Sample Portfolio

We have expertise in biotech and chemical patents and Oppositions and Appeals at the European Patent Office. Here is a selection of cases we have has been responsible for:

Computer hard disk drives are routinely coated with diamond-like carbon films, increasing disk lifetime and improving accuracy of data transfer to and from the disk. These films are made from graphite starting material, in a cathode arc, but are contaminated by soot particles. To filter out the soot, deposition apparatus had used a bend, generally 90 degrees. In this invention, the filter has 2 bends, generally much less than 90 degrees and in different planes. Films made using this filter have less soot but are also deposited more quickly.

In 1993, inventors Austin Smith and Peter Mountford of the University of Edinburgh filed a UK patent application directed at methods of selecting for animal stem cells, including embryonic stem cells. The description defined animal as including human and hence the new technology enabled isolation of desired human stem cells based on linking a differentially expressed gene to a selectable marker. Little did we know that this case would later be introduced by the Chairman of the Opposition Division as "The most important in the history of the European Patent Office".

A European patent application was filed and pursued and in February 2000, shortly after the patent had been granted, Greenpeace filed an opposition and built a bricks and mortar wall across the entrance to the European Patent Office building in Munich (leaving bemused visitors and staff to come and go via the underground car-park). The accusation was that the patent covered human cloning; the Edinburgh Patent case had begun.

There were 13 opponents to grant of the patent, all objecting that the claims were contrary to morality in that they embraced both methods carried out on human embryonic stem (ES) cells and also human ES cells per se - an immediate amendment had clarified that human cloning was nothing to do with this case. The decision, so far at the level of the EPO's Opposition Division, held that human ES cells and processes carried out on human ES cells are not patentable in Europe as they are contrary to morality, specifically in that such an invention constitutes commercial or industrial use of a human embryo. This decision is under appeal.

DNA encoding, say, an antigen, is encapsulated within a polymer microparticle. Get the particle the right size and after ingestion it can be taken up by specialised cells in the gut, M cells of the Peyer's patches. Transient expression of the sequence generates an immune response rich in IgA specific for the antigen and hence an immune response at mucosal surfaces, notoriously hard to achieve. The patent has been upheld after an opposition decision, currently under appeal.

This patent related to inhalation formulations comprising lactose plus an active agent. It was revoked by the European Patent Office after an opposition I filed on behalf of Schering Corporation - the story is not over yet as the patent owner has appealed.

Elevating levels of haem oxygenase (HO) was found to be anti-inflammatory, useful for treatment of chronic inflammatory diseases. This was at first sight simple, but as is often the case some art seemed initially to be close. Use claims were granted, and are now under opposition.

A targeting construct containing an internal ribosome entry sequence (IRES) is used to obtain tissue specific expression of a newly inserted gene, referred to as the heterologous gene, yielding e.g. expression of a desired protein localised to cow's milk