Medical Devices

EPO 2022 fee increases The European Patent Office (EPO) has announced a rise in many of its official fees to take effect from 1st April 2022. The announcement, published with full details of the new fees in the EPO Official Journal in January 2022, follows the Decision of the Administrative Council of 15th December 2021… Read more »

Protecting Digital Medtech Innovation This article was first published in BioScience Today.   For many years the medical technology (medtech) sector has been at the forefront of innovation and the Covid-19 pandemic has not slowed it down, with new technology quickly being developed to test for, prevent and treat the virus. Protecting medtech innovations can… Read more »

Pharmaceutical team member Suzanne Power provides a round-up of UK Trade Mark case law in pharma goods and medical devices This article was published in the December issue of PTMG’s Law, Lore & Practice With the UK IPO having seen record numbers of trade mark applications over the past year, a steady stream of objections,… Read more »

Deadline approaching for the Government R&D Tax Credits Consultation – your input needed for potential changes to RDEC and SME R&D Relief Government R&D Tax Credits Consultation: The UK government intends to raise investment in research and development to 2.4% of UK GDP by 2027 and wants to ensure that one of the key incentives for… Read more »

Partner Dr. Lawrence King reflects on Patenting in the Pandemic and the importance of locking down innovation in troubled times in this article, first published in The Chemical Engineer. The importance of locking down innovation in troubled times TO MOST, A Poor Man’s Tale of a Patent, published in October 1850, remains one of Charles Dickens’ lesser-known… Read more »

Partners Mike Jennings and Alex Bone explore the UKIPO “Green Channel” At AA Thornton, our patent attorneys have a long history of assisting innovators seeking protection for a variety of green technology including solar technology, waste processing and wind turbines.  Some of our clients were kind enough to share their stories with us, and you… Read more »

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 »