Intellectual Property

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 value of such deals rarely...

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, in return for an applicant...

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 and treat the virus. Protecting medtech...

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 ‘utilisation’. There is also an...

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 FTO) should not be overlooked. Patent...

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 in its protection. What is a...

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 focussed on creating new products. By...

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

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 on the industry as it...

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 intellectual property was key to...

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 technology which transcend expectation. Intellectual property...

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 for employee inventors and their...

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 to harness paracellular absorption to...

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 particular medicinal or plant protection...

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 country, do not realise that...

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 election. Ministers of the ruling...

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 patented has raged on through...

Biosimilars and Patents

Leonita Paulraj - Associate, AA Thornton The majority of the world’s biggest selling medicines can be classified as “biologics” or “biopharmaceuticals”. Such medicines contain one or more biologically active product produced from (or containing components of) living organisms as the active...

UK Supreme Court inflicts more patent pain on Warner-Lambert

Eilidh Pugh, Pharmaceutical Patent Attorney, AdamsonJones. The UK Supreme Court has handed down its much-anticipated decision in WarnerLambert Company LLC v Generics (UK) Ltd t/a Mylan and Actavis. The case is important because it is the first time the Supreme Court...

Patent Protection of Medical Devices – Time for a Rethink?

Christopher Burnett,  Patent Attorney,  AA Thornton The duration of patent protection for medical devices is up to twenty years, as for any other type of device. Pharmaceuticals, on the other hand, may be entitled to an extended duration of patent protection....

How intellectual property can help 3D printing support, not harm, medtech

3D printing, or additive manufacturing, is frequently, and rightly, hailed as the next revolution in technology. Since its inception in 1986, 3D printing has transformed numerous sectors including aviation, manufacturing, and energy, and altered perceptions surrounding cost and time-efficiency in...

Considering a pharma and bioscience patent? The UK Intellectual Property Office maps out the application journey

Lawrence Cullen & Laura Starrs, Patent Examining Group Heads, IPO Managing a patent portfolio requires, among many skills, the ability to anticipate the future. This is especially true in the fields of bioscience and pharma where, when drafting the patent, one...

Patenting aerospace medicines – the final frontier?

Research and development (R&D) into aerospace medicine can be viewed as falling into one of two camps: that aimed at adapting an existing ‘terrestrial’ medicine for use in the aerospace environment; and that which is being newly developed for...

Know your third party patent rights

In the competitive world of the biosciences, third party patent rights (TPRs) can stand in the way of a planned course of action, even after significant investment has been made. Knowledge of such rights and potential rights at an...

The IP journey and risk mitigation

Paul Storer Senior Policy Adviser in the Business Support Policy Team at the IPO Resolving IP disputes can be costly and the Intellectual Property Office continues to seek to reduce costs for businesses, not only in relation to disputes but, at...

Preparations for AI patenting in Europe

The current era of rapid technological development requires industry to be quick to respond to challenges and opportunities, with many choosing to exploit new AI technologies rather than wait to be disrupted by competitors. Intellectual property law firms need to...

EU-wide IP Expertise is essential to the life science industry post-Brexit

The UK is world-renowned for its progressive life science and healthcare sectors, which are at the forefront of technical innovation, research excellence, and pioneering treatments. Life science companies, research and development facilities, scientists and academics working tirelessly across the UK...

The importance of Intellectual Property strategy; creating a foundation on which to build value in your company

Dr Emma Longland and Craig Thomson of HGF writing for the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys Most companies in the Biotech space appreciate the need for patent protection; after all, no company wants to bring a product to market after...