About Me

I am head of Bird & Bird's London office and a partner in our Media, Entertainment and Sports team, focusing on litigating disputes relating to content and brands.

My team offers the full range of contentious IP and media law advice, handling complex trade mark and copyright infringement litigation, disputes relating to the dissemination of information (confidential, private, defamatory etc), as well as complaints to UK media regulators including the ASA, IPSO and Ofcom.

I sit on the Copyright and Technology Working Group of the British Copyright Council and am the editor of the International Comparative Legal Guide to Copyright. I appear regularly in the media discussing all aspects of media and IP law, and led the team that created our Digital Marketing App and our content platform, MediaWrites.
Cases
  • Sony Music & Warner Music v Tune-In (test-case on hyperlinking liability).
  • Take-Two Interactive & Rockstar Games v James & others (series of copyright infringement claims against computer modders).
  • Metropolitan International v Google (first UK case on search engine liability for defamatory search results).
  • Meltwater v Newspaper Licensing Agency (Copyright Tribunal on online news licensing + parallel High Court infringement action + CJEU reference).
  • P, Q & R v Quigley (first UK case to uphold right to privacy in false information).
  • BHA & others v PPL (Copyright Tribunal claim in relation to background music royalties).
  • Al Rajhi v Wall Street Journal (High Court & Court of Appeal, leading case on qualified privilege defence).
  • Kenexa v Alberg (breach of confidence claim with complex forensic issues)
  • JW Spear & Mattel v Zynga (Court of Appeal victory in relation to the iconic Scrabble brand).
Education

Studied

  • 1st in Law and French Law (University of Oxford and Universite de Pantheon-Assas)

Admissions

  • Law Society of England & Wales in 1999
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Testimonials

'The team led by Phil Sherrell is super-experienced in the copyright and licensing areas – both at analysing and advising on very technical commercial and legal issues, and also in strategising and leading us through complex disputes.'

Legal 500

'Phil Sherrell led the team in the case of COPA v Wright regarding the 'Battle of the Bitcoin'

'Bird & Bird LLP's music practice is led by Phil Sherrell, a well-regarded litigator who has handled high-profile copyright infringement cases in the music industry.'

'Phil Sherrell specialises in media and IP law.'

'With strong credentials in media litigation, Phil Sherrell – 'hugely committed, technically excellent, and commercial with strong client management skills' – is active in pre-publication issues and defamation cases.'

'Phil Sherrell - extremely knowledgeable but also accessible and available. We love Phil's innovative approach to client service and billing.'

Legal 500 UK 2025

'The level of knowledge and experience he has is right at the top of his game.'

'He has a great combination of business and industry knowledge, mixed with copyright and procedural knowledge.'

Chambers UK 2025

Latest insights

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International Comparative Legal Guide - Copyright 2025

Oct 28 2024

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International Comparative Legal Guide to Copyright 2023

Oct 03 2022

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Credits Due: the music industry’s new royalty and metadata campaign

Dec 09 2021

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Bird & Bird ranked as a leading firm for Technology, Communications and Media by Chambers Global 2016

Mar 24 2016

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