Lucy Coe

Lucy is an experienced UK and European Patent Attorney and UPC representative specialising in physics and software, and with a specific focus on contentious work and litigation. Her deep knowledge and expertise in the vast array of options for challenging patents in Europe allows Lucy to advise her clients on a pan-European patent litigation strategy, centred on balancing the options available to achieve their commercial goals.

Lucy has a large EPO oppositions and appeal practice. Her creative approach to constructing arguments, deep knowledge of case law, and persuasive advocacy style have led to consistent and significant success in both offensive and defensive oppositions. Lucy’s litigation experience includes handling UK infringement and revocation actions and advising on pan-European litigation strategy at the Unified Patent Court (UPC) and European national courts. She is also a strong advocate for considering other options for challenging patents in Europe, either as an alternative to full-scale litigation, or to run alongside and compliment revocation actions as a powerful negotiation tool. In particular, she has achieved significant success using the UKIPO’s non-binding infringement and validity opinion service, and EPO and UKIPO pre-grant Third Party Observations. Lucy co-authored our detailed Challenging Patents brochure available here, and is a regular author of our UPC Weekly blog available here, in which we report on the news and case law from the UPC every single week.

Lucy also handles the drafting and prosecution of patent applications, and is particularly experienced in the fields of computer implemented inventions (CIIs) and software, Internet of Things (IoT) technology, semiconductor and optical devices, wearables, medical devices, communication technology and AI / ML. She also regularly works with clients to manage large-scale Freedom-To-Operate and patent watching projects.

Litigation and EPO Oppositions Highlights

• IP-2022-000064: Prevayl Holdings Limited & Others v MyZone Holdings Limited & Others. Defence of a UK patent infringement action involving wearables technology in the English IP Enterprise Court, achieving a confidential settlement shortly before trial.
• EP2164559 (T1904/21), EP2180915 (T0118/20) and EP2081634 (T0116/20): Bauer Wagner Priesmayer v Medical Components, Inc. Successful defence of all three of these important patents for venous access ports at both EPO opposition and appeal. T1904/21 resulted in rejection of the opposition with patent maintained as granted, T0118/20 resulted in claim 1 being maintained as granted, and T0116/20 was maintained in line with our Main Request at appeal.
• EP3613301 (T0418/23): Imperial Tobacco Limited v JT International S.A.: Successful offensive EPO opposition resulting in complete revocation of this smoking article patent.
• EP2973098 (T2278/22): Roche Diagnostics International AG v Abbot Point of Care, Inc. Successful offensive EPO opposition resulting in revocation of this important patent relating to point of care testing.
• EP3711499: Nicoventures Trading Limited v Imperial Tobacco Limited: Defence of this patent for an electronic smoking article resulting in rejection of the EPO opposition with the patent maintained as granted.

Inclusion & Diversity

Lucy is a strong advocate for inclusion and diversity. She is well known in the IP Industry for her role as Lead of IP Inclusive’s Women in IP, a nationwide group with nearly 2000 members, and was recognised as a WIPR Diversity “Trailblazer” in 2023 – someone with a decade or less experience in the IP industry that stands out due to their impressive practice in IP and their determination to promote inclusion and diversity within the sector. She also regularly collaborates with the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA), including coordinating events for their Women in IP Global Networking Event series.

Lucy is also a member of the Mewburn Ellis Inclusion and Diversity Collaboration Group, and a founding member of the WoMEn of Mewburn Ellis Network.

Background

Lucy has an MPhys (Hons) degree in physics from the University of Manchester. She joined Mewburn Ellis LLP in 2016, qualifying as a Chartered Patent Attorney in 2019 and European Patent Attorney in 2021. She has a Diploma in Patent Litigation in Europe from the University of Strasbourg.