Irina Kosovskaya is a renowned intellectual property protection expert. Having been professionally engaged in intellectual property matters for over 20 years, Irina has protected many clients in landmark disputes and has extensive experience in successfully representing clients before arbitrazh courts, including the Intellectual Property Court, as well as courts of general jurisdiction. Moreover, she is a well-seasoned expert in representation before the Rospatent Chamber for Patent Disputes as related to both means of individualization and intellectual property items.

Irina is a certified Russian patent attorney for all existing specializations, which enables her to represent both Russian and international applicants before Rospatent with no restrictions. She is also certified as a Eurasian patent attorney.

Irina’s clients are both Russian and international and include pharmaceutical, telecommunications and technology companies; major industrial holdings, FMCG manufacturers; publishing, media, and hospitality (HoReCa) businesses. Irina has advised and represented many notable clients such as Formula One Management, Orange Group, BELUGA GROUP, Sanofi-Aventis, Bayer, Azbuka-Atticus Publishing Group (Hachette Group), Abrau-Durso Group, CTC Media and many others.

Irina's experience includes:

• Protecting BELUGA GROUP, a major Russian alcohol company, in a dispute over the infringement of exclusive rights to a trademark.
• Protecting a well-known European sparkling winemaker whose competitor in Kabardino-Balkaria was infringing on the client’s trademark by producing a counterfeit product.
• Protecting a luxury lingerie brand in a number of disputes over the rights to trademarks, including representation at the Chamber for Patent Disputes and overcoming a denied registration of the client’s trademarks in Russia.
• Protecting Essentuki, a well-known mineral water brand in the Intellectual Property Court from mala fide manufacturers of counterfeit goods.

Prior to joining the Firm, Irina represented the Federal Intellectual Property Service and the Chamber for Patent Disputes in courts as she was with the litigation department of the Federal Institute of Industrial Property. She was in charge of protecting exclusive rights to intellectual property at a major Russian wine & spirits distributor and importer and was in charge of the holding’s portfolio of intellectual property rights. As a senior consultant with a foreign law firm, she was in charge of matters related to trademark infringement, with one of her most notable mandates relating to the protection of the IP rights of the largest UK and French alcohol producers. Irina has also advised a world-class tobacco manufacturer.

Irina graduated from the Law Faculty of the Academic Law University of the Institute of State and Law at the Russian Academy of Sciences with honors. She earned her LL.M. (magna cum laude) from Westphalian Wilhelms University (University of Münster, Germany) and has taken postgraduate courses at the Russian State Institute of Intellectual Property. Irina also has a degree in English translation and interpretation from the Moscow State Linguistics University.

Irina holds MBA degree in Investment Project Management from the Banking Institute of the National Research University Higher School of Economics (a joint programme with CFA Institute).

Irina has been admitted to the Moscow Bar.