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Martin HedgesWith over 13 years’ experience in the patents field, Martin has specialist expertise in automotive, electro-mechanical and mechanical engineering. He holds a BA (Hons) Engineering Upper Second Class from St Edmund Hall, Oxford University.
Martin joined the London office of A.A.Thornton & Co. as a Technical Assistant after graduating in 1993. He became an Associate of the firm in 1999 and a Partner in 2002, shortly after transferring to the Northampton office. His professional qualifications include Chartered Patent Attorney and European Patent Attorney.
His current case load involves mainly UK, European and US drafting and prosecution, but includes a significant number of applications elsewhere, such as China, Taiwan and Japan. One client is a US OEM automotive parts manufacturer that supplies technology to most leading car producers. Another is a UK company at the forefront of wireless pressure and strain sensing technology.
Technical Expertise
Automotive
- Automotive engine and transmission systems
- Wireless tyre pressure monitoring systems
- Automotive accessory systems
Electro-mechanical
- Wireless pressure and strain sensing technology
- Microprocessor design
Mechanical
- Hand machine tools
- Oil exploration and drilling systems and tools
- Packaging
- Belt cleaning and scraping systems
- Mobile storage racking
Core responsibilities and activities
- Conducting and fighting off oppositions to European patents, including presentation of arguments at oral proceedings
- Providing opinions on infringement and validity
- Infringement searches, including advice on search strategy and analysis of results
- Appointing and instructing Counsel to obtain opinions on particular aspects of law
- Defending and filing infringement actions through the UK courts, through to appeal level
- Seeking revocation of UK Patents through the UK Patent Office revocation procedure and onwards to Appeal to the High Court
- Also responsible for the firm’s IT development and strategy