Inventing the stuff that new things can be made of. At its heart, that is innovative materials technology. Our attorneys thrive on applying their specialist materials knowledge and IP expertise to new technical areas. Our materials experts have to be agile and flexible in their thinking and in their understanding of technology – we train them that way. Materials considerations underpin many inventions in different engineering fields such as electronics, construction and aerospace. However, “materials” inventions arise in all manner of diverse technical fields, including sensors, medical devices and next generation batteries.
Our IP specialists have a long track record of working with innovators in advanced material science, in both academia and industry, in fields including novel energy storage materials, and nanomaterials such as graphene. We want to remain at the forefront of this fast-moving sector and so are proud and excited to be one of the official affiliate partners of the GEIC (Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre) in Manchester. From internationally known fibre and fabric manufacturers and world-leading semiconductor developers through to the SMEs and universities pushing the boundaries of what we think possible with 2D materials, our experience covers every aspect of IP legal advice from conception to consumer.
Mewburn Ellis have a strong track record of patenting inventions based on sophisticated materials characterisation techniques. Often, it is the application of such techniques that allows researchers to understand the mechanisms underpinning improved materials performance. Particularly at the European Patent Office we have helped to push forward the patentability of inventions defined in terms of parameters derived from such characterisation techniques.
Obtaining the desired patent protection, in Europe and around the world, presents its own set of challenges for advanced materials. Our years of IP experience mean we can often avoid or defend against objections made by patent examiners; or (on the other side) successfully oppose competitors’ patents after grant to prevent them from stopping our clients’ own developments. We can also bring that experience to bear in the patent application drafting stage: by knowing what issues we might face in the future, we can write the patent application accordingly to pre-empt such problems.
Our materials IP experts span our chemistry and engineering patent teams and they have a wide variety of academic and IP backgrounds, this means we are well placed to consider all of the legal and scientific angles needed to build and defend a strong IP portfolio. Our approach is flexible, meaning we can adapt and build multidisciplinary teams based on your specific needs.
