Supporting Patent Litigation

• Validate and discuss your understanding of the science with you, leaving you more time to focus on the legal complexities of the case.
• A scientific expert to support your patent projects in the early stages – so that you do not need to pay for, or risk ‘contaminating’, your expert witness until you decide you need to instruct them.
  
• Support the development of strategies to defend or destroy a patent at any stage in the filing process, from filing/ review at the EPO to final challenges in the High Court.

Opposing patents - clearing the field

• Providing expert opinion and discussion of potential areas where a patent could be invalidated. This can include lack of inventive step i.e. that the invention is obvious, or finding prior art in literature, textbooks or previous patents to show that the invention is not novel, e.g. it was common general knowledge at the time of filing.
• Discuss, design and carry out practical programs to support a strategy to suggest that an invention is not disclosed in sufficient detail for a person 'skilled in the art' to repeat. The strength of this work is improved if performed by an independent laboratory, and can save you time and give you control over the cost and timescale of delivery of the projects.

Defending a patent against an opposition

• Proof of inventive step – providing an independent expert opinion that can support the claim of novelty for your patent e.g. that the invention is not obvious for someone skilled in the art with standard knowledge of the state of the art. The next level of support can be to perform practical independent experiments to demonstrate the novel aspect of your patent versus the suggestions of opposition filings.
• Sufficiency of disclosure – carrying out independent 'skilled in the art' repetitions of the process described in the patent to prove that the invention has been described in sufficient detail in a clear and complete manner.
• Support in defence / opposition hearings - attending hearings in patent examination cases to provide immediate on-hand support and opinion that you can use real-time in defence of the patent, responding to the questions and issues raised by the examiners.