Patents

Our patent team forms one of the most respected patent procurement teams worldwide. Our team includes lawyers, patent agents and technical consultants with specialist engineering and scientific degrees, including several at the PhD level, and are supported by best-in-class IP management software with client interface capabilities, highly trained patent process specialists, and a carefully curated global network of patent attorneys.

We work with clients across a range of industries including aerospace; agriculture; communications and media; energy; financial institutions; infrastructure; life sciences and healthcare; mining and commodities; transportation; and technology. We recognize that inventions are increasingly cross-disciplined; a smartphone-enabled diagnostic device, for example, might require an expert in AI, a chemist, and a physicist specializing in spectroscopy. Our model is flexible and collaborative; your application will be drafted by the right team.

We invest in understanding your business objectives and operations, so that we effectively align your patent portfolio with your business strategy. Our patent team works in close collaboration with our licensing, mergers and acquisitions, and litigation colleagues, and the understanding and experience we gain from our involvement in monetization and defense activities enables us to draft more robust and commercially useful patents.

Our patent prosecution team is adept at identifying and mitigating risks posed to commercialization by third-party patent rights through risk-based patent landscape assessments and freedom-to-operate opinions. Our patent prosecutors and litigators operate as an integrated team, including our patent litigation team in the United States.

We offer advice in: freedom to operate and due diligence; global and parallel patent disputes management; patent acquisitions; patent applications, including proceedings before national and supranational offices; patent disputes involving specialist sectors, including FRAND, SEP and SPCs; patent enforcement, litigation and disputes, including ITC proceedings; patent entitlement and ownership issues; patent filing strategies; patent portfolio management; patent technology assignment and licensing; plant variety rights; and technology transfers, including tax advice.