John Sugrue

Managing Associate

John is a Managing Associate in our Litigation & Investigations, Intellectual Property and Life Sciences groups. He specialises in IP strategy and disputes, IP licensing and transactions, and life sciences regulation.

John advises leading pharmaceutical, biotech, agriscience, technology and consumer brands on intellectual property disputes, licensing, and brand protection. He regularly acts as Irish counsel in significant multi-jurisdictional patent disputes.

He has extensive experience before the IP & Technology List of the Irish Commercial Court, including in patent revocation, infringement, and preliminary injunction proceedings. His practice spans patent, trade marks, copyright, designs and confidential information. In addition to large-scale patent litigation, he advises luxury and consumer brands on trade mark and copyright enforcement, including actions to address counterfeiting and sale of infringing products on the Irish market. He also advises on IP licensing and transactions, and provides life sciences regulatory advice both as a standalone service and in support of corporate and transactional matters.

John is a graduate of University College Cork (BCL, LLB), an Irish qualified solicitor, and an Irish registered trade mark agent. He is a member of AIJA, IPSoc, LESI, and INTA.

John’s experience includes advising on a number of significant multi-jurisdictional intellectual property disputes, including acting:

for Bayer in defending patent revocation proceedings in respect of a dosing regimen for anticoagulant medicine rivaroxaban, and separately in a obtaining a preliminary injunction concerning a generic fungicide product;
for Moderna in patent infringement proceedings against Pfizer and BioNTech in respect of an mRNA vaccine product (Comirnaty®) and in defence of a counterclaim for invalidity;
for ViiV Healthcare in patent infringement proceedings against Gilead Sciences in respect of an anti-retroviral HIV treatment (Biktarvy®/Bictegravir) and in the defence of Gilead’s counterclaim for invalidity;
for Skyscanner in defending proceedings brought by Ryanair and in a competition law counterclaim against Ryanair;
for Eli Lilly in patent revocation proceedings in respect of a patent owned by Eisai Pharmaceuticals relating to the treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease;
for Boehringer Ingelheim in proceedings brought by Teva Pharmaceuticals seeking revocation of a patent in relation to a respiratory product.

2026 Legal 500 EMEA

"John Sugrue's appreciation of the nuances of the law is evident from everything he does. [Colette and John are] very pleasant to work with and extremely sensitive to client's needs."

2026 IAM Patent 1000

"John Sugrue advises Irish, European and global clients on disputes, licensing and brand protection across industries including pharma, biotech, big tech, agriscience and consumer products"

2025 Legal 500 EMEA

"John Sugrue interacts wonderfully with all legal and business colleagues in our company. He is dedicated and pro-active, knows when to seek partner input and is a great asset to the team."

2025 IAM Patent 1000

Ranked as a Silver Individual. "Completing the excellence of the firm’s contentious practice is John Sugrue, a versatile talent with undeniable prowess across the biggest sectors in patents – from pharmaceutical to agriscience and big tech. Sugrue consistently excels in handling large, cross-border cases and does not shy away from complex matters."

2024 IAM Patent 1000

Ranked as a Silver Individual. John Sugrue is "a go-to adviser for Irish, EU and global organisations grappling with IP disputes. His forte lies in handling large-scale, complex patent litigation and providing invaluable non-contentious IP licensing advice".