Intellectual Property (IP) Services

IP Protection services aligned to your business strategy

In today’s fast moving global marketplace, it is imperative to safeguard intellectual property to ensure enduring commercial success and recoup research and development costs. Our team of IP specialists can advise about patent, trade mark and registered design protection, as well as any IP-related legal and commercial requirements. All businesses are operating at one or more stages of what we call the IP Lifecycle. The stage you are at usually depends on the maturity of your business and your level of experience and sophistication around intellectual property rights. Mewburn Ellis can be counted on to be one step ahead, looking at how IP can benefit your business both now and in the future.

At Mewburn Ellis we are renowned for our IP expertise and technical ability, our focus is on strategic advice to maximise the potential of your IP as an asset and so increase the value of your business.  Our IP specialists cover all sectors and technical fields and work closely with each other, meaning we can adapt and build multidisciplinary teams structured to meet on your specific needs, operating in a way that works for your business.  We’re flexible – we can even cover periods of absence, or place a member of our team on secondment with you if needed.

We’re known for providing clear, concise and to the point IP advice. We won’t crush new ideas at early stages, but from the outset we’ll be clear on what will and won’t work from an IP perspective. Our attorneys work at all stages of the IP life cycle and can manage IP in any jurisdiction. We have a clear understanding of local practice requirements worldwide and work hand in hand with trusted local attorney firms around the world.

We can advise on portfolio management, helping you to integrate your IP into your business plan and to ensure that it's fully aligned to your strategy.  We also offer audits of your existing IP portfolio to help you identify what IP you currently have, providing strategic advice and guidance along the way.

Whatever your location, size, sector or business needs, we have someone that understands your business and your technology and can work with you to provide the IP Protection that you need.

Meet the team

Every aspect of your IP covered

Pink-Pentagons-HQ

I want to patent an invention

We have patent attorneys working in every technical field, many of whom hold PhDs in their subject. So whether your focus is life sciences, chemistry or engineering and electronics, we can help.

Pink-Pentagons-HQ

I want to trade mark a brand

Our trade mark attorneys understand brands and their importance to your business. They can work with you throughout the process of registered or unregistered trade mark adoption.

Pink-Pentagons-HQ

I want to protect my design

Our team has a wealth of experience in the preparation and filing of designs, often working in many fields that don’t have an obvious need for design protection, but which have found considerable benefits from including design registrations in their IP portfolio.

Pink-Pentagons-HQ

I need help with Patent Term Extensions

Our pharma Extensions and Exclusivity specialists have broad experience with Patent Term Extensions (including SPCs) and the Regulatory Exclusivity provisions relating to pharma products. They regularly support large and small clients with their extensions strategies and filings.

Pink-Pentagons-HQ

I need to validate my EP

Your European Patent (EP) does not automatically deliver Europe-wide protection on grant. Your EP will need to be validated in one or more of the member states of the European Patent Convention. Validation is something our highly efficient and experienced in-house validation team can manage for you.

Pink-Pentagons-HQ

I need to renew my IP rights

Our in-house renewal team has over 30 years’ experience in paying renewal fees at the EPO, UKIPO, USPTO and other foreign intellectual property offices.  Where possible we pay fees directly to the patent office concerned enabling us to offer an efficient and low cost service.

Pink-Pentagons-HQ

I need some commercial advice

We have a wealth of experience advising on technology transfer and the commercialisation of IP, ranging from advising on the existence, protection and management of IP rights through to drafting and negotiating complex contracts involving IP.

Pink-Pentagons-HQ

I need help to resolve a dispute

The reality of IP ownership is the possibility of disputes, whether that be a person infringing your IP, or defending your business against allegations. We seek to deal holistically with IP disputes, which can involve a range of different options and strategies to maximise your outcomes.

Pink-Pentagons-HQ

I need help with an opposition

We have an excellent track record handling offensive and defensive patent and trade mark oppositions, appeals and cancellations both in the UK and Europe. We have advised hundreds of clients on their opposition and appeals strategies and have a deep understanding of this area.

Pink-Pentagons-HQ

I need help with challenging a domain name

We can handle both the filing of domain name complaints and responding to them, plus provide advice and assistance relating to other contentious domain name matters.

Meet our practice leads

Sean Jauss

Partner, Lawyer, Head of Legal Services

Simon Kiddle

Partner, Patent Attorney, Head of Life Sciences

Andy King

Partner, Chartered Trade Mark Attorney, Head of Trade Marks

Graeme Moore

Partner, Patent Attorney, Head of Engineering

Jeremy Webster

Partner, Patent Attorney, Head of Chemistry
Our people
The IP Guide for the Forward-Looking SME

Special Report

The IP Guide for the Forward-Looking SME

Whether you are aiming for an exit strategy through investment or acquisition, or to grow and further establish your business, IP can play a key role. Perhaps you have some experience of IP but are you unsure if you're making the most of it? Perhaps you have no experience of IP and would like to understand how you could use it to your advantage?

Download now

Read our latest blogs

UPC Weekly - Time-dependent transparency of UPC proceedings?

UPC Weekly - Time-dependent transparency of UPC proceedings?

2024 Week 15 The week saw the Court of Appeal issue its decision on public access to court file documents in the Ocado v. Autostore case. We set out the background to the issues in a previous blog. A ...

UPC Weekly - Mind your costs

UPC Weekly - Mind your costs

2024 Week 14 The UPC Court of Appeal issued a collection of five appeal decisions on 3 April 2024 in the ongoing litigation between NJOY and Juul relating to vaping products. The substance of the ...

Public access to UPC proceedings

Public access to UPC proceedings

When the UPC was set up, a basic tenet was set out in Article 45 of the UPC Agreement, that the court proceedings would be public. This was intended not only to apply to trials, but also to the ...

Read more

Safeguarding your Intellectual Property

Patent protection

A patent is a legal right that once granted allows the owner of the patent to take legal action against others who use their invention without permission. Patents are jurisdictional and so are restricted to the country for which they were granted.

Trade Mark protection

A trade mark is something (e.g. a word or sign) which enables customers to identify goods or services as coming from a particular source, even though they may not know the source’s identity. Registered trade marks give powerful rights to their proprietors and are very important and valuable assets.

Design protection

In the context of IP, the “design” of a product is generally its shape or ornamentation applied to it, although the exact definition varies between different types of protection. Essentially, the design of a product relates to its appearance, rather than to technical principles of its construction or operation.

See our law and practice guides
Forward Magazines Overlapping 8

Mewburn Ellis

FORWARD MAGAZINE

Mewburn Ellis Forward is a biannual publication that celebrates the best of innovation and exploration. Through its pages we hope to inform and entertain, but also to encourage discussion about the most compelling developments taking place in the scientific and entrepreneurial world. Along the way, we’ll engage with the IP challenges that international organisations face every day.

Subscribe now