household paper products on curtailing misleading advertising claims by a competitor.
  • A leading international manufacturer of lighting, security and home cinema technology on curtailing the activities of a rogue trader presenting itself as an authorised distributor. 

Education

  • 2008 – Intellectual Property Diploma, Bristol University, Bristol.
  • 2003 – Distinction, Legal Practice Course, College of Law, London.
  • 2002 – Distinction (3rd in year), Postgraduate Diploma in Law, College of Law, London.