Barker Brettell

What we do
Barker Brettell is one of the UK’s largest Intellectual Property (IP) providers with 50 attorneys and an 80-strong team of professional support staff, specialising in IP portfolio strategy and management, clearance, prosecution, oppositions, cancellations and enforcement. It advises clients across the world on patents, trade marks, copyright, designs and related matters such as domain names, company names and customs issues.

Protecting engineering innovation
We have extensive experience working with UK engineering companies. Many of our attorneys are trained engineers and scientists, working closely with businesses creating next generation technology for a wide variety of applications.

Between them, our team has worked on all aspects of automotive engineering including: clutches; hydraulic braking systems; power assisted steering; guidance systems and dampers. We also have experience in relation to industries such as railway engineering; mining; aerospace technology; the oil industry; ships; water treatment and power generation.

Patents

 Barker Brettell files around 600 European patents every year across a wide range of sectors. Leading industry research organisation Patent Seekers lists the firm as the fourth largest international filer and a top ten European filer, both for British businesses and individuals.

The firm’s patent department brings together UK and European patent attorneys who have both legal and technical backgrounds. It recognises that innovation is fundamental to the success of many businesses, helping them capitalise on the value that it brings. The firm’s patent attorneys are assigned to the technology groups that represent their experience and knowledge in order to provide a tailored service.

Trade Marks

Barker Brettell’s patent team works closely with the firm’s trade mark department which has been named as the UK’s second largest filer of both UK and Community Trade Marks in the Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys’ (ITMA) annual ‘Top 100 UK Trade Mark filers’ and ‘Top 100 Community Trade Mark filers’ 2015 reports. Barker Brettell’s attorneys have extensive experience and expertise working with the differing and overlapping IP rights existing in the UK and internationally, as recognised by its number one ranking for Community Registered Design filings by Patent Seekers. This global experience enables the firm to give tailored, commercially focused advice relating to registered designs, unregistered design right and copyright, as well as advising on infringement and enforcement issues relating to these rights.

IP portfolio management
Today there is much interaction between patents and trade marks, therefore Barker Brettell advises clients on the interplay between these two areas and works with clients to optimise the scope of IP protection available to them in an efficient and cost effective way. The firm can provide a fully outsourced single point of contact solution, under which it manages the entire brand protection programme for the client, and is able to make decisions on the matters and issues which arise on a day to day basis.

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