Four prospective patent attorneys are getting industry-leading training thanks to intellectual property firm Wynne Jones IP. Trainee Patent Attorneys Ozgur Aydin, Henry Bissell and Jae Kim Kang and Senior Trainee Patent Attorney Matthew Veale have been selected to join the firm’s highly regarded internal training academy programme.
As part of the dynamic programme, trainees undertake a specially developed training plan focussing on developing their IP law and business management skills, with modules including technical patents; general business skills; finance; and client relationship management.
They also receive expert support throughout from the firm’s highly qualified patent attorneys and business support staff, as well as guidance from within each specialist team to prepare them for a career in the intellectual property profession.
The trainees will be working alongside patent attorney Dr Elliott Davies in the Physics team, patent attorney, partner and training academy leader Vicki Strachan and patent attorney and partner Danny Butler in the Engineering team as part of their in-house training programme.
This will allow them to gain first-hand skills in dealing with industries including computing; software and apps; electronics; communications and mobile; manufacturing and engineering; medical devices and medtech; opto-electronics and photonics and semiconductors and materials.
Mr Veale and Mr Aydin will be based at the firm’s Cardiff office and Mr Bissell and Mr Kang will be based at the firm’s Cheltenham office predominantly supporting Wynne Jones IP’s client base nationally and internationally.
On his appointment, Mr Veale, from Wales, said: “To be accepted onto this traineeship is fantastic news. I chose Wynne Jones IP as the scheme allows me to experience first-hand how the patent attorneys maintain relationships with their clients and support their developing IP needs.
“I really liked the more hands on approach this programme took and I can’t wait to get started. Geographically for me it also made sense. It meant I could train not too far from where I live, but also work alongside clients both locally in Wales but also nationally.”
Mr Aydin, originally from Turkey, agreed with his fellow trainee, saying that for him it meant an opportunity to immerse himself in a growing firm with strong international links.
He said: “As someone who wants to develop their skills on an international level, Wynne Jones IP’s links with AIPEX were extremely attractive.
“It means that I am not restricted to just working across Wales, I can also establish working relationships with international clients going forwards, if I wish to do so. There are not many firms that offer that extremely varied level of opportunity.”
Vicki Strachan, who is overseeing the in-house training programme, which is currently in its second year, said this year’s recruits were set to receive expert support from across the business.
Vicki Strachan said: “We are thrilled that Ozgur, Matthew, Henry and Jae will be joining our highly regarded training academy. The training programme provides budding patent attorneys with all the unparalleled experience they need to hone their skills in a highly specialist environment.
“We feel that we offer something truly unique to our trainees providing them with vital IP law experience and business skills they require to make them truly successful in this profession. We look forward to working with them.”
If you own any intellectual property (IP) rights, are you concerned about your exposure to litigation, and how you will finance any legal action? One way to address this concern is by means of an insurance policy.
A recent study performed by the European Patent Office (EPO) and the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) has shown that companies which own at least one patent, trade mark or registered design generate on average 20% higher revenues per employee and pay their staff on average 19% higher wages compared to companies that do not own any of these intellectual property (IP) rights.
Keeping an IP budget afloat despite sunk costs.
The cost of securing IP can be heavily front loaded. Examples of such costs include patent drafting, pre-filing searches, filing fees, etc. These costs become “sunk” costs in that they cannot be recovered. Because IP protection can be a relatively long process, at any time during the process there are likely to be significant “prospective” costs: future costs that may be wholly or partially avoided depending on actions taken.
Have you recently validated your European patent in Turkey? Did you know that in addition to paying annual renewal fees, Turkish law also requires you to submit a public declaration stating whether you have actively worked your invention in Turkey?
UK businesses are fighting for survival during the continuing COVID-19 outbreak and trying to trade under difficult conditions, the likes of which haven’t been seen in the living memory of most business people. If you’re afraid that your business is going to the wall, it probably isn’t the top of your mind to pay for a patent application for your new technology or a registration of the trade mark for your brand new clothing range, right? Where is the money coming from to invest in such luxuries as IP, we hear you say, when staff are being furloughed and orders have been postponed?
The European Patent Office has announced that videoconferencing will become the norm for oral proceedings before examination and opposition divisions until at least 15 September 2021. But is this a taste of what the future holds for oral proceedings at the EPO?
On 12 November 2019, the EPO and CNIPA agreed to enhance their bilateral co-operation to give patent applicants filing an international patent application in English at the CNIPA, the choice to opt for the EPO as their ISA. A two year pilot programme launched on 1 December 2020, offers applicants filing international applications with the CNIPA or the International Bureau (IB) of the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO) the opportunity to select the EPO as their ISA and as their International Preliminary Examining Authority (IPEA), rather than CNIPA.
In October 2020, the UK Government declared that the territorial effect of five important IP treaties would be extended to cover Gibraltar from 1 January 2021. These treaties are the Paris Convention, the Patent Cooperation Treaty, the Madrid Protocol (on International trade marks), the Nice Agreement (on trade mark classification), and the Berne Convention (on copyright). Following on from this, a bill was passed in on 11 December 2020, making some amendments to trade mark and patent law in Gibraltar.
Due to the coronavirus outbreak and recent health advice, the WJ team are working from home. It’s business as usual however some services may be slightly slower than normal so please bear with us during this time. As our offices are currently closed we will not be able to access postal mail so please send correspondence and documents by email on docketing@wynne-jones.com. Our telephones have been diverted so the WJ team are still contactable by phone on 01242 267 600.
