Why is Diligent Due Diligence Important?

Alex Bone, Patent Attorney, Partner,  AA Thornton. Background Biopharma merger and acquisition activity was lower in 2021 than in recent years, but the top 10 deals still reached a combined value of over $50 billion. The main...

Is your Invention Plausible?

Alex Bone, Patent Attorney, Partner,  AA Thornton The market exclusivity provided by a patent can be crucial for allowing a company to obtain a return on their R&D investment. A patent is essentially a deal in which,...

Protecting Digital Medtech Innovation

For many years the medical technology (medtech) sector has been at the forefront of innovation and the Covid-19 pandemic has not slowed it down, with new technology quickly being developed to test for, prevent...

The Nagoya Protocol and the UK – Are you Compliant?

The Nagoya Protocol has been in force in the UK since October 2015 and obliges users of genetic resources and traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources to comply with due diligence requirements before its...

Freedom to Operate – Understanding the Risks

There are many factors to be considered for a project developing a new product or process, but the ability to carry out commercial plans without infringing third party patent rights (freedom to operate, or...

Creating a Corona Vaccine

Varuni Paranavitane, IP Solicitor,  AA Thornton. As the world faces unprecedented challenges caused by the SARS-Cov-2 virus, we look at the science behind vaccine technology being investigated and how intellectual property rights may play a part...

Is your IP Strategy fit for purpose? – Five Questions to Ask Yourself

As a result of the lockdown due to the global pandemic there is a greater need and renewed focus on using innovation to kick-start the economic recovery. The result is significant investment in R&D...

Access to Intellectual Property (IP) Rights in a Time of Emergency – Patent Pools...

Alex Bone, Patent Attorney, Partner,  AA Thornton The pharmaceutical and healthcare industry is often accused of misusing IP to extend exclusivity and delay reasonably priced access to life saving technologies. The recent pandemic has focussed attention...

UK offers accelerated patent protection for eco-friendly innovations

Using the Green Channel to accelerate a UK patent application. AdamsonJones was able to obtain patent protection for client, LLEO Ltd, in just 15 months from the moment the Green Channel was used. This acceleration was crucial as...

Are your innovations protected?

Innovation is something that defines the biosciences sector. The UK biotechnology and medical industries are among some of the most progressive in the world with billions invested annually on creating industry-leading drugs, techniques, therapies, and...

Shanks v Unilever – An opening of the claim floodgates?

Varuni Paranavitane, IP Solicitor,  AA Thornton At the end of last year Professor Shanks was awarded £2 million for an invention relating to a glucose sensor made while employed working for Unilever.  What does this mean...

Drug delivery

Dr Jason Bellia, Senior Patent Examiner at the UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) I will look at just two of a vast number of routes - one to deliver nucleic acids across cell membranes and another looking...

The SPC manufacturing waiver: curtailing protection or boosting competition?

Lucy O’Brien, Trainee Patent Attorney, A. A. Thornton & Co. Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPCs) are a valuable IP asset to most major life science businesses. The ability to extend the term of a patent relating to a...

How to protect your IP rights in Europe

Intellectual property rights are territorial rights, meaning that the protection afforded by a granted patent or a registered trademark is geographically limited. Many companies that protect their inventions, brands or product designs in their home...

Compulsory licensing of pharmaceuticals: A solution to high drug prices?

The UK continues to grapple with its departure – or not – from the European Union, and whilst the outcome remains unclear, one thing now seems certain: before long there will be a general...

Plant patentability and the European Patent Office – what is the latest update?

Plant patentability has long been a contentious issue throughout intellectual property and scientific circles. The question as to whether plants or animals created through essentially biological processes, such as genetic or selective breeding, can be...