AI: Webtools, E-commerce and Finance

Emma focuses on AI as applied to e commerce, educational tools, digital health, internet of things, as well as optics/photonics. She recognises the fast moving nature of software inventions and the need to obtain protection quickly. She takes a proactive approach to prosecution including arranging examiner interviews and regularly advises upon acceleration mechanisms, in the UK and Europe as well as across global portfolios. Emma has a particular focus on drafting applications designed to achieve the best protection possible in both Europe and the US; a skill that often requires just the right amount of compromise. In 2014 she spent time on secondment working in Silicon Valley, giving her a unique perspective of the challenges that US applicants face when patenting in Europe.

Richard has in-depth experience of navigating the IP challenges of incorporate AI innovations across a variety of sectors, including healthcare, telecommunications, and consumer electronics. He has over 20 years’ experience in building valuable IP portfolios for his clients. One of his notable achievements includes his work with Realeyes, a leader in AI-driven emotion analytics. Richard plays a key role in securing patents for Realeyes' innovative data handling technology that underpins their use of AI to analyse facial expressions and measure human behaviour. Richard has a particular interest in the ethics and policy around the intersection of AI and intellectual property, and has published a number of articles around that topic.

James takes a special interest in AI as applied to web tools, digital security and medical devices. He has over 15 years’ experience in drafting and prosecuting patent applications in software/AI. James has particular practical and legal expertise in securing patent protection for software/AI inventions lying close to the boundary of patent eligibility, including use of machine learning for cyber security. More broadly, James has deep expertise in advising clients on invention capture and IP strategy. He is also astute at seamlessly managing teams of attorneys within Mewburn to ensure his clients get access to patent attorneys with the technical skills they need, no matter what the size of their patent portfolio. James enjoys working with clients who have the same passion he has for technology which improves peoples’ lives.

Alex focuses on inventions relating to artificial intelligence and machine-learning, as well as other technologies having a strong mathematical focus, such as cybersecurity and cryptography. His experience includes both drafting patent applications for AI technologies, and prosecuting AI patent applications in the UK, Europe, and internationally. Alex has handled patent applications for bioinformatics, medical image processing, cheminformatics, and pharmacokinetics as well as inventions relating to core AI, such as methods of training machine-learning algorithms, functioning of individual neurons in an artificial neural network, and explainable AI. Alex also has experience drafting patent applications relating to the application of generative AI in healthcare. Alex has completed a Machine Learning Specialization course with Stanford University. 

Lucy has experience in the application of AI and ML to e-commerce, communication technology, medical devices, Internet of Things (IoT) and security systems. She is experienced in drafting and prosecuting applications involving the application of AI technology at the UK and the EPO, with particular expertise in navigating the strict and complex rules associated with patenting technology in this field. Lucy takes a proactive approach in coordinating examiner interviews, a strategy which has led to a greatly improved grant rate and accelerated prosecution timelines for her clients. Lucy also has a particular focus on post-grant work, handling EPO oppositions and appeals and litigation at the UK courts. She has a Diploma in Patent Litigation in Europe from the University of Strasbourg, and is experienced in advising clients on European litigation strategy, in particular in relation to the UPC, providing detailed opinions on infringement and validity and performing freedom to operate searches.

Emily has particular expertise in the application of AI to knowledge graphs, IoT, CAD/CAM and e-commerce. Before joining Mewburn Ellis, Emily worked as a software engineer at a CAD/CAM software company, an e-commerce company and a research institute and has experience working with a variety of programming languages. In her research into semantic web technologies, she worked on the development of ontologies and autonomous agents as part of a dynamic knowledge graph that makes data machine-readable with applications across industries in digital twins and simulations for fast scenario analysis and enhanced decision-making. In her work at an e-commerce company, she developed applications that integrate internally developed machine learning models, including computer vision and computer audition models, to optimise pricing and operations. 

Alessio maintains state-of-the-art knowledge in high-growth areas of applied artificial intelligence, including robotics, natural language processing, network security, embedded systems, and AI agents. He also has an in-depth expertise in custom hardware, such as programmable logic devices (e.g. FPGAs), and other high-performance hardware for optimised neural network implementations.

Alessio has an MEng in Computing from Imperial College London. In addition to solid computer engineering foundations, he gained exposure and practical experience in various areas of knowledge representation, AI planning, machine learning, and high-performance computing. His final year research project investigated optimisation techniques for radiation therapy simulation on FPGA for use in adaptive radiotherapy. Additionally, Alessio worked as a software developer at a cyber security company specialising in military-grade encryption solutions for everyday mobile devices.

Simon has extensive experience in robotics, AI, and autonomous systems, covering both research and applied development. Before joining Mewburn Ellis, he worked as an AI Software Engineer at a startup developing autonomous driving solutions for commercial vehicles in industries like agriculture, mining, and logistics. Part of his work focused on developing, optimizing, and deploying deep learning models using Python (including PyTorch and related libraries) and C++. Additionally, he worked with the Robot Operating System (ROS2). Previously, Simon gained industrial automation experience as a working student at a large, international company. With this multidisciplinary background, he offers a broad and practical perspective on the evolving applications of artificial intelligence across various sectors.