Don Turner

Senior Consultant – Trade Marks (now retired)


Specialising in:

  • Trade mark procurement
  • Trade mark opposition practice
  • IP transactions
  • Transaction-related due diligence
  • General counselling on trade mark issues

Don Turner has spent most of his career in the London IP profession. As an IP specialist solicitor, Don was a partner in Theodore Goddard (now Addleshaw Goddard) and Bailey, Shaw & Gillett (now Charles Russell Speechlys). More recently, he was trade marks senior at Avidity IP Limited.

Don specialises in trade mark procurement, trademark opposition practice, and IP transactions and the due diligence often associated with them. He is a well-recognised figure in the UK profession for his knowledge and experience in the IP field.

But perhaps most of all, Don is a master of practical commercial/legal common sense.  He is highly valued for this quality by clients in the sometimes difficult decision-making processes faced in trade mark conflicts. Don likes the following quote from a like-thinking colleague:

“The law is sensible, you know. It talks about “likelihood of confusion” for good reason – that anything less is really not likely to matter commercially. Talking it through with the client, there wasn’t a real likelihood of commercial damage to the clients’ business. So, the opposition they had filed on advice had no real business purpose. Formal advice can be complex with these issues. It’s often the hardest part our job to give clients practical counselling around that so they can come to the most informed decision.  It’s so very important that we give that extra layer of advice.”

Don was in office as the President of the Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys when UK was negotiating to join the Madrid Protocol.  This is one of the most significant pieces of multi-national trade mark legislation of the last 50 years. Don played a role in the negotiations, supporting the UK Government’s representatives at the key stages.

Don has always had a special interest in professional training. He was a founder of the Joint Examination Board created by the Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys and the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys. He was also its inaugural chairperson.

*Don qualified as a solicitor but practises solely as a trade mark practitioner and in the other areas mentioned on this page