Established Companies

We service a variety of established technology companies, both in the UK and Europe. These companies generally have a dedicated research and development facility, but their legal department does not have a dedicated intellectual property resource.

By liaising with the inventors and in-house counsel we help to identify inventions for protection. We draft patent applications covering the core inventions and file them directly at the appropriate Intellectual Property Office, or submit them for filing by the in-house counsel. We then prosecute these applications through to grant or provide detailed comments to assist in-house counsel.

We remain hands-on throughout the patenting process, monitoring due dates and providing appropriate reminders. We keep our clients informed of the progress of the applications throughout the process. We also make sure that we are abreast of developments in our clients’ businesses, so that drafting and prosecution is relevant to their interests. If required, we can help assess the commercial value and advise on implementing an appropriate filing strategy.

Our attorneys keep our clients informed of the latest developments in patent practice and explain the practical importance of this to their business. This education process often occurs on an ad hoc basis during the life of a project, but can be more formal for example as a structured presentation to engineers, scientists and managers. Also, we present directly to the board of directors to update them on the intellectual property situation and the progress of new strategies.

We can monitor competitor’s activities and provide periodic reports giving updates on the prosecution of pending applications and also on the acceptance of patents for grant. This provides a useful resource for those clients interested in policing the activities of their competitors.

We regularly challenge the grant of European patents, either while they are pending applications or post-grant in opposition proceedings before the European Patent Office. To support this function, we can undertake searches to identify prior art relevant to novelty or inventive step.

We regularly undertake clearance searches and provide freedom to operate and infringement opinions. These enable our clients to introduce new products and technologies with peace of mind.