PROFESSIONAL CAREER:
Fernando Rodríguez has been a partner at BAYLOS since 2018. Before that, he was a founding partner of FJF Legal, and an associate at Salvador Ferrandis IP Legal and Del Valle Abogados.
He advises his national and international clients on all matters related to Industrial Property, Intellectual Property, Unfair Competition and new technologies. He specialises in litigation in these field, both in the civil and criminal jurisdictions. In recent years, he has participated in major litigations in various business and industrial sectors, such as fashion, watchmaking, jewellery, luxury goods, Premium brands, beverages and soft drinks, perfumes, food, advertising, telecommunications, chemistry, art, nutrition and others. As a lawyer and authorised representative of the EUIPO, Fernando’s professional activity includes representing clients before the EUIPO, managing their registration and defence strategies for rights portfolios, as well as providing clients with strategic advice related to industrial and intellectual property, unfair competition and advertising for contractual and pre-litigation matters.
He has broad-ranging experience in cross-border litigations. His specialisation also includes plant varieties and geographical indications.
EDUCATION:
Bachelor’s degree from the Central University of Barcelona and the University of Alcalá de Henares (1995).
Master’s in Industrial and Intellectual Property and New Technologies from the University of Alicante (Magister Lvcentinvs) (1996).
Practising lawyer since 1996.
RECOGNITIONS / ASSOCIATIONS:
Member of the Spanish group of the AIPPI (International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property).
Member of INTA (International Trademark Association).
Member of ECTA.
Member of the Geographical Indications Committee of ECTA.
Member of the Madrid Bar Association.
Member of the Association of Experts on Fashion Law.
Member of the Industrial and Intellectual Property Commission of the AEDM.
PUBLICATIONS:
He has participated in research and publications on unfair advertising and unfair competition and is the author and co-author of a variety of articles about Industrial Property.
Coordinator of the Industrial and Intellectual Property Yearbooks by Tirant lo Blanch.
He has actively participated in the preparation of numerous publications related to fashion law, such as the Ibero-American Guide on Fashion Law, by the publishers Thomson Reuters, or the Guides on Fashion Law distributed by the Association of Experts on Fashion Law.
He has been involved in the drafting of the Fashion Law Treaty (Fashion Law), Volume I, Industrial and Intellectual Property Law, Commercial contracts, New technologies, criminal and customs Law, from the publishers Thomson Reuters ARANZADI, 14 February 2022.
Participation in the drafting of "Tratamiento jurisprudencial y análisis crítico de la casuística de los Tribunales españoles en infracciones en casos de lookalike", published in the Anuario de Propiedad Industrial de Tirant de 2021.
The accumulation of protections through the design route and copyright, published in the Industrial and Intellectual Property Yearbook 2020.
The breeders rights and the use of plant denomination over the harvest product, published in the Commercial Law Journal, No. 312 (Apr-Jun 2019), pages 239-272.
Forum shopping in international design litigation after the CJEU Judgements in “BMW” and “NINTENDO”, published in the ECTA BULLETIN of March 2019. ISSUE XII.
"The Law of video games. Legal and business aspects" with the collaboration of the Spanish Association of Video Games - AEVI.
TEACHING:
He collaborates in post-graduate and master’s teaching programmes and specialisation course, with Master’s in Intellectual Property and New Technologies offered by the Autonomous University of Madrid being of particular note. He has also been invited to speak at a range of national and international conferences, as well as a number of Industrial and Intellectual Property seminars. He also works with different institutions and is often invited to give conferences by and on behalf of professional and sector associations, Bar Associations, universities and police.
The presentations he has given at the EUIPO, at the seminar organised by the AIPPI at the EUIPO, include “Trademarks, Designs and more – AIPPI at the EUIPO”, in April 2018, in which he discussed the protection of designs in practice, or his presentation Design collections and protection, which he gave at the Milan Court of Appeal, in the seminar “Fashion Law” organised by the Milan Lawyers Association and the Milan Court of Appeal, in September 2019.
