My Services
Who Can I Help?
Perhaps you're looking for help filing a patent application to protect your invention. Or maybe you want to understand how the patent system works and how it could apply to your business. You might be seeking to develop a patent strategy to strengthen your competitive position or attract investment. Perhaps you are seeking to invest in a company and want help evaluating their patent portfolio. Maybe you're concerned about patents owned by others, or simply have questions about how patents could support or affect your business. Alternatively, you might already hold patents and want to manage or make better use of them or simply gain an independent perspective on your portfolio.
How Can I Help?
Whatever your situation, whether a pre-seed startup protecting your first invention, a scale-up building your patent portfolio, or an established SME managing existing rights, I can help guide you through the patent system and ensure that your patent strategy supports your business objectives, whatever they happen to be.
​
I specialise in patents relating to digital technologies, including computer hardware and software, networking, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML), robotics and drones, the Internet of Things (IoT) and smart devices.
​
My approach to patents centres on Strategy, which guides three core activities: Discovering, Securing, and Exploiting.
Strategy
For me, patents aren't just about legal protection; they're a strategic business tool. Ensuring that your patent strategy supports your commercial objectives is the key to making patents genuinely valuable.
​
By taking the time to understand your technology, your competitive landscape, and your business goals, I can devise a patent strategy that is aligned with your business and adapt it as your priorities and market environment evolve. This strategy guides every decision – from what to protect and how to defend it, to which opportunities to pursue and which risks to address.
Discover
A key activity is discovering and understanding your IP situation, both internally, by uncovering the intellectual property that you already have or might develop, and externally, by understanding others’ rights and how they might impact your business.
​
I can help with:
​
-
IP training
-
IP audits
-
invention mining and patentability analysis
-
prior art searching
-
patent landscape analysis
-
patent portfolio analysis
-
patent watching services
-
patent infringement and/or validity opinions of third-party patents
-
freedom-to-operate (FTO) analysis
Secure
Securing your position means both protecting your innovations and managing risks from competitors’ patents.
I can help with:
​
-
drafting, filing, and prosecuting patent applications in the UK, Europe, and international (PCT) patent applications;
-
managing the filing and prosecution of foreign patent applications via local attorneys;
-
instructing translation and validation of European patents;
-
instructing payment of patent renewal fees;
-
defending patents against revocation, invalidity and/or opposition proceedings;
-
challenging third-party patents through revocation, invalidity and/or opposition proceedings, or filing of third-party observations;
-
evaluating design-around options to navigate third-party patent rights;
-
filing and prosecuting both ex parte and inter partes appeals from decisions of the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) or the European Patent Office (EPO); and
-
advising on the protection of other protectable IP via other IP Rights.
Secure
Patents are business assets, and their real value lies in how they are used. Some benefits may arise passively – a strong patent portfolio can deter competitors and attract investors. In other cases, a more active approach may be needed to enforce your rights or to fully realise the commercial value of your intellectual property.
​
I can help with:
​
-
advising on patent commercialisation strategies, such as licensing;
-
conducting due diligence for patent transactions, such as sales or purchases;
-
patent claim mapping (assessing alignment of a product or service with patent claims);
-
providing patent infringement opinions of third-party products or services; and
-
patent portfolio optimization and pruning.
Ready to Talk?
Interested in a no-cost, no-obligation discussion to explore how I can help your business?
