A LAWYER who made international headlines when he successfully helped a teenage girl fight global media company Warner Brothers over her Harry Potter website has joined a North-East law firm.

Matthew Rippon, a specialist in intellectual property (IP), has joined Blackett Hart & Pratt (BHP) as a partner in the practice.

Based in Darlington, he is believed to be the Tees Valley's only full-time IP specialist lawyer and will also work across BHP's other offices in Durham and Newcastle.

Mr Rippon, who also advises on dispute resolution and commercial matters in all forms of IP, technology and data protection work, has joined BHP from Watson Burton.

He hit headlines while working for a firm in Ipswich when he took on the case of 15-year-old Claire Field free of charge, when she found herself at the centre of a battle with Warner Brothers after setting up her website, www.harrypotterguide. co.uk

Warner Brothers, which owned the film rights to JK Rowling's books, had demanded she hand over her site's domain name, claiming she infringed their trademark. The company later backed down.

Speaking of his new position, Mr Rippon said: "In the Tees Valley, there is a huge amount of investment going into the DigitalCity project in Middlesbrough, NetPark in Sedgefield and other incubator units to support businesses that are IP intensive.

"It is at these early stages that good advice is needed to assist in the identification and protection of IP. For many businesses, their brand is their core asset so they have to get it right first time.

"There is a lot of fear out there about these issues. I really want to help new businesses to avoid the pitfalls, without adding to that fear."