Medical Devices

Is your IP Strategy fit for purpose? – Five Questions to Ask Yourself The following article was first published in issue 21 of BioScience Today.   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… Read more »

Access to Intellectual Property (IP) Rights in a Time of Emergency – Patent Pools and Beyond This article was first published in BioScience Today 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… Read more »

Financial Times names AA Thornton one of Europe’s leading Patent Law Firm’s 2020 We are delighted to have been named by the Financial Times as one of Europe’s Leading Patent Law Firms for 2020. We would like to thank our clients and peers who gave feedback in relation to our inclusion in this list. If you… Read more »

Legal update – UK IPO coronavirus response In recognition of the challenges individuals and businesses are facing amidst the coronavirus outbreak, the UK Intellectual Property Office (UK IPO) has made certain temporary adjustments to its practices, to ensure that parties are not adversely affected in their dealings with the Office. It has also had to… Read more »

Artificial Intelligence – Our March 2020 report According to the European Patent Office, for the first time in more than a decade, digital technologies have taken the lead in patent applications filed. Among the top technical fields digital communication (+19.6%) and computer technology (+10.2%) saw the steepest growth. The report, published on the 12th March… Read more »

Medical Devices team members, Alex Bone and Marianne Privett report on the 3DMedLive 2019 event held on 2nd and 3rd October 2019. In June 2019 3DMedNet announced that, in partnership with the Journal of 3D Printing in Medicine, they were organising the first ever event aimed at bringing together the many medical practitioners, engineers, technicians,… Read more »

Senior Associate Suzanne Power reports on the Summer 2019 trade mark decisions from the UK and EU in the Pharma and Med Dev sectors. 1. Slogans remain difficult to register as EU trade marks – Case T-555/18 of 3 April 2019, Medrobotics Corp. v EUIPO This decision from the EU’s General Court (“GC”) highlights the… Read more »

AA Thornton is ranked as a top tier firm The Legal 500 2020 edition has now been published and we are absolutely delighted to be recommended as a top-tier firm for our trade marks practice, which was described as “strong”, “dedicated” and an “excellent team of knowledgeable and genuinely good people”. We also remain highly recommended for our patents… Read more »

AA Thornton celebrates World Intellectual Property Day 2019 The 26th April is World Intellectual Property Day and this year’s campaign celebrates the role IP rights play in the development of sport for enjoyment worldwide. To mark the occasion, we took a look at a few interesting inventions which are pushing the frontiers of technology to… Read more »

Patent protection of medical devices – time for a rethink? This article was first published by Bio Science Today in March 2019 Introduction 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… Read more »