Carlos Pires

Right after graduating in Law from the Madrid Complutense University and specializing in Business Legal Advice, in the year 2000 Carlos joined one of the most well-known Spanish IP firms, with offices in Spain, Portugal and throughout Latin America. Carlos got there extensive experience on the clearance and prosecution of trademarks worldwide, including the handling of oppositions and the negotiation and drafting of settlement agreements, handling large scale trademark portfolios for clients operating in a diverse range of fields and industries. He also acquired experience of efficiently managing one-stop-shopping for trademarks in Spain, Portugal and Latin America.

In 2006 he moved to another Madrid-based IP firm, where he continued handling trademark matters in Spain, the EU and Latin America. At that firm, he also got involved with its client liaison program, the purpose of which was ensuring that the firm delivered what clients really needed. This included travelling to meet clients at their own premises in different countries, getting to know them personally and finding out what they really thought and what they desired from their IP service providers, thereby becoming their key-contact attorney in the firm.

In 2012, Carlos joined some of his ex-colleagues at BALDER. At his own firm, he still advises on trademark and design matters, advising on brand protection strategy, trade mark clearance and conflicts, such as oppositions, revocation actions and invalidity actions in Spain, the EU and Latin America, while keeping a very personal contact with his clients.

He has been a very active INTA member since 2003, and has been part of the Famous and Well-known Trademarks Committee, the Non-Traditional Trademarks Committee, the Legislation Regulation Committee and the Trademark Office Relations and Benchmarking Committee. In addition, he regularly attends other IP events, such as the AIPPI and the APAA.

Carlos has also been a professor on Intellectual Property Law at the Madrid Autónoma University (Services Economy Master) and a lecturer at the Francisco de Vitoria University, also in Madrid.

In his spare time, Carlos enjoys hanging out with his family and friends. He is a keen reader and likes music from different bands as The Beatles, U2 or Pearl Jam, among many others. He loves basketball and tennis, two sports he used to practice during his high school and college years. Unfortunately, he was not good enough at any of those two sports to make a great living out of it and he had to choose another exciting profession, such as practicing IP Law is! Nowadays, he just rides his mountain bike and plays table tennis against anyone daring to challenge him.

Carlos says:

“In an extremely competitive sector as IP Law is, you need to distinguish yourself from the rest. Of course, you have to offer first high-quality legal services, which is something we take for granted many times, but sometimes -especially in some jurisdictions- we realize that it is rather difficult to get!

I have missed in some occasions that the attorneys I worked with were responsive and proactive. I do prefer working with colleagues with whom I can have a fluent communication: I need to know they are available at any time, and they will be getting back to me immediately! In addition, I very much enjoy working with proactive colleagues: it is not matter of simply replying to any questions I may pose, but I do appreciate that they go one step ahead and come up with different possible creative solutions to my problem. That is why I do my best to offer precisely that to my clients.

I have always felt that keeping a real personal contact with your client -wherever they may be based- definitely makes a difference, as that is the only way to get to know their problems, their concerns and obviously the best way to assist them.”